Niagara Falls: An Unnatural Wonder

by Laura Thipphawong

This article is not meant as an indictment of the residents, tourists, business proprietors, or admirers of Niagara Falls. Rather, it's meant to showcase the long history of decisions and events that have led to the current state of an iconic natural landmark and pose the question: Is this the necessary fate of all natural wonders, and is this what we want for Georgian Bay?

Niagara Falls is a unique natural landmark, the largest waterfall in North America, straddling the border of Canada and the US, with eponymous cities on each side. While once considered a place of raw natural beauty, it became a symbol of the New World – a singular place in nature and one of endless possibilities for development. With the industrial revolution granting ease of access, and a long history of aggressive promotion, the land surrounding the falls became one of the most popular tourist destinations on the continent. The Canadian and US cities are populated by fewer than 100,000 people and 50,000, respectively, but as of 2024, the two towns combined see a rough total of 22 million visitors a year (the majority on the Canadian side) – a number representing the culmination of more than two centuries of both strategic and inadvertent marketing.

Family in front of Horseshoe Falls in Niagara Falls, Ontario, circa 1860s - Photo courtesy of the Rjjksmusem

A Brief History Lesson

The Late Modern Era is a period that began during the French Revolution, spanned the 19th century, and ended after World War II. It was a time marked by industrialization, urbanization, population boom, and ideas of a shifting view towards nature. Where once the Romantics and the Transcendentalists had seen the existence of God in nature, the Modernists viewed nature as terror and chaos. In contrast to the objective order of the city, the wilderness was a place of darkness and dangerous beauty, a place that could be tamed, conquered, and even capitalized on by humankind. European artists began painting large-scale landscapes of the sublime, the concept of fear and reverence in art as depicted through subjects such as sprawling wilderness and vast waters. These images of nature were awe-inspiring and reminded people of their minute existence within an undiscovered world. For Europeans immigrating to North America – the New World – perhaps no other landmark encompassed the sublime quite so well as Niagara Falls.

Frederic Edwin Church - Niagara Falls, 1857, Part of the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, Online Collection 

Though situated on Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe land and inhabited by their people, the first Europeans to document the falls did so as a New Discovery, the power and grandiose scale of which soon became legend and inspired ongoing expeditions to the region. It wasn't until the rapid expansion of the American rail system, however, along with the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825, that the site was opened to droves of tourists, leading to an unchallenged period of economic exploitation. Commercial industry proliferated – the competition was cutthroat, allowing rent to skyrocket, and the fight for tourist dollars to devolve into an image of shameless and sensationalist consumerism now unfortunately synonymous with Niagara Falls. Documentarian Ken Burns described Niagara Falls in light of its mass exploitation and overdevelopment as a "huckster's paradise." French writer and historian Alexis de Tocqueville urged a friend in 1831 to visit the falls before it was too late, before it was spoiled.

The Virality of a Natural Wonder

Theodosia Burr and Joseph Alston are credited as the couple who started Niagara Falls down the path that would eventually lead to its moniker: the Honeymoon Capital of the world. Burr, the daughter of future US Vice President Aaron Burr, and Alston a wealthy businessman, took a bridal tour from Albany to Niagara Falls in 1801 immediately after their wedding. With social status likely factoring into their plausible influence on other high-status and wealthy individuals, others soon followed suit. Elizabeth Patterson and Jerome Bonaparte (brother of Napoleon) took their bridal tour to Niagara Falls in 1804. By 1945, Holiday Magazine noted "visits of more than nine thousand touring honeymoon couples" yearly. These numbers seem quaint by today's standards of internet influence and personal branding on social media. Selfies at Horseshoe Bend at the Colorado River are posted online in the thousands per day. Vloggers and TikTok personalities film themselves desecrating ancient geological formations, only to inspire their peers to do the same. National Park Service staff in Zion National Park in Utah find themselves having to clean graffiti off petroglyphs drawn by the Anasazi and Paiute people over one thousand years ago because the number of visitors, over 5 million annually, makes it impossible for staff to catch every vandal before it's too late.  

Petroglyphs in Zion National Park accessible to hikers on one of the trails maintained by the National Parks staff. Photo courtesy of Laura Thipphawong

The Consequences

Like most environments, cities and towns will often experience, as years go by, a growth in population, development, culture, and economy. When this growth is measured on par with the simultaneous growth of capacity management, these places can thrive as communities while preserving the natural landscape and resources. When the influx of tourism and population growth is rapid and contrived, communities inevitably experience issues such as overcrowding, seasonal disparity in the job market, and an increase in low-wage jobs combined with a rise in rent, real estate, and the cost of living. Many tourist towns deal with skewed political influence, where the benefit of the tourist industry is prioritized over the citizens. From an environmental standpoint, pollution, such as air-quality degradation, excessive noise and traffic, excessive waste, and degraded water quality, are among the inevitable consequences of disproportionately high levels of tourism.

Fortunately, initiatives have been implemented to remediate some of the negative results of development in the Niagara Falls region. In 1987, the Government of Canada designated the Niagara River as an area of concern, with "Eight out of 14 beneficial use impairments (BUIs) identified, which measure the environmental, human health or economic impact of poor water quality." Since then, steps have been taken to address the significant damage to the land and extreme levels of hazardous pollutants in the water. Conservation efforts are ongoing, but the changes to the landscape are permanent, and the balance between humans and nature in Niagara Falls will likely never be restored.