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58-678: The notion of generating electric power on the Niagara River was first entertained in 1888, when the Niagara Parks Commission solicited proposals for the construction of an electric scenic railway from Queenston to Chippawa . The Niagara Falls Park & River Railway was granted the privilege in 1892, and by 1900 it was using a dynamo of 200,000 horsepower (150,000 kW) which was the largest in Canada. Starting in 1899, several private syndicates sought privileges from

116-472: A strait , is approximately 58 kilometres (36 mi) long and includes Niagara Falls . Over the past 12,000 years, the falls have moved roughly 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) upstream from the Niagara Escarpment , creating a gorge below the falls. Today, the diversion of the river for electricity generation has significantly slowed the rate of erosion . The total elevation drop along the river

174-458: A bright full moon lit up the cloudless sky over the entire blackout area, providing some aid for the millions who were suddenly plunged into darkness. Most telephones remained operational since the telephone exchanges were powered by emergency generators. However, not all emergency generators functioned as desired. The generator at Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse failed to start, creating

232-483: A cascading process which required much switching by engineers at the various plants. The Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center saw the first full-scale activation of the facility during the blackout. The New York Times was able to produce a ten-page edition for November 10, using the printing presses of a nearby paper that was not affected, the Newark Evening News . The front page showed

290-446: A photograph of the city skyline with its lights all out. The task force that investigated the blackout found that a lack of voltage and current monitoring was a contributing factor to the blackout, and recommended improvements. The Electric Power Research Institute helped the electric power industry develop new metering and monitoring equipment and systems, which have become the modern SCADA systems in use today. In contrast to

348-519: A record he was playing ( Jonathan King 's " Everyone's Gone to the Moon ") sounded slow, as did the subsequent jingles played during a commercial break. Ingram quipped that the King record "was in the key of R." The station's music playback equipment used synchronous motors whose speed was dependent on the frequency of the powerline, normally 60  Hz . Comparisons of segments of the hit songs played at

406-422: A serious crisis and forcing surgeons to complete operations in progress by flashlight. Power restoration was uneven. Most generators had no auxiliary power to use for startup. Parts of Brooklyn were repowered by 11:00 p.m., the rest of the borough by midnight. However, the entire city was not returned to normal power supply until nearly 7:00 a.m. the next day, November 10. Power in western New York

464-497: A slower-than-normal tempo – Ingram mentioned that the lights in the studio were dimming, then suggested that the electricity itself was slowing down, adding, "I didn't know that could happen". When the station's Action Central News report came on at 5:25 pm ET , the staff remained oblivious to the ongoing blackout. The lead story was still Roger Allen LaPorte 's self-immolation at United Nations Headquarters earlier that day in protest of American military involvement in

522-865: Is 99 metres (325 ft). The Niagara Gorge, downstream from the falls, includes the Niagara Whirlpool and additional rapids . Power plants on the river include the Sir Adam Beck Hydroelectric Generating Stations (built in 1922 and 1954) on the Canadian side, and the Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant (built in 1961) on the American side, collectively generating 4.4 gigawatts of electricity. The International Control Dam , constructed in 1954, regulates river flow . Ships on

580-523: The 1965 Eastern Seaboard Blackout . By the 1950s the commission was operating as a single integrated system. As demand rose in the post-war period, Ontario Hydro started expanding its generation system bringing on line many new hydroelectric stations. In 1953, Ontario Hydro began to interconnect with other utilities, the first interconnection being the Keith-Waterman line in Windsor which crosses

638-521: The Abitibi Canyon , the largest such development since the Niagara River , in preference to incurring more debt for Ontario Hydro. The development was encouraged through secret commitments for long-term purchases of electricity and indemnification of Hydro against any losses. Questions were asked at the time as to how the additional 100,000 horsepower (75,000 kW) in capacity would be used, as there were virtually no customers for it. When Abitibi

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696-534: The Detroit River to Detroit, Michigan interconnecting with Detroit Edison in the United States . This line was originally constructed at 120,000 volts and was later upgraded to 230,000 volts in 1973. Shortly thereafter, other interconnections with New York State were built. The first coal-fired generating stations in the system were also built in this period. The expansion of coal continued during

