Niagara Falls

                                                         

"Niagara Falls. This name is Mohawk. It means, according to Mrs. Kerr, the neck; the term being first useful to the portage or neck of earth, between lakes Erie and Ontario. It will be seen that the human neck, that is, according to the tangible words, his neck, is onyara. Red Jacket pronounced the word Niagara to me, in the spring of 1820, as if written O-ne-au-ga-rah."

Horseshoe Falls is the most powerful waterfalls (vertical height along with flow rate) in NORTH AMERICA. Niagara Falls forms the international border between the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of NEW YORK, also forming the southern end of the Niagara Gorge.

The features that became Niagara Falls were created by the Wisconsin glaciation about 10,000 years ago. The same forces also created the North American Great Leaks and the Niagara River. All were dug by a continental ice sheet that drove through the area, deepening some river channels to form lakes, and damming others with debris. Scientists argue that there is an old valley, buried by glacial drift, at the approximate location of the present Welland Canal.

 

 

NIAGARA FALLS AT NIGHT

There are differing theories as to the derivation of the name of the falls. According to Iroquoian scholar Bruce Trigger, "Niagara" is derived from the name given to a branch of the nearby residing native Neutral union, who are described as being called the "Niagagarega" people on several late 17th century French maps of the area.