September 30, 2006
Printed from the Niagara Falls Review
Canal project a construction challenge; Between 1917 and 1921, builders moved 25 million cubic metres of earth and rock to create the Queenston-Chippawa Power Development
Sherman Zavitz
Saturday, September 30, 2006 – 02:00
Local News – Big Becky is on the job! The world’s largest hard rock tunnel-boring machine has started to create the 10.4-kilometre Niagara Tunnel. It will move an average of 6,400 tonnes of rock a day for the next two years. When the entire project is completed in 2009, the tunnel will be 14.4 metres in diameter and will run 140 metres deep under the City of Niagara Falls.
The tunnel’s purpose is to bring water from above the falls to the Sir Adam Beck Generating Stations 1 and 2 near Queenston, allowing these plants to increase their outputs by 14 per cent.
Between 1917 and 1921, another mammoth and somewhat similar project was underway here. It was during these years the hydro canal, called the Queenston-Chippawa Power Development, was built.
The idea was to utilize almost the full power potential of the Niagara River’s 98-metre drop between Lakes Erie and Ontario. Water would be diverted from the river above the falls at Chippawa and returned to the river at the power plant, now the Sir Adam Beck Generating Station No. 1., in the lower gorge close to Queenston.
To carry out this plan, intake works were constructed at the mouth of Chippawa Creek at Chippawa. The creek was then deepened and widened between Chippawa and Montrose, 6.5 kilometres up the creek. This reversed the flow, allowing Niagara River water to flow into the creek.
A 14 kilometre-long canal was then constructed from Montrose, across the City of Niagara Falls to the forebay, above the generating plant.
This Hydro Canal, as it is now called, was as much an engineering and construction challenge in its day as the current tunnel project. The canal is 14.4 metres wide with a maximum depth of 44 metres. To create it, around 25 million cubic metres of earth and rock had to be excavated.
The Queenston-Chippawa Power Development project, which was officially opened in December 1921, was built by the Hydro Electric Power Commission of Ontario, later known as Ontario Hydro and now called Ontario Power Generation.
The commission was formed by the provincial government in 1906 to provide power at cost to Ontario municipalities.
The commission’s first chairman was Adam Beck of London.
Sherman Zavitz is the Official Historian for the City of Niagara Falls and is the Niagara Parks Historian. Reach him by e-mail at sherman.zavitz@sympatico.ca.
ID- 212254
© 2006 , Osprey Media. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Niagara Falls Review acticles reprinted with permission by the authority of Joe Wallace, City Editor of the Niagara Falls Review
Printed from Niagara Falls Review
Native theme central to new Peace Bridge building
JENNIFER PELLEGRINI
Saturday, September 30, 2006 – 02:00
Local News – The display of native artifacts inside the Peace Bridge Authority’s new administration building on Queen Street took three years to design and build, but was more than 11 millenniums in the making.
On Friday, general manager Ron Rienas stood among the crowd of nearly 300 invited guests to hear dignitaries praise the new building, which includes office space for the bridge authority and the Bi-National Tourism Alliance, a museum exhibit honouring the building of the Peace Bridge and Mewinzha: A Journey Back in Time.
“This is a great day,” he said following the speeches. “The artifacts are spectacular and the exhibits are really gorgeous.”
Flint arrowheads, copper tools and clay jars are on display inside the cases – items unearthed by Dr. Ron Williamson over 20 years of digging at the Peace Bridge site.
The floor is a design by native artist Delbert Jonathan.
The 26-year-old Fort Erie native relied on a “lifetime of hearing stories” to create the mosaic, which depicts the various clans of the Iroquois nation that lived along the Niagara River thousands of years ago.
The turtle in the middle, symbolizes Turtle Island, which is located in the Niagara River between both countries.
“It took a lot of ideas and a couple of different thoughts and finally I found one I thought was workable,” said Jonathan.
Native culture was a large part of Friday’s grand opening – from a smudging ceremony prior to the public part of the function to Native song of thanks to the authority for creating the space to acknowledge and preserve aboriginal history – something Jonathan and other representatives from the Fort Erie Native Friendship Centre appreciated.
“This place has been a place of international trade and commerce for a long time,” said Dave Labbe, who spoke on behalf of the native centre.
“And it will be for many years to come. This honours our history.”
The display is a far cry from the $14.7-million Adventures in Archaeology first proposed by the town and the Fort Erie Museum Board several years ago, but it captures the essence of Fort Erie’s aboriginal history, museum curator Jane Davies said.
