WE visited that power station and tunnel in November last year 2023 it was AWESOME , my wife's grampa worked there for 45 years.. Excellent video Tim !!

I really enjoyed this video! I was born and raised in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Your analogy at the end of this was spot on. As a kid, I didn't appreciate the Falls as I should have. It was basically my back yard. Now, as an adult I feel very fortunate to have grown up there. Your video was very insightful...thank you!

The class 5 rapids just downstream from the falls is immensely powerful and is worth seeing up close on the Canadian side. I can't imagine riding that jet boat thru there

I lived in Ontario for a couple of decades and never knew these things. Thank you for the well researched documentary . You’ve triggered an old passion , again thanks

What a good job you did. I've seen history hits, timeliness, national geographic, etc. Your simple production and common man approach and indepth info was most well done. Thank you

Great Video, I am a life-long resident of Buffalo, NY. Love the Falls and Great Lakes history..Keep them coming!

great video. your delivery along with the steady flow of maps and photos kept video interesting

Fun fact, they control the flow of water over the falls depending on the season. During the summer time, more water flows over the falls for the tourists to enjoy. During the winter, they divert more water to the power stations. Also, if anyone ever comes to Niagara Falls, and likes hiking, don't miss out on hiking into the gorge. It's phenomenal and amazing to be up close and personal to some rapids.

The first thing I learned today was about the Niagara Escarpment. I knew about it in the Niagara area, but had NO idea of the huge extent of it. That map of it was awesome!

The way you weave events and people and inventions and happenings together reminds me of the British "history" show called connections hosted by James Burke. This is a good example of the way that history and the sciences could be taught spurring inquisition by students to deeper understanding. We totally enjoy the way you wrap things together.

amazing that the collapse was caught on film................also amazing that ANYONE in the powerplant survived.

My mother was in Castle Loma tunnel halfway to the horse stables when the 1965 black out happened. They thought they shut the light off on them by mistake at first and were upset.

You know you’re old when you remember the main event of a history video! 1965 Blackout! Our home was originally a summer cottage without electricity, and we had a fireplace, a wood/coal burning stove in the kitchen, also, a dug well and refrigerator, stove, and hot water run on propane. So everyone from the newly built “clean electric” housing development to the west of us came to store food, cook food, warm up, bathe and shower, wash and dry their laundry!

I was born in NF back in 1960 so it was a few years after the Schoellkopf power plant collapse so by then the State was in the process of building the new Robert Moses Power Project about 3-4 miles downstream in Lewiston. I'm writing this in 2023 so I'll be 63 later this year. I grew up hearing about the power plant collapse and the "big blackout" but the real reason I'm writing this is because I never, ever knew until NOW that there was actual film of the collapse of the old power plant while it was happening, and it's far more shocking to actually see what really happened than I ever pictured in my mind how the whole thing literally "went down" (pun intended). It's FAR more scary than I ever imagined it was. Naturally I've seen the still photos of the aftermath of the collapse my whole life but this video defied all expectations. This is a truly incredible documentary of the disaster that amazingly and thankfully only took one life. It was that singular disaster that ended up putting into motion the complete re-design of the Niagara Falls, NY tourist district near the falls by the mid-1960s when the old Hydraulic Canal that fed water to the old power plant was filled-in and then in 1969 a really massive urban renewal program got underway that ended up leveling and destroying the wonderful Falls St. and surrounding area that I remember as a child and teenager during the 1960's - '70's there growing up. Back then it was a wonderful place to spend your childhood doing all of the things every parent warned us NOT to do - like gorge climbing and swimming in the lower river - but it's all changed so much now. ...But really, this video of the power plant collapsing back in about 1956(?)... that's truly remarkable. WOW. I am absolutely awestruck. Thank you SO MUCH for posting this.

I enjoy videos about Niagara Falls my family used to go there every summer

In the fall of 1965 I was working for a designer in Plainfield New Jersey and attending Seaton Hall University at night In South Orange. While driving north on the parkway the radio in my car quit. I banged on my dashboard a few times in an effort to get the radio to turn back on, with no luck. I then noticed in the cars around me on the parkway that all of the drivers were banging on their dash boards also. All of the radio stations in New York City, just a few miles across the Hudson River, had shut down. A few minutes later an announcer came back on the radio, and said the they just lost power in their floor of the building and they were running their emergency generator. He then revised his announcement of power loss that the whole building was without power, then a minute later that the who block was out. Within five minutes the world realized that power was out from the Hudson River north to Canada, hundreds of miles off the east coast. Safe on the New Jersey side of the river a bunch of us from class sat on the rooftop cafe of one of the dorms and looked north towards New York City. We would often go up there after class for something to eat and sit and watch the brightly lit up New Your skyline. Tonight it was black except for an occasional light here and there. It took a week for things to get back to normal as hundreds of thousands of workers were trapped many floors up in the air in their buildings in the dark. The final result of the black out happened months later. Exactly nine months after the blackout, with thousands stranded in their buildings in the dark for almost a week, there was a massive surge of newborn infants, locally known as blackout babies.

