Situated between the state of New York and the province of Ontario, Niagara Falls is one of the most spectacular natural wonders on the North American continent. The falls are on the Niagara River, which flows from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. The falls are among the most enduring landmarks of North America, from the legendary power which awed Native Americans and European explorers to their standing among the most visited tourist attractions in the world. This special examines the natural and commercial history of the falls and their role in the development of North American culture, high and low.

Students will analyze the formation of the Niagara Falls and the effects of the falls on American and Canadian history, their role in the industrial development of the 19th and 20th centuries, and the advent of tourism. Students will be able to examine and compare natural events and human-influenced events, and how they combine to create the history of the falls.

Niagara: A History of the Falls would be useful for classes on American History, Canadian History, Natural History, Environmentalism, Science, Geography and Commerce. It is appropriate for middle school and high school.

• ambitious
• aura
• clamor
• de facto
• devout
• disoriented
• enthralled
• improbable
• literally
• lucrative
• matronly
• maverick
• mystics
• navigable
• posterity
• procure
• rapture
• retorts
• sublime
• transfixed
• treacherous

1. Niagara Falls is one of nature's greatest natural wonders. What are some of the others?

2. Many who see the falls for the first time experience an emotional response. What are some of these emotions? Why do the falls evoke such responses?

3. Annie Edson Taylor was the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel, a legendary stunt. Why did she risk her life to do so?

4. Who was "Red the River Man?" How did he earn his living?

5. When we think of agents of history (those that cause history to happen, we usually think of people. But geography can also be a cause of history. How have the Niagara Falls been agents of history?

6. Father Louis Hennepin, the first European to view the falls, exaggerated in his description of the falls for his European readers. Why?

7. What are the origins of the falls?

8. How did the turbulence of the falls reflect the wildness of the New World?

9. Niagara Falls remains one of the world's most popular tourist attractions. Why and when did it become a popular destination for tourists?

10. What is irony? What are some of the ironies of the falls?

1. Design broadside advertising the death-defying feat of Annie Edson Taylor.

2. Create a 19th century guidebook for Niagara Falls' tourists.

3. Research the Love Canal crisis of the 1970s. How did this tragedy help to raise environmental awareness?

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Air Dates

• January 13, 2004
• January 14, 2004
• June 22, 2004
• June 23, 2004