During the ceremony, Dave Renshaw, chairman of the Fort Erie Museum Board, presented the bridge authority with an award for its commitment to preserving native history.
“Each piece of stained glass represents a piece of history,” he said, “and when you put it together, it makes a picture, just as the Bridge Commission has collected pieces of Fort Erie’s history to make a complete picture.”
jpellegrini@nfreview.com
ID- 212252
© 2006 , Osprey Media. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Niagara Falls Review acticles reprinted with permission by the authority of Joe Wallace, City Editor of the Niagara Falls Review
Photos of the Niagara SkyWheel were recently added to our Niagara Falls Picture site. Click on the photos below to see more.
Click here for more information on the Niagara SkyWheel
September 29, 2006
Aerial Photos of the Niagara SkyWheel
With the help of Rudi Hafen of Niagara Falls helicopters and Anton Fercher of NPS, we were able to capture some very spectacular photos of the Niagara SkyWheel.
These new aerial photos can be seen at our Niagara Falls Pictures site, just click on the thumbnails below to view more.
Click here for more information on the Niagara SkyWheel
Printed by “The Street” in their “Personal Finance: The Good Life” section
Weekend Getaway: Niagara Falls
By Ana Dane
Assistant Editor
9/29/2006 9:50 AM EDT
The rush of standing right next to Niagara Falls, close enough to feel the spray on your face, is an unparalleled experience.
When you consider that there are few natural wonders left unpaved or unfenced in this country, these thundering falls are even more impressive. Niagara won’t disappoint, whether taken in from the American Falls, Horseshoe Falls, or the Bridal Veil Falls (it’s actually three separate waterfalls).
Although Niagara may bring to mind cheap souvenirs, heart-shaped Jacuzzis and washed-up lounge singers, the Falls and surrounding area have much more to offer — and after the summer crowds have moved on is an ideal time to take it all in.
Niagara Falls spans the border of New York state and Ontario, Canada, and can be reached via the nearby airports of Buffalo (about 20 minutes away) or Toronto (just over an hour away).
Click here to continue reading this article.
Printed from the Niagara Falls Review
Be vigilant against border delays: McGuinty
COREY LAROCQUE
Friday, September 29, 2006 – 02:00
Local News – Canadians should be “vigilant and determined” to make the case against anything interfering with the easy flow of tourists across the Canada-U.S. border, says Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty. “It’s a matter of enlightened self-interest that we work together to make sure that we do not unduly compromise and interfere with the easy passage of tourists from one country to another,” McGuinty told reporters following a speech in Niagara Falls.
The premier was reacting to news from the United States that amendments to the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative that had been seen as “favourable” to Canada had been “stripped” out of the legislation by a U.S. congressional committee.
The travel initiative would require all travellers entering the U.S. as of Jan. 1, 2008 to show a passport or other secure document. A congressional committee had voted to delay implementation until June 2009. But Republican congressmen Thursday were reconsidering that approach.
“This is bit of a setback,” McGuinty said.
In 2004, 18 million Ontarians visited the United States and 21 million Americans visited Ontario.
American law-makers are gradually learning of the economic consequences the travel requirement would mean.
“Time is on our side as more and more Americans in positions of influence gain an understanding of what is at stake for them in terms of economic losses,” McGuinty said.
McGuinty spoke at the Ontario Homebuilders Association, an industry organization.
Ontario’s Places to Grow study projects four million more people will move to the Greater Golden Horseshoe – the arc from Peterborough to Fort Erie – over the next 25 years.
Though it lacks “sex appeal” politically, investments in roads, sewers and highways will be crucial as Ontario prepares to welcome them.
McGuinty gave the homebuilders a list of rapid transit and highway widening projects his government has made.
He heralded public transit as a key to offsetting the effects of climate change.
But after the speech he wouldn’t give any solid indication about plans to bring GO Transit service to Niagara, a solution many say would ease traffic congestion on the Queen Elizabeth Way.
“We’re taking a look at that. We’re taking a look at a number of possibilities,” McGuinty said. “We’ve got to get this infrastructure in place to facilitate the movement of people and goods.”
- With files from The Canadian Press
ID- 210419
© 2006 , Osprey Media. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Niagara Falls Review acticles reprinted with permission by the authority of Joe Wallace, City Editor of the Niagara Falls Review
Printed from Niagara this Week
Hotel plan riles group
Expansion would block last clear view of falls: Preserve Our Parks
Robert Lapensee
Sep 29, 2006
NIAGARA FALLS — The grassroots citizens group which successfully lobbied the Niagara Parks Commission to scrap plans for a controversial gondola ride at Table Rock in 2004 has once again stepped forward, this time to fight a proposal for a hotel expansion the group says will block the final unobstructed view of the falls in the Fallsview district.