We had just moved to Toronto and were coming to the falls from that direction. Looking north at the horseshoe falls you can see a park on the west (left). We stopped there first and it was terrifying. The sheer power is just too much. The roar, ground vibration and SPEED of the water was so powerful. I’ve never felt like jumping from heights and can’t imagine thinking I’d ever jump into one of these.

I have been fascinated by Niagara Falls since I was a child. I have read numerous books and watched endless videos on this subject. Saying that, I have learned much new information from your video. I am very impressed with this channel.

The thought of electric lighting is now a fantasy in South Africa, going back to candles and hurricane lamps at night !

I have always had a fondness for the technology of hydro-power, and Niagara Falls, being a resident of Southern Ontario, Canada. Thank you for this wonderful presentation.

Back in the late 1990's, I took my GF for a weekend to Niagara falls. While cruising on the American side parallel to the Niagara river, we stopped at the small park there. After a short picnic we headed up the highway toward Goat Island,(The strip of land between the American and Horseshoe falls). The sky was cloudless and sunny as we enjoyed our motorcycle ride.. All of a sudden, it began to rain, and it poured!! Ten minutes later, the sky was blue and cloudless again. Turns out on humid afternoons, the falls mist make a cloudburst that we were later told was quite common.

I grew up on Toronto, so consequently called electricity “Hydro”. It wasn’t until I came back to England that I found out that no one knew what I was talking about.

Just found this episode. In November of '65 I was a junior in high school, livng just outside Rochester, NY. I had just walked into my house, where mom was cooking dinner, when the lights flickered and went out all along our street. We all groaned, but suddenly everything came back on! It was only for a second or two, however, and we were right backin the dark. A few minutes later mom was wondering why dinner wasn't ready. Then we realized she was cooking in the electric frying pan and supper wouldn't be getting done anytime soon. Fortunately, we had a gas stove and she was able to feed us. Suddenly, the transistor radios that parents hated because they all played rock and roll, became our only connection to the outside world. As a college student a couple years later, four of us hit upon the brilliant plan to climb down into the Niagara Gorge below the whirlpool and head for the falls. Lots of dangerous places down there, but when we reached the Shoellkopf power plant there were huge gaping holes where the penstocks had exited the plant! There would have been no coming back from a fall into them, and the structure was obviously compromised. It felt like staring into the gates of hell! This was only eleven or twelve years after the collapse. I had never heard of Schoellkoph. We did make it past the rubble and eventually took the elevator at the falls observation tower to get out of the gorge. At that time, in the late sixties, Niagara Falls, NY still had the remains of some of the water diversion canals visible through the city, although partially filled in.

Great video Tim, I would love to see an episode on the Mount Hood or Port Chicago Disaster. I am a mature student in Plymouth UK studying Marine Biology however, my studies have veered off into more maritime history combining both my loves of marine and history. I am on an extended minimum 6-month break having suffered a head injury. Your videos are one of the things that keep me going.

Great high quality video! So many interesting points tied together

⚡Wow⚡I'm impressed. That was quite a ptesentation of the importance of the Niagara Falls region and importance. You taught me one thing that I didn't know. That was the disaster in the sixties (I forget the specific year). I did not know how many customers lost power during those days. I was only 11 years old in 1967. I may have misunderstood you in that during that article I think you mentioned that the loss of power was the worst one since. I immediatly thought about the blackout of the Eastern Seaboard that happend three decades later when we lost power in Toronto (and everywhere else east of the Mississippi) for about four days (maybe more). After the power went out, I remember driving out to our cottage near Port Perry, just to find out there wasn"t and electricity there either. It was a few months after the power came back on that i went and purchased our 12kw gas generator. Haven't used it since.! So, the disaster power outage in the 60's wasn't the last one to date. I may be wrong. When you get to 67 after a stroke, you tend to loose a few details. 😊

Absolutely loved it. Grew up in Buffalo felt like a tour guide for many many years for Niagara Falls and it was beautiful especially loved learning about Tesla that had never been mentioned in anything that I’ve heard anyway so thank you so much for that very interesting and a chuckle.