754-679: The Great Lakes use the Welland Canal , part of the St. Lawrence Seaway , on the Canadian side of the river, to bypass Niagara Falls. The Niagara River features two large islands and several smaller ones. Grand Island and Navy Island , the two largest, are on the American and Canadian sides, respectively. Goat Island and the small Luna Island divide Niagara Falls into three sections: Horseshoe Falls , Bridal Veil Falls , and American Falls . Unity Island lies further upstream, adjacent to

812-879: The Seven Years' War (known as the French and Indian War in the United States) and the American Revolutionary War . The Battle of Queenston Heights took place near the river in the War of 1812 . The river was an important route to liberation before the American Civil War , as many African-Americans escaping slavery on the Underground Railroad crossed it to find freedom in Canada. The Freedom Crossing Monument stands on

870-756: The Vietnam War ; a taped sound bite with the attending physician played noticeably slower and lower than usual. The newscast gradually fizzled out as power was lost by the time newscaster Bill Rice started delivering the second story about New Jersey Senator Clifford P. Case 's comments on his home state's recent gubernatorial election . Some areas within the affected region were not blacked out. Municipal utilities in Hartford, Connecticut ; Braintree , Hudson , Holyoke , Peabody and Taunton, Massachusetts ; and Fairport , Greenport , and Walden, New York had their own power plants, which operators disconnected from

928-607: The Welland River to connect to the Niagara River south of the falls, enabling water traffic to safely re-enter the river and continue to Lake Erie. The Niagara River and Falls have been known outside of North America since the late 17th century, when Father Louis Hennepin , a French explorer, first witnessed them. He wrote about his travels in A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America (1698). The Niagara River

986-528: The largest nuclear generating station in the world in 2011 (and has remained the largest) by net electrical power rating, total reactor count, and number of operational reactors. The last nuclear plant to be built in Ontario, Darlington Nuclear Generating Station , was planned in the 1970s. Construction started in 1981, but because of a series of political decision to delay construction, construction took an inordinately long time. Costs continued to mount during

1044-697: The 1930s (with the exception of the Hamilton Street Railway streetcar system, which continued until 1946). In the 1960s, HEPCO was the first utility in North America to utilize ultra-high voltage transmission lines. Planning for the UHV lines began in 1960 and in 1967, HEPCO put into service transmission lines carrying 500,000 volts that carry power from hydroelectric sources in remote Northern Ontario to high load areas in southern Ontario such as Toronto , London , and Ottawa . By 1970 all but

1102-599: The 1960s and 1970s but was overtaken by the development of nuclear power. In 1912, Adam Beck began to promote the creation and operation of electric interurban railways in the territory served by the commission, and the Legislative Assembly granted authority to do so in The Hydro-Electric Railway Act, 1914 . Changes in government policy and public sentiment in the 1920s restricted their development, and all such operations ceased in

1160-518: The 1960s and 1970s, Ontario Hydro's nuclear generating program expanded with the building of the first four units of the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station followed by stations at Bruce Nuclear Generating Station and a second four units at Pickering. By the late 1980s, Ontario Hydro operated one of the largest fleets of nuclear-powered generating stations in the world. The Bruce Nuclear Generating Station became

1218-613: The Independent Electricity Market Operator and the Electrical Safety Authority. On March 31, 1999, Ontario Hydro reported in its financial statements that it had long term debts of $ 26.2 billion and assets totalling $ 39.6 billion. The fair value of its assets was substantially less than the $ 39.6 billion reported in the 1999 financial statements and therefore, in order to ensure the successor entities were financially solvent,

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1276-492: The Legislature that he was quitting his position as Commissioner because Hydro "was either inefficient or dishonest." He was forced to retract the allegation of dishonesty. In the 1970s, controversy arose relating to Hydro's expansion strategy, and several inquiries were held: In the 1980s there were large increases in the rates charged, arising from: In 1989, Ontario Hydro published a four-volume study, forecasting up to

1334-763: The Niagara River include: The Niagara River is listed as a Great Lakes Areas of Concern in The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between the United States and Canada. The Niagara River has a long history of both road and rail bridges spanning the river, both upstream and downstream of the Falls. This history includes numerous bridges that have fallen victim to the harsh conditions of the Niagara Gorge , such as landslides and icepacks. The following parks are located along

1392-606: The Niagara River: A Niagara River Greenway Plan is in progress in the United States. Download coordinates as: Several islands are located on the upper river upriver from the falls: United States Coast Guard Fort Niagara Station was once a United States Army post. There are no Canadian Coast Guard posts along the river. Fort Mississauga , Fort George and Fort Erie are former British and Canadian military forts (last used 1953, 1965 and 1923 respectively) and are now parks. Navy Island Royal Naval Shipyard

