What are these foundations at Niagara Falls?

[jinman]

Things sure have changed since I was there in 1966. Does anyone know how far back the falls have eroded since then?

Here's an aerial of both falls I took from the helicopter.

 

[Heywood Jannockitov]

Cool pictures Jinman, you can see the standpipe in the middle of the round surge tank. Surge water would shoot up that middle pipe like a geyser. Then the water would exit through the spillway pipes around the perimeter. There is no shortage of really interesting man-made stuff as well as the obvious natural attraction. Growing up in the Niagara Region, the Falls themselves were always just taken for granted, it is the "other" stuff that I like, such as all of the hydro-electric installations, canals, ruins etc.

 

[jinman]

Cool pictures Jinman, you can see the standpipe in the middle of the round surge tank. Surge water would shoot up that middle pipe like a geyser. Then the water would exit through the spillway pipes around the perimeter. There is no shortage of really interesting man-made stuff as well as the obvious natural attraction. Growing up in the Niagara Region, the Falls themselves were always just taken for granted, it is the "other" stuff that I like, such as all of the hydro-electric installations, canals, ruins etc.

Graham, I guess your being born in 1956 made you very aware of the powerplant collapse on the American side as you grew up. That must have been a sight to see from the Canadian side and a terror to those working at the powerplant. The fact that only one person died is amazing.

I too like the features of the canals running from the intake to the powerplant and the reservoir lake for catching additional flow at night. I would have loved to tour that facility before it was shut down. Even now it must be a thrill to imagine what it was like.

 

[MossRoad]

We were there in September and I wondered what those things were, too. Looked like old factory buildings from where I saw them. Taking good pictures of the falls is kinda hard these days if you want to just show the natural stuff. Most of my pics have casinos and hotels in them.

Chuck

One of the times we were there they were shooting a movie there and all of the man made stuff around the falls was covered in camo netting! It made for great pictures.

 

[Heywood Jannockitov]

Graham, I guess your being born in 1956 made you very aware of the powerplant collapse on the American side as you grew up. That must have been a sight to see from the Canadian side and a terror to those working at the powerplant. The fact that only one person died is amazing.

I too like the features of the canals running from the intake to the powerplant and the reservoir lake for catching additional flow at night. I would have loved to tour that facility before it was shut down. Even now it must be a thrill to imagine what it was like.

Absolutely Jinman, in fact, a sharp-eyed observer, when looking from the Cdn. side at the gorge wall on the US side, just down-stream of the Rainbow Bridge you can still see a bit of the remains of the collapsed Schoellkopf GS. A near vertical stone wall is visible which stood behind plant 1, and to the right of that, at the waterline you can see the tailraces of the collapsed plant 2. The generators and everything else is still buried under all that rubble, which is now growing trees on it. The massive Robert Moses plant at Lewiston replaced it.

As you mentioned, both the Moses and Adam Beck GS employ holding reservoirs with pump-generating stations to draw extra water off-peak (at night) to fill the reservoirs, then during the day with the extra demand, the water is released and the energy is re-captured without increasing amount of water diverted from going over the falls. There is a US-Canada treaty that limits the amount of water that can be diverted from the upper river to ensure an adequate flow over the falls for tourism.

If you think about it, these reservoirs are an evolution of the surge tanks used in the old OPGS plant. Someone must have thought, "Hey, why can't we utilize this excess water that is collected to generate more power."

Would have been cool to tour these old facilities. Unfortunately none of the Canadian plants were open to tours. The US side Robert Moses plant is though. When I was much younger, me and some friends tried to get into the old Toronto Power GS after it closed - around '73. We got into the forebay hall but were kind of freaked out by the place, it is actually pretty scary inside. Anyway, we left and now even the windows are sealed up and it is fenced off. There is talk of making one of them, TP or Rankine plant (the other plant that is visible above the falls into a museum.

Jinman, if you REALLY want to be amazed by the "underground" world at Niagara, you have to check out this link. It is AWESOME.

the Vanishing Point

Specifically, check out the 3 Niagara plants:

Ontario Power Company Hydroelectric Plant
Toronto Power Company Hydroelectric Plant
William Birch Rankine Power Station

The latter two were above the falls and had deep wheelpits excavated under them where water fell through penstocks to the turbines at the bottom. Long vertical driveshafts drove the generators which were at ground level. The outflow exited through a tunnel bored from the base of the wheelpit to behind the falls.
The Toronto Power tunnel portal is hidden behind the curtain of water flowing over the Horseshoe Falls but the Rankine portal is visible (looks like a train tunnel) between the Ontario Power GS building and the Scenic Tunnel observation platform. You can see it better from the US side or the Maid of the Mist. A similar tunnel portal on the US side exists which handled the outflow from the Edward Dean Adams plant. I remember as a kid wondering where this high-speed water shooting out from these tunnels was coming from. Now there is barely a trickle, mostly from ground water seepage.

