Campaign to Save Niagara Falls

Date Range

1906-04-18/1906-04-18

Title

Campaign to Save Niagara Falls

What occurred

During the height of the conservation movement, Niagara Falls' tourism industry faced a lot of backlash from both Niagara inhabitants, and national advocates. This political cartoon from 1906, reflects the negative attitude that surrounded how the falls were being treated. The carnivalistic approach and atmosphere around the falls that had grown for the past century was seen as a disservice to the falls' natural beauty and value, and it detracted from the respect that the fall's deserved. During this time period there was a large political movement to protect the falls from this commodification and exploitation, not just from the tourism industry, but also from the newly established power plants. Public frustration grew in Niagara Falls due to the proximity that the power plant had to the falls, in addition to the amount of water that was diverted from the falls; and at the time, no governmental limits had been set that protected the falls from over-diversion of water. While the cartoon mocks the poor taste of the tourism industry, it make a bigger commentary when depicting the falls as completely dried up, with diversion pipes running through the gorge. The political movement to save Niagara Falls from the greed of commodification resulted in a 1909 treaty with Canada that moderately protected the falls from completely running dry by limiting water diversion to 20,000 cubic ft/s for the US, and 36,000 cubic ft/s for Canada, which was more acceptable to conservationists than no limits whatsoever, as the value in producing energy for many people outweighed the desires of the falls' advocates.

Location

570 Whirlpool St, Niagara Falls, NY 14303

Image Citation

DREISZIGER, N. F. “The Campaign to Save Niagara Falls and the Settlement of United States-Canadian Differences, 1906-1911.” New York History, vol. 55, no. 4, New York State Historical Association, 1974, pp. 437–58, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43460146.

Student name(s)

Thomas Schrader