Niagara Falls stopped flowing!

March 30, 1848

ON the morning of March 30, people woke up to an unaccustomed silence. The mighty Niagara Falls had stopped. No water flowed over the great cataract for 30 or 40 hours. People freaked out. The Falls were already a tourist attraction by 1848, and villages had grown up on both the US and Canadian sides of the river to accommodate the sightseeing throngs.

It was reported that a south-west gale blowing off of Lake Erie caused ice to jam and dam up at the mouth of the Niagara River, causing the water flow to be severely restricted or reduced to a trickle for approximately 30 to 40 hours.

So when the bed of the river was exposed, fish died, turtles floundered about. And taking a once in a lifetime opportunity, some people even walked on the river bottom and picked up exposed artefacts from the riverbed! However, by April 1, the river and falls had returned to normal.