Ever since Joncaire dug a little trench at the rapids just above the falls to divert some water power, the question of abasement of the grandeur of the cataracts came into existence.
Would the use of the water power for industrial profit ruin the effect of humans gazing on God's great handiwork? And would the profit of stunters using the falls as a powerful backdrop prostitute the famous waterfall?
The question arose again recently when famed Nik Wallenda proposed walking across the gorge on a tightrope, something accomplished by several people in the past. Officials on this side of the boarder have approved the stunt, but Canadian officials turned thumbs down.
Some effete purists who worship at the altar of Olmsted claim such a stunt would detract from the ethereal beauty of the falls, as has the diversion of water for electrical power.
The late city historian Edward T. Williams took up this question in a 1913 article regarding diversion.
He said, "The question that largely fills the public mind nowadays is that of the conservation of natural resources. The movement really seems to have had its inception in the electrical development at Niagara Falls."
Joncaire used the water power to turn a water wheel that powered a saw. Later, pioneer settler Augustus Porter took over Joncaire's ditch, improved it and, in 1805, built a sawmill, and two years later added a grist mill.
Industrial expansion bloomed, and the falls and environs became a hotbed of smoky, noisy factories. This blight was cleared when the state bought up the land around the falls and created the Niagara Reservation and Prospect Park.
Since then, the use of the water for power has been the subject of public concern and governmental regulation. Officials were faced with the question of weighing the beauty with the vast benefits of power.
Williams, while noting the need for water diversion regulation, fell squarely on the side of power.
He wrote, "The power development at Niagara Falls has been of untold value to the nation."
The Porter family first tried to expand the use of power by attracting industry, but this really didn't fly until Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse figured out how to transmit electricity over long distances and to generate a ton of power.
Williams added, "It has been well stated that the effect of the great electrical development at Niagara Falls has been to lessen the hardships of human labor."
In the early years of the 20th century, the federal government took note of the problem at Niagara Falls, and formed with Canada the International Waterways Commission. This body studied and made recommendations, later adopted, to regulate the amount of water from the Niagara River that could be diverted for power purposes.
The commission reported to the Secretary of War. At that time, the position was held by William H. Taft, who held hearings in Niagara Falls. In his report, Taft, later to become president, wrote that the commission studied "the amount of water which could be withdrawn" from the river "without substantial injury to the cataract as one of the great natural beauties of the world."
During that same period, New York state geologist Dr. John M. Clark, long involved in the preservation of the falls, wrote, "I have reached the conclusion that with the diversion of water the scenic grandeur of the falls will not be affected substantially or perceptibly to the eye."
Williams added, "And the passage of the years has confirmed this statement, although the agitators and dispensers of hysterics living at a distance and depending upon hearsay evidence continue to assert to the contrary."
He concluded, "Finally, it can be stated that the residents of the city of Niagara Falls are naturally the most jealous of the great cataracts and they would be the first to protest if there was a likelihood of the destruction or perceptible injury of the greatest work of nature."
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | Jan. 24 2012 |