RIVER'S POWER AND CANAL TRAVEL

June 4^th

I know I said I wanted to get out of the Florida heat but this is cold enough ….. 50’s and rainy.  I’ve now pulled out my sweaters that I packed away under the bed and am dressing in layers.  Billy met Oliver an eleven month old Wheaton Terrier and they had lots of fun playing. 

Since it isn’t a great day to view the falls, so we, including Billy, headed out to the “country” heading towards Lockport to see the Erie Canal.    We did drive down to Niagara State Park to see where we will go for the Falls.  It’s quite commercial, touristy, hooking into every dollar.  We’ll deal with that tomorrow.

We traveled along the Robert Moses highway which allowed several nice viewing stops of the Niagara Gorge.    

Our first stop was the whirlpool section of Niagara River.  It all began in the ice age as St David’s gorge cut by a river with falls similar to the Niagara.  Approximately 7500 years ago the Falls of the Niagara River intersected the sediment-filled St David’s Gorge and flushed out part of the soft sediment filling creating this elbow shaped section of the river known as the whirl pool.  Water circulates through this section counter clockwise diving under the incoming stream to continue on down the river.  Small water fall on left is Colts Creek.

Narrow gorge, rapidly descends  52’ in less than one mile resulting in a 22 mph speed of water at the whirlpool rapids.  These 35’ deep, the Class VI rapids are unnavigable and considered among the most dangerous in the world.  

 Guess I won’t be rafting here anytime soon.

We continued toward Lockport to view the Erie Canal.  Although we were driving through the Niagara wine country, Dave, apparently, had a bad wine taste experience the other day in Ohio.  Since it is foremost in his memory,  he was not in the mood for wine tasting.  He claims he’ll get over it.

ERIE CANAL   Locks 34 and 35

The Erie Canal travels about 363 miles from Albany, New York on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York at Lake Erie completing navigable water from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes.  The canal contains 36 locks encompassing an elevation differential of 565 feet.  This canal officially opened in 1825.

This is the original canal which is now used as a spillway.  It sits to the right of the canal above.

Bypassing many, many wineries, we headed back to Niagara Falls and stopped in at the Power Vista where all this power is being generated from the river.

Yes, it's still cold outside - especially for whimpy Floridians

Beautiful view down the Niagara River

Bridge to Canada??

Heading back down the road we stopped at Devil's Hole just downstream from the Niagara Power Plant.

Power, Power, Power - it's all about the POWER!!!

WHAT DID I LEARN TODAY?

 Why is it called French Indian War?

 The Tuscarora Indians whose tribal lands we crossed are part of the Iroquoian tribes.  The six nations of the Iroquois are Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga and Seneca.  Since their original homeland was upstate New York between the Adirondack Mountains and Niagara Falls, it’s no coincidence that the tribal names are also the names of the towns scattered across this region.  

Back in the day (1700's) they were enemies of the Algonquians vying for the same plots of land.  The Algonquians  were siding with the French so when it came down to choosing between the French in Canada and the English in the US, the Iroquois sided with the English during the French Indian Wars.  Between 1752 and 1764 squirmishes and then war broke out between the French and English. over, of all things, land!

 In 1752, the Marquis Duquesne was made governor-general of New France with specific instructions to take possession of the Ohio Valley, removing all British presence from the area.The French claimed the watersheds of the Mississippi and St Lawrence Rivers including the Great Lakes and Ohio River Valley and the English were encroaching over the Appalachian mountains.  In 1754 George Washington (the very one) sent a letter to the French asking that they remove themselves, which of course, went over well! 

In 1756 war was declared but by the Treaty of Paris, February 10, 1763, all of North America east of the Mississippi, other than New Orleans, was given to the British. The French relinquished New Orleans and west of the Mississippi to Spain in compensation for Spain’s surrender of Florida to the British.

So, why was it called French Indian War when it was really French & British????

Wars were named after the monarch on the throne.  King George was sitting monarch but already had a war going on with his name attached to it “George’s War”, so they came up with French Indian War or Seven Year War.  Either way …. It’s a war!

Niagara Power & the Indians

We visited the VISTA Power to learn how the Niagara Power Plant harnesses and uses the water to generate a phenomenal amount of electricity.  In the process, also learned that in order to build this project, in 1960, 550 acres of Tuscarora Indian Reservation land was taken by eminent domain under the Federal Power Act for the hydroelectric power project.  It was used to build the 1900 acre, 22 billion US gallon reservoir. 

A brochure in the plant speaks to their continued unhappiness about this situation.

It was another great day!!!

LIFE IS GOOD!