 

[dfkrug]

if you REALLY want to be amazed by the "underground" world at Niagara, you have to check out this link.

Interesting. I was there in 69 and 93, but never got to take any tours. I
would have loved that. (I did the Hoover Dam tour once and highly
recommend it to anyone.)

 

[jinman]

Jinman, if you REALLY want to be amazed by the "underground" world at Niagara, you have to check out this link. It is AWESOME.

the Vanishing Point

Specifically, check out the 3 Niagara plants:

Ontario Power Company Hydroelectric Plant
Toronto Power Company Hydroelectric Plant
William Birch Rankine Power Station

The latter two were above the falls and had deep wheelpits excavated under them where water fell through penstocks to the turbines at the bottom. Long vertical driveshafts drove the generators which were at ground level. The outflow exited through a tunnel bored from the base of the wheelpit to behind the falls.
The Toronto Power tunnel portal is hidden behind the curtain of water flowing over the Horseshoe Falls but the Rankine portal is visible (looks like a train tunnel) between the Ontario Power GS building and the Scenic Tunnel observation platform. You can see it better from the US side or the Maid of the Mist. A similar tunnel portal on the US side exists which handled the outflow from the Edward Dean Adams plant. I remember as a kid wondering where this high-speed water shooting out from these tunnels was coming from. Now there is barely a trickle, mostly from ground water seepage.

Graham, that is an amazing link. It's easy to see the author has a strong attachment to the power generating plants and hates to see them fall into disrepair and eventual oblivion. What a shame to just let them be lost.

Your link led me to click on one of the pictures to the right and get to this database of pictures and descriptions. I've been looking at pictures for hours and I'm sure it will be days before I get through all the images for even the first time. This is history at its best.

The first time we went to Niagara Falls, we were all agog with the spectacle of the falls. Should I be lucky enough to make it back, I will surely be all up and down the river while trying to get pictures of what remains of a history that is quickly fading. Thanks to you for opening my eyes to what is really there.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Graham, that is an amazing link. It's easy to see the author has a strong attachment to the power generating plants and hates to see them fall into disrepair and eventual oblivion. What a shame to just let them be lost.

Your link led me to click on one of the pictures to the right and get to this database of pictures and descriptions. I've been looking at pictures for hours and I'm sure it will be days before I get through all the images for even the first time. This is history at its best.

The first time we went to Niagara Falls, we were all agog with the spectacle of the falls. Should I be lucky enough to make it back, I will surely be all up and down the river while trying to get pictures of what remains of a history that is quickly fading. Thanks to you for opening my eyes to what is really there.

Jim, if you come back up to the Falls let me know and I will tag along with you as this stuff fascinates me. I have been playing on the site posted also. I love all the pictures from inside the plants as they currently sit.

 

[Heywood Jannockitov]

Graham, that is an amazing link. It's easy to see the author has a strong attachment to the power generating plants and hates to see them fall into disrepair and eventual oblivion. What a shame to just let them be lost.

Your link led me to click on one of the pictures to the right and get to this database of pictures and descriptions. I've been looking at pictures for hours and I'm sure it will be days before I get through all the images for even the first time. This is history at its best.

The first time we went to Niagara Falls, we were all agog with the spectacle of the falls. Should I be lucky enough to make it back, I will surely be all up and down the river while trying to get pictures of what remains of a history that is quickly fading. Thanks to you for opening my eyes to what is really there.

You're welcome Jim,

I've spent countless hours perusing the digital image collections there as well.
Jan Leak, the sys-admin for the Niagara Fall Public Library is thankful to the generosity of a few local citizens who obviously took preserving heritage so seriously. The reference material available is incredibly extensive.

It saddens me to think these plants are wasting away as well. What an extreme tourist attraction this would make! - Hiking down to the tailrace tunnel portal of the William B. Rankine GS, then making your way up the tunnel about 2000 feet to the draft conduit, where the water once blasted out of the sidewalls from discharge pipes leading from the turbine deck above.

Here's a page from the broken link that is not accessible from the vanishing point's main page.

The Vanishing Point: William B. Rankine G.S. Tailrace

 

[jinman]

It saddens me to think these plants are wasting away as well. What an extreme tourist attraction this would make! - Hiking down to the tailrace tunnel portal of the William B. Rankine GS, then making your way up the tunnel about 2000 feet to the draft conduit, where the water once blasted out of the sidewalls from discharge pipes leading from the turbine deck above.

Here's a page from the broken link that is not accessible from the vanishing point's main page.

The Vanishing Point: William B. Rankine G.S. Tailrace

By golly, I think I have a picture of the tailrace portal. I would not have known where to look if you had not posted. It's in the center of this photo at water level.

BTW: I can't tell you how I ended up with so many pictures, but I just hung my camera out the window of the helicopter and snapped everything in siight. I got a lot of stuff that just looked interesting. The reservoir in the second picture is an example. I just saw it and snapped a shutter on it.