3 Historical Facts About Niagara Falls Canada?
3 historical facts about niagara falls canada?
The name "Niagara" (Iroquois Nation pronunciation "Nee-ah-GAh-rah") is said to originate from an Iroquois word "Onguiaahra" meaning "The Strait." The region's original inhabitants were the Ongiara, an Iroquois tribe named the Neutrals by French settlers, who found them helpful in mediating disputes with other tribes. A number of figures have been suggested as first circulating an eyewitness description of Niagara Falls. Frenchman Samuel de Champlain visited the area as early as 1604 during his exploration of Canada, and members of his party reported to him the spectacular waterfalls, which he described in his journals. Finnish-Swedish naturalist Pehr Kalm explored the area in the early 1700s and wrote of the experience. The consensus honoree is Belgian Father Louis Hennepin, who observed and described the Falls in 1677, earlier than Kalm, after traveling with explorer Ren Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, thus bringing the Falls to the attention of Europeans. Further complicating matters, there is credible evidence that French Jesuit Reverend Paul Ragueneau visited the Falls some 35 years prior to Hennepin's visit, while working among the Huron First Nation in Canada. Jean de Brebeuf also may have visited the Falls, while spending time with the Neutral Nation. Man and woman on Canadian side of Niagara Falls, circa 1858During the 18th century tourism became popular, and by mid-century, it was the area's main industry. Napoleon Bonaparte's brother Jrme visited with his bride in the early 19th century. Demand for passage over the Niagara River led in 1848 to the building of a footbridge and then Charles Ellet's Niagara Suspension Bridge. This was supplanted by German-born John Augustus Roebling's Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge in 1855. After the American Civil War, the New York Central railroad publicized Niagara Falls as a focus of pleasure and honeymoon visits. With increased railroad traffic, in 1886, Leffert Buck replaced Roebling's wood and stone bridge with the predominantly steel bridge that still carries trains over the Niagara River today. The first steel archway bridge near the Falls was completed in 1897. Known today as the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge, it carries vehicles, trains, and pedestrians between Canada (through Canadian Customs Border Control) and the U.S.A. just below the Falls. In 1941 the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission completed the third current crossing in the immediate area of Niagara Falls with the Rainbow Bridge, carrying both pedestrian and vehicular traffic between the two countries and Canadian and U.S. customs for each country. After the First World War, tourism boomed again as automobiles made getting to the Falls much easier. The story of Niagara Falls in the 20th century is largely that of efforts to harness the energy of the Falls for hydroelectric power, and to control the development on both sides that threaten the area's natural beauty.
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Fort du Portage / Fort Little Niagara
"Fort Little Niagara," built above the Falls of Niagara by French traders and military men, was once considered the third-most important fortification in New France, after Quebec and Fort Niagara. Built by Daniel de Joncaire in 1750 at the southern terminus of the Niagara Portage, the French burned the barracks and destroyed the fort in 1759 as British forces lay siege to Niagara in the French and Indian War. The Old Stone Chimney survived this fire. British forces claimed victory at Fort Niagara in July 1759. The Portage and its forts also reverted to British control.
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Niagara Falls Museum
The Niagara Falls Museum is founded by Thomas Barnett, an Englishman from Birmingham, in 1827. It is best known as the oldest Canadian museum and for having housed the mummy of Ramesses I for 140 years before its return to Egypt in 2003. The building has undergone several vocational changes and building refurbishments in its history.
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Places to stay between Niagara Falls and Washington DC?
Philadelphia is roughly midway between New York and DC. Buffalo is not too far from Niagara Falls. As for hotel chains, Holiday Inn and Best Western are the best. Days Inn and Super 8 are cheaper alternatives. In DC visit the various Smithsonian Museums, Zoo, Spy Museum, Old Post Office Pavilion, Dupont Circle, and Washington Monument. In Philadelphia visit the art museum and Liberty Bell. New York has endless attractions. Among them are Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Chinatown, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Natural History