1450-516: The Ontario Legislature to allow municipal councils to organize a cooperative to develop, transmit, buy and sell electrical energy. The provincial government of George William Ross refused to allow this, and it was only after its loss in the 1905 election that work began on creating a public utility. During that election campaign, James Pliny Whitney (who would become Premier) declared: The water power of Niagara should be as free as

1508-519: The air. In May 1906, the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario ("Hydro" or "HEPCO") was formed and its first commissioners were Adam Beck , John S. Hendrie , and Cecil B. Smith, HEPCO was a unique hybrid of a government department, crown corporation and municipal cooperative that coexisted with the existing private companies. It was a "politically rational" rather than a "technically efficient" solution that depended on

1566-495: The bank of the river in Lewiston to commemorate the courage of the escaping slaves and the local volunteers who helped them secretly cross the river. In the 1880s, the Niagara River became the first waterway in the world harnessed for large-scale generation of hydroelectricity . On the Canadian side of the river the provincial agency Niagara Parks Commission maintains all of the shoreline property, including Fort Erie, except

1624-640: The blackout moved eastward across the state, and "at 5:27 p.m., the lights began sputtering in New York City, and within seconds... blacked out in Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, and most of Brooklyn." The blackout was not universal in the city; some neighborhoods never lost power, notably Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn. Also, some suburban areas, including Bergen County , New Jersey – served by PSE&G – did not lose power. Fortunately,

1682-555: The border between Ontario , Canada , to the west, and New York , United States , to the east. The origin of the river's name is debated. Iroquoian scholar Bruce Trigger suggests it is derived from a branch of the local Neutral Confederacy , referred to as the Niagagarega people on several late- 17th-century French maps. George R. Stewart posits that it comes from an Iroquois town named Ongniaahra , meaning "point of land cut in two." The river, occasionally described as

1740-519: The city of Buffalo . The Niagara River and its tributaries, Tonawanda Creek and the Welland River , formed part of the final section of the Erie Canal and Welland Canal. After leaving Lockport , the Erie Canal heads southwest into Tonawanda Creek . Upon entering the Niagara River, watercraft proceed south to the final lock , where a short canal section allows boats to bypass turbulent shoal water and enter Lake Erie. The Welland Canals used

1798-551: The commission for generating power for sale, including: By 1900, a total capacity of 400,000 horsepower (300,000 kW) was in development at Niagara, and concern was expressed as to whether such natural resources were being best exploited for the public welfare. In June 1902, an informal convention was held at Berlin , (now Kitchener) which commissioned a report by Daniel B. Detweiler, Elias W.B. Snider and F.S. Spence, who recommended in February 1903 that authority be sought from

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1856-527: The commission was given authority to regulate all other electricity generators, thus bringing all private utilities in the province under its supervision. It also received authority to acquire any utility that was not producing at its capacity. In 1948, HEPCO changed most of its system from 25 Hz to 60 Hz. However, the Fort Erie area south of Niagara Falls stayed on the remaining 25 Hz generators until 1966, and this area had electricity throughout

1914-431: The commission's nickname. In many Canadian provinces, including Ontario, hydroelectric power is so common that "hydro" has become synonymous with electric power regardless of the actual source of the electricity. In the late 1950s, the corporation became involved in development, design and construction of CANDU nuclear power stations. In 1965, the first commercial sized station came on line at Douglas Point . During

1972-434: The delay and the plant was completed in 1993. This delay in the schedule caused the projected costs to increase tremendously, from an initial projected cost of $ 7.0 billion to $ 14.5 billion. The delay accounted for seventy percent of the cost increase. The quality of Hydro's management, given its size and scope of operations, had long been a concern. In 1922, Dougall Carmichael , then Minister without Portfolio , announced to

2030-518: The electrical system to near its peak capacity. Transmission lines heading into southern Ontario were heavily loaded. The safety relay had been misprogrammed, and it did what it had been asked to do: to disconnect under the loads it perceived. As a result, at 5:16 p.m. Eastern Time, a small variation of power originating from the Robert Moses generating plant in Lewiston, New York , caused

