When — and Why — the Falls Stopped Flowing
Back in 1969, the Falls were “turned off.” Here’s why and how it happened.
Niagara Falls thrills visitors with a constant flow of wonder, but have you ever imagined a time when the Falls were not technically … the Falls? Believe it or not, it happened! In 1969, the iconic Falls transformed from thundering cascades to a silent cliff face over the Niagara Gorge when the mighty waters stopped flowing for the first time in some 12,000 years.
People power
The epic moment of history dates back to 1965 when the local Niagara Gazette reported that Niagara Falls and its status as a tourism wonder were in serious danger. This was all due to millennia of erosion along the Falls which, together with significant rockfalls in previous decades, had caused a pile of colossal boulders (known as a talus), to gather at its base. Totaling 3.5 million cubic feet and scaling up to ten stories high, at some points along the gorge the rubble actually halved the height of the America Falls. Worried that the natural wonder could gradually deteriorate — and eventually become a series of rapids — the newspaper prompted a campaign for action.
Photos courtesy of Russ Glasson
![Photos courtesy of Russ Glasson](https://niagara.imgix.net/images/main-images/4085873136_deb8e5dfa0_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=320&s=a19a9e0a697a9183c105ba4ba1db7f63 320w, https://niagara.imgix.net/images/main-images/4085873136_deb8e5dfa0_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=540&s=d19ea94261ba5973e5913b9d6b7cef06 540w, https://niagara.imgix.net/images/main-images/4085873136_deb8e5dfa0_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=768&s=d9bd5b9c80eb402d871cf2567b8e755a 768w, https://niagara.imgix.net/images/main-images/4085873136_deb8e5dfa0_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1024&s=fd5c9f5fb277bfb3a25fb0286c4bdefc 900w)
![](https://niagara.imgix.net/images/main-images/4085871284_d73a7df976_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=320&s=50e2857c1133f305420065389d0d982f 320w, https://niagara.imgix.net/images/main-images/4085871284_d73a7df976_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=540&s=6e5b4b2ac831bf51813aa751d882d00b 540w, https://niagara.imgix.net/images/main-images/4085871284_d73a7df976_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=768&s=e646d0fc5a5bdf12491d5900f037ccfa 768w, https://niagara.imgix.net/images/main-images/4085871284_d73a7df976_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1024&s=cf4ef0cebe303e4d36154b01c9d416d7 900w)
![](https://niagara.imgix.net/images/main-images/4085116607_32d414c027_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=320&s=ecabf232d360cf0e0b4dd21bd8173f20 320w, https://niagara.imgix.net/images/main-images/4085116607_32d414c027_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=540&s=81763fe7d6a2a6ad7ab901628555b3e4 540w, https://niagara.imgix.net/images/main-images/4085116607_32d414c027_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=768&s=667d763d18ff041d0a0efb64bb6d83f9 768w, https://niagara.imgix.net/images/main-images/4085116607_32d414c027_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1024&s=31c193d80b70d1de4af86733ebbf9a1e 900w)
![](https://niagara.imgix.net/images/main-images/4085873424_b232aa9306_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=320&s=1e7f191506960ab1439cf2ea1948eb5b 320w, https://niagara.imgix.net/images/main-images/4085873424_b232aa9306_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=540&s=c66c991d51c0522488f16f5e160dbae3 540w, https://niagara.imgix.net/images/main-images/4085873424_b232aa9306_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=768&s=d9e6e0abca7a312d1448cd6cd147c617 768w, https://niagara.imgix.net/images/main-images/4085873424_b232aa9306_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1024&s=7d88149866f0eda0c3a11437c5143fab 900w)
Saving the Falls
Following local outcry that the Falls could vanish, the International Joint Commission was set up between the U.S. and Canada and a master plan was set for one of the greatest ever feats of man–versus–nature. Starting June 9, 1969, and lasting three days, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers directed more than 1,000 trucks to dump rocks on a water passage between Goat Island and the Niagara Falls, New York mainland (just opposite where the DoubleTree Hilton sits today, in fact). 28,000 tons of rock were off-loaded in total, creating a 600-foot-wide cofferdam upstream of the Falls. Once watertight, this dam diverted the flow of the Niagara River from American Falls towards the Horseshoe Falls. Once the cofferdam was finally drained, the American Falls fell to a historic trickle!
![](https://niagara.imgix.net/images/main-images/dewatering_1969_1_Credit-Niagara-Falls-Public-Library.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=320&s=474c42a9fd328d141e6edfa9dee1e5ee 320w, https://niagara.imgix.net/images/main-images/dewatering_1969_1_Credit-Niagara-Falls-Public-Library.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=540&s=47dea02dc9053163a069cc2aff4d2dc8 540w, https://niagara.imgix.net/images/main-images/dewatering_1969_1_Credit-Niagara-Falls-Public-Library.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=768&s=fb4742768be2b12c7295ed600851ba8d 768w, https://niagara.imgix.net/images/main-images/dewatering_1969_1_Credit-Niagara-Falls-Public-Library.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1024&s=79375bc3de6057a8e593ec857601d790 900w)
Five months of wonder
In total, the American Falls remained closed for over five months as a team of expert geologists studied the rocks while workers, sent down in safety cages by crane, removed any unstable debris. Tourist numbers didn’t sink to a drip-drop, though — crowds of up to 100,000 curious visitors showed up to view the spectacle in the first week alone, many discovering some of countless coinage thrown over the Falls through the years.
As for those rockfalls? While the International Joint Commission ordered the removal of unstable boulders and installed rockfall sensors along the cliff-face, it was agreed that much of the rocks should be left in place so as not to interfere with natural conditions. November 25 finally saw the cofferdam deactivated and nature — and the mighty Niagara — finally retook its course.
![](https://niagara.imgix.net/images/main-images/dewatering_1969_3_Credit-Niagara-Falls-Public-Library.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=320&s=80cb8c083752d116c9b0413e7550f71d 320w, https://niagara.imgix.net/images/main-images/dewatering_1969_3_Credit-Niagara-Falls-Public-Library.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=540&s=bdfc5d61c1768de77917dbd927b00139 540w, https://niagara.imgix.net/images/main-images/dewatering_1969_3_Credit-Niagara-Falls-Public-Library.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=768&s=a87ace31cefbad7127256c82309a4cfe 768w, https://niagara.imgix.net/images/main-images/dewatering_1969_3_Credit-Niagara-Falls-Public-Library.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1024&s=03b03536f198a197decc122db6bcc3ac 900w)
A future dewatering?
You may think the events of 1965 were a one-off spectacle, never to be repeated again — but maybe not! Looking to the future, visitors may be fortunate enough to witness Niagara Falls being dewatered once again. Plans have been motioned to half the flow of the American Falls so that repair work can be carried out on two century-old bridges spanning Goat Island and the mainland. The project is awaiting funding approval by the State of New York, and it currently appears unlikely to occur in the next year or two. But some day in the near future, you may be able to gush over the American Falls — running dry!
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