Found thus channel in my reccomended and it's become one of my favourites. This channel is very underrated.

Only just discovered your channel and I'm so glad I have as your delivery and narration of your clearly exceptional knowledge is both easy to follow and very enjoyable to watch, Bravo!

Superb video! I'd never heard about the disaster, and I lived in the NIagara region for 8 years starting when I came to Brock University in St. Catharines. You're absolutely right, when you live right beside the falls, you don't really think about the truly amazing natuiral wonder that they are. Keep up the good work!

I really enjoyed your presentation, it makes me want to move to your area of the country. It would be fantastic taking photographs around the area that holds so much history. Thank you so much for sharing your video with us.

Nice to hear a beautiful narration voice after some of those computer generated disastrous messes. Thank you for such a pleasant natural voice. Could you hang some blankets or some other sort of sound deadening material to get rid of the "Too Live Studio" echo? Thanks, it will enhance your narration even further. 😊

Former Niagara Falls resident. Great job fella. I think I saw a picture of Websters falls as well half way through the video. That place has a sad history and some wierd things happening with shadows at dusk. 8 of us saw it and felt it. Especially the kids.

I am from Australia and have stood right next to the swatter as it falls and saw the power stations what a wonderfully thing to behold

I live in Niagara for 30 years and today I learned tons of new thing where I do business and raise my family , totally involve in the cities affair , and you my friend just gave me an education....wow ,thanks man .....got my sub and I will be talking about you to many Niagara resident ......dam I’m pleasantly surprised .

Great video! I lived for 25 years in the Niagara Region, and still learned a few things.

I was an 8 year old child in Niagara Falls, NY, shopping with my mother on Falls Street, maybe ten blocks away from the rock collapse. Of course all the lights went out. So for many years we had school trips to the new power project, to replace the collapsed plant. During the 1965 blackout, we were watching TV, a quick flash on the TV, but we didn’t lose power. The TV told us about the blackout as it crossed NY State to NYC.

wow, I have never heard this story, I'm definitely sharing this one. Thank you so much! Keep the videos coming.

The way you articulate these factors of invention and application history reminds me of the style of James Burke's excellent TV series "Connections" (1978). It's a pleasure to cogitate as you elucidate, and integrate.

Great documentary in a relatively short time. I love his other channel, but I was surprised how well he fits as a narrator in these videos. Great entertainment!

Because you followed some of the lesser known occurrences you held my interest past what I thought would be the end of the individual stories. There’s also the lead up to the subject that helps connect events showing cause and effect. Great extra details for those who’ve often seen most of the story and get an unexpected surprise due to your extra research.👍👍

Ty so very much for sharing this information and a great job of narration 😊

Another great Historsea! Please keep them coming.

Thanks for this interesting bit of history. Enjoy how you tell a story.

Great history doc. Informative! I've been to the falls ...what a fantastic & spetacular place. An experience I will never forget.

thanks for your efforts! excellent work!

Thank you boss. That was awesome. Niagara Falls has been the initial big attraction for many miles around. I live about an hour and a half from there: and not very many other options at that time so we were there quite often. I was born in 1967. You have filled in some of the history there. Looking into the gorge as we drove by there are several areas we didn't explore nor know the history of. Prior to my birth, my mother with seven children aging 10 to newborn, lived in the country. From 1956 onward. As we had relatives living in Niagara Falls they learned of this disaster yet not sure if it really affected us at all. We did not have access to electricity until 1965 due to the lines not being installed yet. The road we lived on didnt get paved until 1963. We grew up country. Had larger veggie gardens, had a well that wasnt tainted until 1980s, fresh water anytime. Then grew up with a cistern installed giving us running water in 1973. Until then we had an indoor bucket and out house. Hahaha oh the good ole days. Hahaha my dad was high steel worker that helped build the current Niagara falls hospital on pine street area USA side. He also mentioned working to help repair the train bridge over the gorge. He passed away in 1978 due to lung issues. My mom and dad met on the corner at pine street. Thats where their lineage starts from. Not far from the hospital where my dad worked and where mom had to catch her bus to go to work. So, familiar with the area well.

😮. This is so good, i have watched it again. 😊

Enjoyed! Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us

Well thought out and presented program, as well an interesting part of history. Thank you!

Thanks for all the hard work Tim.