Preserve Our Parks, the group which led the fight against the gondola plans, met last week to formulate its strategy to fight the expansion plans for the Marriott Fallsview Hotel.
Mel Grunstein, a member of Preserve Our Parks, said the hotel proposal has the potential to rile up Falls residents.
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Printed from the Niagara Falls Review
Nothing trivial about new parks commission appointment
Friday, September 29, 2006 – 12:00
Local News – Ed Werner, founding president of Horn Abbot Ltd., which introduced Trivial Pursuit, has been appointed to the board of the Niagara Parks Commission.
A longtime Niagara resident, Werner’s involvement in the success of the Trivial Pursuit board game has been recognized with an Outstanding Business Achievement award from the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and induction into the Canadian Toy Industry Hall of Fame. Parks commission Chairman Jim Williams welcomed Werner as a “great acquisition.”
“You need good business sense around the table when you’re making multi-million dollar decisions,” said Williams.
In addition to his role as vice-president of Horn Abbot, Werner is president of Brox Company Limited – a company that invests in the hospitality, agriculture and land-development industries.
He is a member of the Niagara Enterprise Hall of Fame and has lectured at Brock University. He is also a lawyer, member of the Niagara Business Education Council and on the board of Colgate University.
A noted rowing champion and international hockey player, Werner has coached minor hockey in Niagara-on-the-Lake and Niagara Falls.
He joins other local residents Bob Gale, president of Gales Fuels and Lord Mayor Gary Burroughs on the Niagara Parks Commission.
“Ed Werner has exceptional business and marketing skills that will be an asset to the Niagara Parks Commission as it responds to the demands of an evolving marketplace,” said Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor, who made the announcement this week.
“His involvement in land development coupled with heritage preservation will be useful knowledge for the commission.”
Werner’s was the fourth appointment to the commission this year, as Ontario’s Liberal government names new people to replace commissioners whose terms expire. Gale and lawyer Italia Gilberti were the first two appointments this year. St. Catharines businessman David Stewart Howes, who owns Lincoln Fabrics, was recently named to the board.
The mayors of Niagara Falls, Fort Erie and Niagara-on-the-Lake are automatically members of the commission and regional council appoints a member. With elections in November, it’s possible there will be more turnover on the parks commission.
By January, it would be possible to see a majority of the 12-member parks commission having less than a year of experience, Williams said.
ID- 210426
© 2006 , Osprey Media. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Niagara Falls Review acticles reprinted with permission by the authority of Joe Wallace, City Editor of the Niagara Falls Review
September 28, 2006
Printed from the Niagara Falls Review
Artists, buyers eager for Art By the Falls
JOHN LAW
Thursday, September 28, 2006 – 02:00
Local News – People might see Laurie Little’s painted pumpkins and think she has a plum gig.
They don’t see the nights on the Internet tracking new trends. Or the endless travelling to shows across Canada. Or the frequent trips to the U.S. scouting the competition.
By the time she gets around to actual painting, some serious legwork went into it.
“I’m always down in the States doing different conventions and research,” said the Welland artist, preparing for this weekend’s 15th annual Art By the Falls show at Optimist Park.
“I carry more luggage under my eyes because we’re up till two or three in the morning getting ready.”
It’s always worth the worry – Art By the Falls is one of her top money-makers every year.
“The people that run this show are very organized,” she said. “And they don’t let junk in there.”
The juried show’s commitment to quality has never wavered, said event chairwoman Colleen McLaughlin. About 50 artists will participate this year, but many more could have.
“Although we’ve made a couple of changes, we’re going to maintain our standards,” she said. “We could allow a lot more crafters, but then we’re going to get (mediocre) jewelry and pot holders. That’s not what we do.”
The annual fundraiser for the Rotary Club of Niagara Falls Sunrise enters its third year at Optimist Park after a decade at Rapidsview Park. Artwork will include stained glass, water colours, pottery and clothing.
This year also features a petting zoo and pony rides, along with the return of juggler Kobbler Jay.
The show raised $10,000 last year and remains one of the Rotary Club’s biggest earners.
Art By the Falls runs Saturday and Sunday at Optimist Park (corner of Morrison Street and Dorchester Road) from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $3 adults, children younger than 10 admitted free.
ID- 208942
© 2006 , Osprey Media. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Niagara Falls Review acticles reprinted with permission by the authority of Joe Wallace, City Editor of the Niagara Falls Review
