Tunnel opened under Niagara Falls to offer unique views

A Whitewater wonder visited by everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Mark Twain, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for travelers from all over the world for at least two centuries. But until this year, a huge tunnel, hidden deep under the cascade, was closed to visitors. Now everything has changed. How to get into this fabulous tunnel, said the publication CNN.

The rocks below the giant triple waterfall, located on the border between the US state of New York and the Canadian province of Ontario, are dotted with chambers carved to harness the mighty forces of nature raging overhead.

And now, a 670-meter (2198-foot) tunnel built over a century ago on the Canadian side has been unveiled to show the amazing scale of these engineering marvels.

As of July 2022, it is part of the tours of the decommissioned Niagara Parks power plant, which began a year earlier.

The power plant, which operated from 1905 to 2006, diverted water from the mighty Niagara River to run giant generators that electrified regional industries and helped make the nearby port of Buffalo on the Great Lakes known as the City of Light.

The area around the falls, according to station guide Elena Zorich, was once a center of activity for businessmen who wanted to cash in on the use of hydroelectric power.

The Adams Hydroelectric Power Plant was the first to open, operating on the US side from 1895 to 1961. On the Canadian side, the Ontario Power Company operated from 1905 to 1999, and the Toronto Power Station from 1906 to 1974.

mixed architecture

Today, Niagara Parks is the world's only completely intact hydroelectric power plant of its time. Originally operated by Canada's Niagara Power Company, it used Westinghouse generators to create alternating current patented by inventor Nikola Tesla, cutting edge technology at the time.

The plant, as the tour guide Zorich explains to visitors, was built at a time when aesthetics dominated. Its rustic limestone façade and blue tiles were an attempt by New York architect Algernon Bell to harmonize the structure with the falls, she said.

Before reaching the tunnel, visitors to the power plant are shown a scale model of the massive engineering structures that were used to convert bubbling water into electricity.

Zorich shows where the water came from, where it flowed down a shaft that powered the turbines, and then where it went through a tunnel to a discharge point at the foot of the Horseshoe Falls, the largest of Niagara's three cascades.

Marcelo Gruosso, Senior Director of Design and Operations for the Niagara Parks Commission, has been involved with the project since its inception in 2017.

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“The plant started with two generators, and by 1924, all 11 generators that you see here today were installed,” he says. - Next to each generator is a "regulator" that regulates the flow of water to the turbine. An air brake in the regulator helps regulate the flow. They need exactly 250 rpm to get 25 hertz.”

One of a kind

A glass elevator takes visitors 55 meters down over six levels of infrastructure needed to generate hydroelectric power. At the bottom is a tunnel through which water came out.

The tunnel, almost eight meters high and six meters wide, is also a historical, one-of-a-kind attraction and is included in the price of the entrance ticket to the power plant.

“It took thousands of workers four years to dig the shale under the main generator room using flashlights, dynamite, picks and shovels,” says Gruosso.

“On the way down, the water turned the turbine blades,” says Gruosso. “They were connected to a 41-meter shaft that rose to the main floor and turned the rotor of the alternator.”

The tunnel's arched corridor has white chalk marks that reach almost to the top of the arched brick walls.

“You can see how high the water was rising,” he says. “The tunnel contained 71 gallons of water moving at nine meters per second.”

Built like a fortress, the gently curving tunnel is made up of four layers of brick and 18 inches of concrete and is surrounded by slate.

“It's amazing what they did without electricity,” Gruosso notes. “We did some minor repairs and added stone anchors to the arch to ensure structural integrity, but it is in very good condition. Maintenance has only been done twice since it was built, once in the 1950s and once in the 1990s.”

Unique view

Toward the end of the tunnel, the air begins to fill with a rumble. Natural light floods in as the walkway leads out to a 20-meter viewing platform at river level.

“Here the water from the tunnel flowed into the river. This is the best place to see the waterfall,” says Gruosso.

The platform also gives visitors the opportunity to watch tourist boats filled with passengers.

To complete your tour of the power plant, there's an evening show called Currents: Transforming Niagara's Energy. Lighting and sound effects outline the history of the power plant and include 3D projections of churning water, turbines and electrical sparks.

It takes about two hours to visit the power plant and the tunnel, but staying overnight is recommended for the evening show.

Also worth a visit is Niagara Boulevard, which runs along the Niagara River. Stops along the way include Whirlpool Lookout and the Sir Adam Beck Power Plant, a monolithic structure along the river that currently contributes to the southern Ontario electrical grid.

A trip to Niagara Falls is energizing in many ways. This is a place of natural beauty, but it can also make you think twice about the natural forces that continue to shape our modern lives.