LEWISTON, NY – “Lewiston never smelt so good” during the annual Lewiston Smelt Festival. The Niagara River Region Chamber of Commerce, Village of Lewiston and Silo Restaurant, in cooperation with the Niagara River Anglers will celebrate one of the region’s most famous natural resources as they host the Lewiston Smelt Festival.

The festival takes place on Friday, May 2^nd beginning at 6:00 p.m., at the foot of Center Street along the Lewiston Waterfront. The Niagara River Anglers and Niagara River Region Chamber staff, board of directors and local dignitaries will serve free Smelt samples on Friday night.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation deemed Lewiston as one of the best places in the country for smelt dipping. Smelt are one of the few fish that sportsmen are allowed to net.

Beginning at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, the Niagara River Anglers will batter and fry 400 pounds of smelt, given out as free samples (donations accepted towards Niagara River Angler’s community programs) and sponsored by Waste Management, Inc. Additional food and beverage will be available for purchase.

Smelt-tasters can enjoy entertainment from the Lakeside Blues Band on Friday night and an appearance by the “Smelt King”.  This event is geared toward an adult audience. The Tent, stage, and tables are supplied by Brett’s Tent and Awning. Portable Toilets will be on premise, donated by the Modern Corporation.

Lewiston restaurants will also be busy preparing their own culinary variation of smelt over the weekend. Participating restaurants can be identified by a decorative fish flag outside their door.  For additional information, contact the Chamber office at 754-9500 or online at www.NiagaraRiverRegion.com

Niagara Falls Dry in 1969

Niagara Falls has flowed for over 12,000 years and except for a few severe winter ice jams over those years that created the illusion of a “frozen Falls” the water has always flowed. That is until June 12th, 1969 when the American Falls actually did go dry.

The American Falls had suffered a series of rock slides in the fifties and sixties and face of the Falls had become cluttered with huge boulders at the base. Geologists knew that Falls had been eroding and that originally they were about twelve miles down river where Lewiston New York is today.

Niagara Falls cascades over two different types of rock, shale and limestone. The limestone is below the shale and is a softer rock. The force of the water falling over 150 feet erodes the softer limestone at the base of the Falls and the heavier shale collapses from the top. This process has taken place over the last 12,00 years and is why the Falls will eventually erode into a long series of descending rapids.

So, in 1969, after those series of rock slides the Army Corp of Engineers decided to study the issue to see if the erosion could be controlled. The Engineers constructed a cofferdam between Goat Island and the northern Niagara River shore to shut off the American Falls. The cofferdam was constructed with almost 28,000 tons of rock and on June 12, 1969 the American Falls were shut off.

The “Dry Falls” became a tourist attraction in their own right and millions of visitors traveled to Niagara Falls to see something that no generation had seen before. Over the next six months the Engineers drilled and studied the American Falls rock bed to determine if it could be strengthened and the boulders removed.

Finally it was decided that the huge mound of boulders at the base of the Falls were in part holding up the cliff face. So the Engineers decided to do some “minor” reconstruction and securing of the rock bed.

Instruments were installed on Prospect Point, Luna Island and Terrapin Point to monitor future rock movements which Engineers knew was inevitable. Huge steel dowels and cable tendons were drilled into the rock bed in a series of patterns at Luna Island and the Bridal Veil Falls to solidify and stabilize the rocks as much as possible. Drainage holes were drilled into the Limestone at the American Falls, the Bridal Veil Falls and Terrapin Point to relieve the hydrostatic pressure.

The boulders at the base of the American Falls were left . It was decided that to remove the talus would be too expensive and create too much of an artificial look. The water flowing over the American Falls is too little to erode the debris so it was left untouched. On November 25th 1969 the Engineers removed the cofferdam and the American Falls came back to life.

Prior to this remediation the American Falls were eroding at a rate of five feet a year. Now because of increased water diversion and the anti-erosion efforts the American Falls is receding at only 3 – 4 inches every 10 years. The water flow which has been regulated by both the American and Canadian Hydro Electric plants is insufficient to cause major erosion. The look of the American Falls will now be preserved throughout our lifetime.

Niagara Falls was once considered a location for the eventual Disney World site, but almost twenty years earlier it was the United Nations that took a serious look at a home up river from the Falls.

In 1945 Navy Island, located almost three miles up river from Niagara Falls themselves on the Canadian side was seriously considered for the location for the newly formed United Nations. Navy Island would have been named the new World Peace Capital and the island would have served as headquarters for the United Nations.

An international committee took a serious look at the location in 1945 and 1946 and even had an artist create a drawing of what the complex would look like. Navy Island was considered to be a great location because it positioned on the boundary between two nations considered great freinds and allies in the United States and Canada.

The artist’s drawing showed the World Peace Capital with two bridges spanning both countries. One would have connected Grand Island, the largest fresh water island in the world and the other leading to Canada.

If the plan had been completed Navy Island would have become the property of the United Nations for as long as the headquarters existed in that location. Navy Island soon lost out however to the lure of its current location in New York City.

Artist rendering of proposed location for United Nations on Navy island. Photo courtesy Niagara Falls Ontario Public Library

Niagara Falls is a very popular tourist destination, but could you imagine how big it would be if it was also the home to Disney World? For a very brief time Walt Disney himself once considered Niagara Falls as a possible location for his Disney World theme park before choosing Orlando Florida.

In 1963 Walt Disney was exploring locations for a second “Disneyland” after the over whelming success of his Anaheim based park. As one could imagine Walt Disney had plenty of suitors.

Disney considered St. Louis Missouri at one point, but he turned out to be no fan of the Busch family who hosted his trip. Several successful businessman in the East coast also tried to lure Walt Disney to the opposite coast and he at one point looked at a few possibilities.

In August of 1963 Walt Disney and his wife Lillian and brother Roy and wife Edna actually visited Niagara Falls Canada to investigate a possible location for his new “Disney World” in a close proximity to the Falls themselves.

Disney was invited by the Seagrams Liquor company and spent the night at the Sheraton Brock Hotel. Disney and his family had dinner at the home of Paul Schoellkopf and the next morning they toured the Falls with Niagara Falls Ontario Mayor Franklin Miller.

As the story goes Walt and his entourage were swarmed by tourists who recognized him due to his many appearances on his Disney TV program.  Walt viewed Niagara Falls from the Seagram’s observation tower and was impressed with their beauty. However, Walt Disney was looking for a year-round location and knew the cold Niagara winters would hinder his plan.

Courtesy Disney Art © DIsney

The trip did give Walt Disney an idea to partner with Seagrams and construct a Rocket to the Moon ride on the famous tower. Walt Disney envisioned a ride similar to what he constructed in his Disney Park Tomorrowland for the Niagara Falls toursits.

According to Chad Denver Emerson and his book “Project Future: The Inside Story Behind the Creation of Disney World“, Disney was never able to agree on a licensing agreement with the Seagrams corporation and the Rocket to the Moon partnership never occurred.

So for a fleeting moment  Ontario was a possible location for the most successful theme park in the history of the world. Others have proposed theme parks at a close proximity to the Falls and Marineland Canada has been in operation for decades, but  nothing could compare to what a partnership of Disney World and Niagara Falls would have been.