King of Power, Queen of Beauty

King of Power, Queen of Beauty

Tom Yots pauses along his morning walk through Niagara Falls State Park to admire the spectrum of color hovering over the world's second largest waterfall. "Look at that rainbow," says Yots, 60, of Niagara Falls, N.Y. (pop. 55,593), his voice muffled by the roar of cascading water. "Isn't it beautiful?"

Most every day for three years, the retired chemistry teacher and his cocker spaniel, Ollie, have made the four-mile hike through the nation's oldest state park, created in 1885 to preserve the beauty of Niagara Falls and to ensure people would always have access to them.

During the summer, the soothing sound of the tumbling water lulls Yots and his wife, Louise, to sleep. "We avoid using air conditioning at night because we want to hear the sound," says Yots, who lives five blocks from the falls.

The natural grandeur and awesome power of Niagara Falls long have calmed people's minds, stirred their emotions and sparked their imaginations. Through the years, ingenious industrialists have harnessed its roaring water for gristmills and factories, death-defying daredevils have challenged its plunging descent in wooden barrels, and love-struck couples have taken their marriage vows beside its mesmerizing pools.

"To me, there is something magical about a cathedral of nature," says the Rev. Gerard Fedell after marrying Michael and Wendy Riccione of Buffalo, N.Y., alongside the falls last August. "Everyone's senses are heightened when you stand next to the falls."

Each year, millions of sightseers—and thousands of honeymooners—watch with wonder as 750,000 gallons of water per second plunge 170 feet over a rock ledge that links Niagara Falls, N.Y., and its sister city in Canada. Spray from the thundering waters creates an omnipresent rainbow when sunlight penetrates the cloud of mist rising from the Niagara River gorge.

The river's roaring rapids were a source of power decades before the town of Niagara Falls was incorporated in 1892. Flour and paper mills began popping up around the falls in the 1850s to capture the energy of the rushing water. By 1881 the world's first hydroelectric power station, a few miles downstream, was generating electricity to fuel the nation's Industrial Revolution.

Another local technological achievement occurred in 1896 when inventor Nikola Tesla proved he could transmit electricity from Niagara Falls to Buffalo, a distance of 30 miles, using his alternating current (AC) system. Tesla's invention spurred a flurry of local industrial development and changed the world by allowing widespread distribution of electrical power.

Most of Niagara Falls' large industries are gone today, but the Niagara River, a 36-mile strait that drains water from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, remains a tremendous source of power. The state-owned Niagara Power Project in nearby Lewiston has a capacity to produce 2.4 million kilowatts of electricity, enough to supply 10 percent of the state's energy needs.

To generate the electricity, water is diverted from the river two miles upstream of the falls, conveyed through two underground conduits beneath the city of Niagara Falls, and fed into giant turbines five miles below the falls.

"Water is our fuel," says Norman Stessing, the Niagara Power Project's operations superintendent. "We can only generate more electricity if we have more fuel."

A 1950 agreement between the United States and Canada limits the amount of water for power generation by dividing the Niagara River's flow between downstream hydroelectric plants and the scenic values of Niagara Falls. The agreement ensures water always will pour over the world's second largest waterfall. It's a compromise that's seldom recognized, but easy to appreciate during a walk around the natural wonder.

"There used to be a sign just outside of town that said 'King of Power, Queen of Beauty' and I thought that was corny," says Yots, the city's historian. "Now that I've looked into it, I see that it's true."

Visit www.niagarafallsstatepark.com or call (716) 278-1796 for more information.

Stuart Englert is a Senior Editor at American Profile.

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