I really enjoy your channel, I'm glad it showed up in my recommended videos playlist. Subscribed and liked :)

I’m hooked, you were amazing, totally enjoyed,thank you.

Nice series!! You just got my subscription. I'd like to see something on the Colombia River. Growing up here in Oregon, I know it was once called the graveyard of the Pacific, and in less than 100 years went from being challenging for Lewis and Clark to navigate to one of the largest commercial waterways on the West Coast.

The Niagara escarpment formed in a geological second. Hundreds maybe even tens of years as the Younger Dryas began taking place. When glacial lakes like Lake Agassiz, which dwarfed our current Great Lakes, began spilling out the flow of water was so violent and destruct, it literally ripped through hundreds of feet of bedrock leaving behind massive rivers of melt water, miles wide, which changed the earth's surface forever. It didn't take millions of years, places such as Niagara Falls, like I mentioned, were created in a geological instant. Randall Carlson has an incredible UKposts channel called "The Randall Carlson" developed by two of his buddies, who are also brothers, that name their podcast "Kosmographia" The hour plus videos that are posted will suck you right in! Randall uses USGA topographical maps that include these ancient riverbeds, scablands, drumlins, Carolina Bays and potholes, along with numerous other undeniable pieces of evidence of catastrophic ancient floods. I like your channel, bro!

New sub lad. Great stuff. Extremely informative and well presented. Thanks for the high quality content. As a grade 7 teacher, I can appreciate your effort in terms of research alone never mind production values. 👍🙏

Great job. loved the history. From Hamilton Ontario

I live in SW Ontario about 5 km from the edge of the Niagara Escarpment overlooking Hamilton, Ontario. There are old water mills dotted along dozens and dozens of rivers and streams as they head downstream to spill over the escarpment. Hamilton has over 100 waterfalls that start on the upper city and plunge down to the lower city. It is a geographical gem. We are about 50 miles from Niagara Falls and I’ve seen it many, many times during my life. I am still in awe when I see it. On the Canadian platform above the Horseshoe Falls, the force of the water is palpable. ❤️🇨🇦

Very insightful. I never heard about this before

Wow. I never heard knew or heard of the disaster in 1925 until now. TY for this excellent History Lesson. My father and my moms twin sister husband both worked for Ontario Hydro in the late 40's/early 50's and both met their respective wives due to by chance encounters in hydro electricity locations on the Ottawa River at Rolphton, ON.

Great video! Thanks.

Splendid episode Tim! Well presented, and to quote my son, "he has a good voice and cadence. I actually listened instead of zoning out." Great photos of Clifton Hill, but no mention of the ballet?! 😂😲😂 Honestly didn't know that PBR first showed up at the World's Fair, I'll have to keep that nugget in my "useless trivia" bucket for bar trivia nights.

This is amazing Tim, thanks!

A fascinating video with great explanations! I had no idea how the Great Lakes and Niagara Falls came to be. The diagrams are perfect! And then there is Tesla vs. Edison!!! Edison ruined Tesla - we now use AC current!

This was a great video! I been there so many times & I didn't know any of this. Thanks!

I live on the Hamilton mountain and the Bruce trail escarpment goes straight through our city. Such a beautiful place we have about 70 waterfalls in Hamilton.

I lived in Niagara Falls for 8 years and this was the first time I ever saw that video showing the collapse of the power station. Excellent job. Graduated from Niagara University which is right next to the power station. Excellent museum there showing the history of the entire power system.

Fantastic video, great storytelling! I grew up in the area, Things I’ve never heard or seen before and only piqued my curiosity

Really enjoying your new channel Tim :) I love watching your sailboat videos, more for 'fascination' of what these boats are as i've a small wooden classic and so not in the same league! - but probably mostly it's your narration, as many i'm sure say. You really present well, really well, so again, this new channel is perfect. Cheers!

I guess through You Tube, magic your channel found me. I am so glad it did. I absolutely enjoy each of your videos productions. They are well researched nicely edited and very well narrative. I have become a fan of your channel and wish you guys success.

So glad I stumbled onto your new channel. I grew up in Niagara Falls New York and still consider it home. Fascinating seeing the Schoellkopf Power Station collapse - where did you get this footage?! I've never seen it before. Fantastic and entertaining video. I love your presentation style interspersed with historical photos/videos. Well done. I grew up there so saying you taught me something is saying a lot.

I enjoy your content and presentation. As an amateur historian, it is refreshing to go over these topics presented in a unique style. Keep up the good work. There are so many uniquely North American topics to keep you going for some time. 😊

The end of this video reminded me of the first episode from James Burke's "Connections" series. Flipping awesome stuff, Tim!

