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9 September 2012

Hydropower at Niagara Falls: The Schoellkopf Power Station

Niagara Falls has a long history of power generation, from the earliest canals of the mid-19th century to today’s massive hydroelectric stations. Nowadays, most of the process is hidden from visitors to the Falls; the tunnels and canals on either side of the border are either hidden or eclipsed by other development, and the stations themselves are far enough down the river that some visitors never see them. You can take tours of bits of the stations, but the tours are very contained and only ever visit small bits of the buildings. There is, however one place where you can see part of the historical aspect of hydroelectric power at the Falls – and what happens when natural processes interfere with man-made constructions.

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1 August 2012

Niagara terroir

No, nothing to do with the thrill of going over the Falls in a barrel, or anything like that. I’m talking about terroir – the combination of geography, geology and climate that contributes to a favorable environment for growing something. In this case, grapes! The Niagara frontier is one of the biggest wine producing regions in the US and Canada, and last week I had the chance to sample wines from the Canadian side of things.

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10 February 2010

A local waterfall in winter

Of course, local for me means Niagara Falls. I took a trip up on Saturday to get myself outdoors for a little while, and while I’m pretty sure no important parts of me were permanently frozen, it was effing cold up there. (Not very snowy, though. It’s pretty ironic that I moved away from the Washington DC area, and they’re now poised to get more snow than Buffalo this year. …

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22 September 2008

Don’t fall in! Field trip to Niagara Gorge

Thanks for all the comments on the last entry…I’m working out my problems, really! And you’ve all been very helpful. (And thanks to Silver Fox for the “Arte y Pico” award! I’ve always wanted a cool swoopy angel trophy. Now I’ll have to start thinking about who to pass it on to…) However, I feel I’ve slacked off long enough and it’s time to start writing about geology again. I …

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