Am I built more like a buffalo or a goose?

Rich, and sometimes bizarre, history of Niagara Falls offers food for thought

Sometimes the same people who do bad things are also capable of great things — if only by accident.

I visited Niagara Falls last week and had lunch with two Niagara Falls historians. Historians always have the best gossip.

They told me that in 1827, William Forsyth filled an ark (really just a big boat) with buffalo, two small bears, two raccoons, geese and an eagle. Then he sent it over the falls. Some of the animals broke free — the bears — and swam to safety. Of the animals that went over the falls, only the geese survived. Which is surprising because you would think the eagle would have stood the best chance.

This was a crapfest of biblical proportions.

Forsyth later went on to build a hotel in Niagara Falls. (To improve his business, he built a wall beside it that kept the view of the Falls for his patrons, which had to be demolished twice by the government.)

He went on to build an access-way to the tunnels under the falls. Long after Forsyth was driven out of the area, this access-way is still in use.

Stories like this remind me that sometimes the same people who do bad things are also capable of great things — if only by accident. Does this mean Donald Trump could accomplish something in his presidency? He’s certainly propelled the American Civil Liberties Union to a higher profile than they’ve had for years.

The historians also shared stories about the War of 1812. They described how mother of five Laura Secord protected her family and injured husband and provided important intel to the Canadian/British side by walking 32 kilometres in one day: I know, typical multi-tasking mom. She probably made it home in time to finish the laundry, cook dinner and make a batch of chocolates.

But my history-loving lunch companions stressed that the real heroes were the Indigenous people who fought for the British. It was their blood spilled to protect Canada — and a lot of it. The alliance with the British wasn’t perfect — the British abandoned Tecumseh and his warriors at the Battle of Thames. But on the other side, the Americans were pursuing a policy of “extirpation” in regards to Indigenous people. This meant not only would they burn a First Nation village to the ground, kill or drive out all the people, they would also dig up the bones of their dead to erase their memory from the lands. So, yeah, British it was. In June of this year, the Niagara Parks Commission, in co-operation with their community partners, built the Landscape of Nations monument (designed by artist Raymond Skye) to memorialize the bravery of the First Nations people. The landscape features a wampum belt tracing the history of the area, which began about 20,000 years before Canada 150. The landscape is no Brock’s Monument, which is pretty much the most phallic looking thing in the region (aside from the CN Tower), but it’s powerful nonetheless.

While at Niagara Falls, I checked out the American falls versus the Canadian side. There’s really no comparison. Its like comparing spray cheese to perfectly aged cheddar.

One of my friends asked me if I was tempted to jump over the falls. This I don’t understand at all. The falls are so stunning, its hard to believe you’d want to do anything other than just admire them. But apparently it’s a thing and many people have gone over the falls in its history — many in barrels but there’s been other types of basement-built contraptions. In the end it seems like only luck determined who survived and who didn’t.

So, before you follow that bizarre instinct, you need to ask yourself: Am I built more like a buffalo or a goose?