Niagara Falls Frozen Over in 1911....WOW Beautiful Images.
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Image #3 is a scan of a picture postcard, originally hand-tinted, displayed on the Niagara Falls Public Library Web site. The card was postmarked August 25, 1911 (though the photograph probably wasn't taken in that year), and bore the following caption: "The cave of the Winds, gyved with a marvelous accumulation of ice and the great flow of water completely hidden by crystalline helmets. Such a sight is rarely to be witnessed, however for history records only three, the last time in 1886, when it is said, a million persons visited Niagara to see the marvelous exhibition of the ice king."
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The first in the set, a sepia-toned photograph listed as an Internet find on the website of the Niagara Falls Public Library, is of unknown date and origin, according to the documentation. It also appears on the Niagara Falls Live website, where its placement implies it was taken during the historic freeze of March 1848, when the falls actually "went dry" for a few days due to the formation of an ice dam on Lake Erie.
Historically, when this blanket of ice has spanned the entire Niagara River, the phenomenon has been known as the "ice bridge."
http://urbanlegends.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.cliftonhill.com/niagara%5Ffalls%5Fhistory/niagara%5Ffalls%5Fhistory%5Ficebridge/
Just as you see in the photos, people used to stroll and frolic on and around the frozen falls and even walk across the ice bridge, though no one has been allowed to do the latter since 1912, when the bridge unexpectedly broke apart and carried three tourists to their deaths.
More images and history at link
http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_niagara_falls_frozen2.htm
= new reply since forum marked as read
The large original can be found at:
http://www.shorpy.com/node/6883
click on "View Original Size" for the >600Kb original)
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The tremendous volume of water never stops flowing, However, the falling water and mist create ice formations along the banks of the falls and river. This can result in mounds of ice as thick as fifty feet. If the winter is cold for long enough, the ice will completely stretch across the river and form what is known as the "ice bridge". This ice bridge can extend for several miles down river until it reaches the area known as the lower rapids.
Until 1912,visitors were allowed to actually walk out on the ice bridge and view the Falls from below. February 24th of 1888 the local newspaper reported that at least 20,000 people watched or tobogganed on the ice. Shanties selling liquor, photographs and curiosities abounded. On February 4th 1912 the ice bridge broke up and three tourists lives were lost.
There can also be a great deal of "mini-icebergs" which flow down the Niagara River from frozen Lake Erie. The flow of ice has been reduced considerably by the yearly installation of the "ice-boom" on Lake Erie. The ice-boom is a long floating chain (2miles- 3.2 KM) of steel floats strung across the Niagara River from Buffalo New York to Fort Erie Ontario. It is set in place during the month of December and removed during the month of March or April. It is maintained by the New York State Power Authority. The ice boom helps prevent the ice from clogging the river and most importantly the hydroelectric companies water intakes.
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HOWEVER.... The flow of water was stopped completely over both falls on March 29th 1848 due to an ice jam in the upper river for several hours. This is the only known time to have occurred. The Falls did not actually freeze over, but the flow was stopped to the point where people actually walked out and recovered artifacts from the riverbed!
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