Brilliant, throughly enjoyable. Thank you very much. A New Zealander.

Just found this channel and I subscribed very informative. Keep the videos coming great channel.

Best explanation of the great lakes basin thankyou👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Great video, I appreciate the smart and brilliant men before my time.

Great video man!. New sub for sure. Here is an idea for you: The Great Chicago fire of 1871, and the deforestation of northern Ontario. It centers mostly around Lake Wanipitei, the Sudbury basin and the outflow through the French river into Georgian bay. A massive portion of our old growth was used to reconstruct Chicago.

Used to be a mall where the cooking school is. 5 stories, parking garage on one end and the top two floors. And a greenhouse taller than the building. I really liked the greenhouse, it had elevated walkways an elevator, chipmunks, and squirrels. Shame it all got torn down. I was there in 2018 for the first time in nearly 20 years, barely recognized anything, they've changed so much.

Well done! I remember the 1965 power loss- in CT. My family also visited the falls, & before that my parents honeymooned there. I’m surprised it only powers 3.6 M homes, however. Perhaps that is more a product of distribution than output. I’m also surprised there is a seasonal varient - because it is so big! Thanks for doing this. I learned a lot!

Great channel Tim. Facsinating topics

So good Tim, keep them coming! - but we also want those weekly Lady K videos as well! Well done.

I work in Niagara Falls ON - you made it sound really nice! 👍🏻

Love the vibe you project, when telling a story

Awesome video! Well spoken and informative

Thank you for the interesting history of my birthplace…..the beautiful Niagara region….👍💝

Only trucks have "maxi" brakes where the brakes automatically apply with a loss of air pressure. Trains still have manually activated parking brakes

Excellent content of history from the beginning

Tim you are an absolutely wonderful storyteller. Hopefully you can do an episode on the Panama Canal thanks captain Robert.

Great video. Glad i found this channel.

Nice video and commentary. Historically accurate I believe; love the collapse film, never saw that b/4 . I lived on Grand Island in the Niagara River and have been to The Falls a number of times in my youth - 79 y/o now. The last time I was there was about 49 years ago, so I was fascinated to see the Canadian side changes. NONE of that was there then. If you watch the movie "Niagara" with MM and Joseph Cotton (1955) you'll get a sense of what Niagara was back in the day. Liked and subbed, of course, @ 20.8K now.

Really enjoyed this and thank you for the meticulous research. I first visited Niagara Falls in the mid 60's when I was a student jn N Pennsylvania and on my way to visit friends in Toronto. I heard then about the hydro electric plants that drew water off them but have never found out much about them until now. I still have interesting pictures of the falls and surrounding area when it was relatively unspoilt..including seeing a genuine horse drawn milk delivery van in Niagara on the Lake! My how things have changed...but the history was absolutely fascinating. One feature not mentioned is the ship canal that bypasses the falls. I ha e some fascinating pictures of lakers going through a lock. One of which had a railway crossing sign near the front of the ship giving the impression that the ship is heading along the train tracks!

Excellent presentation and great content, keep up the great stuff! (positive criticism: there is a fair bit of reverb, try using a lavalier microphone or treating your room)

I live about 1.5 hrs drive from the falls and have been there many times and I remember the 1965 blackout, I do not remember the time it took to restore power but I heard that the City of Jamestown NY plant was used to restart the Dunkirk Steam Plant. To bad😢 that Dunkirk was torn down.

Well done!

I live 3 miles from the Erie Canal and 20 miles from Niagara Falls. Really enjoying your videos, great work!

Nice series of videos , Tim! As a historian and living in the Old World (Holland), I love these subjects with only one big theme: men and water. It's not always about gunboats, cannons and torpedoes, etc. There are plenty of good channels about that. You might try also about dikes, polders and dams (living 'against' water), agriculture and fishing (living 'from' water) and seagoing cultures (Polynesian? living 'on' water). Looking forward to the rest. Keep up the good work!

Very well done video! Loved it!

Tim, This is the first Historsea video I've seen. What a wonderful voice and way of presentation. I'm so tired of channels that show video that doesn't fit with what they're saying. And You're brave enough to show yourself giving the presentation. I have one concern - not a complaint. Why do so many videos show scenes in the '60s and '70s in black and white. I happen to love B&W photography but we had color photography back then too. I began my photography education in 1972 and color film, especially slide film, was very good. The use of B&W makes me feel so old;-)

Great video!