NIAGARA, ON THE ROCKS!

   This is a very big day at Niagara Falls.
   But it's no Honeymoon!
   March 29th is "Niagara Falls Runs Dry
Day!"
   Local residents, and tourists, will be
celebrating an event that took place on
March 29th of 1848!
   Ice blocked the river on that day and
literally shut off the falls!
   I saw the same thing! But it was in
1969! Yep! I saw Niagara Falls turned
off!
   My wife and I were on our Honeymoon
at the time and Niagara Falls was on our
list of places we wanted to see.
   Imagine our surprise when we got there
and found the falls, at least the American
falls, dry!
    It wasn't some David Copperfield trick
or the biggest plumbing problem you
ever saw. It was science.
    A team of engineers was conducting a
survey to determine how quickly the edge
of the falls was deteriorating. To do that
that had to stop the flow of water. So they
built a earth dam upstream and diverted
all of the river water over to the Canadian
falls.
    Any would be dare devil, thinking of
that old "over the falls barrel trick," probably
had second thoughts if he or she saw what's
really under those thousands of tons of
water that pour over the brink every second!
    People riding aboard the popular "Maid
of the Mist" got an up close view of boulders
as big as the iceberg that sank the Titanic!
    It was probably the biggest thing at the
Falls since 1953 when Marilyn Monroe
filmed a movie there!
    Of course the water is flowing again
these days. But the community, on both sides
of the border, is always looking for a reason
to celebrate. And you can be sure that none
of the pubs there will be "dry" today!
    I'll toss an ice cube or two in my Diet
Dr. Pepper and raise a toast to the falls
today!
    Hope you'll get there one of these days
and that all your NEWS is good!

             Niagara Falls 1969