Many of us have heard about this amazing wonder of the world. However, does everyone know where Niagara Falls is located - the most famous and one of the most beautiful in the world? And it is located on the Niagara River, directly between Canada and the United States of America. Almost Niagara Falls is related to both states, partially located in America, and in Canada, in Ontario. 130 kilometers from this place is the largest Canadian city - Toronto.
Here, on the border of Canada and the USA, the largest freshwater lakes of the Earth are located: Ontario, Upper, Huron, Michigan and Erie, and the water of four of them flows into the Niagara River. The height of Niagara Falls reaches fifty-three meters. The roar of its waters can be heard at a fairly decent distance. The word itself, by which the river is named, is of Indian origin and literally means "water that rumbles" or "rumbling water." At night, her buzz spreads for miles.
An interesting Native American legend is associated with Niagara Falls. It says that in ancient times, a very beautiful Indian girl was engaged to one man. Her name was Lelavalae, and as a wife of an Indian warrior, her father promised the girl. But she did not love her betrothed at all: her heart belonged to the God of Thunder, whose dwelling was at the foot of the Horseshoe Falls. Here you need to make some clarifications. The fact is that Niagara Falls includes not one, but as many as three separate waterfalls. This is the aforementioned “Horseshoe”, as well as “Fata” and “American”.
Horseshoe Falls is also known as Canadian. So, the heroine of the Indian legend - Lelavalaya - loved God by the name of He-No, and she hated the Indian warrior. Then she rushed from a height in a turbulent water stream to her lover. Since then, He-No and Lelavalaya have been inseparably living together. Niagara Falls, more precisely, the sanctuary of God under the Horseshoe, has become an eternal refuge for their souls. This is a favorite place for tourists. At the same time, power engineers also have their interest here.
For at least thirty years, residents of nearby villages have benefited from the benefits of electricity generated from one of the waterfalls. In fact, to date, grandiose structures have been built, thanks to which electricity is supplied even to the American city, which is at a decent distance from this place - 32 kilometers. It's about buffalo. Gigantic pipelines are built underground that are connected to turbines. The power currently generated by power plants reaches 1.5 Gigawatts.
Niagara Falls is also attractive for fans of various kinds of extreme sports. Back in 1829, someone Sem Pach actually repeated the feat of the legendary Native American girl. Taking the nickname "Yankee Leaper", he jumped from the "Horseshoe" and went down in history as the first person to do something similar. Naturally, such a feat did not go unnoticed, and since then many brave souls have tried to repeat it.
Admittedly, many desperate heads succeeded, but not all. At the very beginning of the twentieth century, a woman named Annie Taylor threw herself into the streams of a waterfall in a barrel. She was sixty-three years old and she remained alive and unharmed. Unfortunately, not all of the fourteen followers of Sema Pach and Annie Taylor were lucky. Some of them drowned, while others were seriously injured. In fairness, it should be said that such “exploits” are not encouraged by the laws of the United States and Canada, and surviving heroes are subject to substantial fines.
Here are some more interesting facts: due to erosion, the shape of the channel of the waterfalls changed, and therefore, in 1969, work was carried out to strengthen the slopes. The river was launched in a different direction, and Niagara Falls was dry for several months. Tourists visiting this place have truly indelible impressions.
The phenomenon of Niagara Falls is so mesmerizing that it is simply difficult to look away from it. For lovers of such beauties, special bridges were built here above and below the river.