2088-645: The failure was the setting of a protective relay on one of the transmission lines from the Sir Adam Beck Hydroelectric Power Station No. 2 in Queenston, Ontario , near Niagara Falls . The safety relay was set to trip if other protective equipment deeper within the Ontario Hydro system failed to operate properly. On a particularly cold November evening, power demands for heating, lighting, and cooking were pushing

2146-462: The first city in Ontario to get hydroelectric power in long-distance transmission lines from Niagara Falls, on October 11, 1910. The commission's process of expansion was from municipality to municipality, generally in the following manner: During the 1920s, Hydro's network expanded significantly: In 1926, the Ferguson government gave its approval for Abitibi Power and Paper Company to develop

2204-467: The grid and which were able to sustain local loads, though some areas lost power for at least a few hours. In New York City, Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn were spared when Con Edison disconnected its Arthur Kill Generating Station from the grid. Rochdale, Queens was also unaffected as it had its own power plant. From the first failure at 5:17 p.m. near the Niagara-Canada border,

2262-495: The metropolitan areas of Buffalo and Niagara Falls, New York . These areas ended up being isolated from the rest of the Northeast power grid and remained powered up. The Niagara Mohawk Western NY Huntley (Buffalo) and Dunkirk steam plants were knocked offline. Within five minutes, the power distribution system in the Northeast was in chaos as the effects of overloads and the subsequent loss of generating capacity cascaded through

2320-426: The most remote municipal power systems in Ontario were organized into a single grid. During the 1970s and 1980s, Ontario Hydro gradually expanded the 500 kV transmission system into what it is today. Before its own nuclear power stations started coming onstream, Ontario Hydro had the following capacity and output: In 1974, the commission was reconstituted as a crown corporation known as Ontario Hydro, which had been

2378-546: The network, breaking the grid into "islands". Station after station experienced load imbalances and automatically shut down. The affected power areas were the Ontario Hydro System, St Lawrence - Oswego , Upstate New York , and New England . With only limited electrical connection southwards, power to the southern states was not affected. The only part of the Ontario Hydro System not affected

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2436-416: The relay to trip, disabling a main power line heading into Southern Ontario. Instantly, the load that was flowing on the tripped line redistributed to the other lines, causing them to become overloaded. Their own protective relays, which are also designed to protect the lines from overload, tripped, isolating Beck Station from all of southern Ontario. With nowhere else to go, the excess load from Beck Station

2494-504: The remaining stranded debt was $ 2.6 billion. Beginning in 2016, the Ontario government removed the Debt Retirement Charge from residential electricity users’ electricity bills, and from all other electricity users’ bills by April 1, 2018. Niagara River The Niagara River ( / n aɪ ˈ æ ɡ ər ə , - ɡ r ə / ny- AGG -ər-ə, -⁠grə ) flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario , forming part of

2552-487: The reorganization gave rise to $ 19.5 billion of stranded debt. The stranded debt was the shortfall between the fair value of Ontario Hydro's assets and the value of Ontario Hydro's total debt and other liabilities transferred to the new entities. Since 2002, the stranded debt is being paid down through a Debt Retirement Charge levied upon Ontario ratepayers. The Debt Retirement Charge is 0.7 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity consumed in Ontario. As of March 31, 2014,

2610-608: The sites of Fort George (a National Historic Site maintained federally by Parks Canada ), as a public greenspace and environmental heritage. On the American side, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation maintains several state parks adjacent to Niagara Falls and the Niagara River. Today, the river is the namesake of Niagara Herald Extraordinary at the Canadian Heraldic Authority . Cities and towns along

2668-459: The state side only travels along the River from the Falls to Lewiston. The remaining river sections (with some interruptions) are covered by the [REDACTED] LaSalle Expressway , [REDACTED] NY 384 , [REDACTED] NY 266 and [REDACTED] [REDACTED] I-190 (Niagara Thruway) / New York Thruway . Northeast Blackout of 1965 The northeast blackout of 1965

2726-409: The time of the broadcast, minutes before the blackout happened, in this aircheck, as compared to the same song recordings played at normal speed reveal that approximately six minutes before blackout the line frequency was 56 Hz, and just two minutes before the blackout that frequency dropped to 51 Hz. As Si Zentner 's recording of " (Up a) Lazy River " played in the background – again at

2784-604: The watershed election of 1905. On January 1, 1907, referendums in Toronto and 18 other municipalities approved the provisional contracts that their councils had concluded with HEPC, and subsequent referendums one year later authorized utility bond issues for the construction of local distribution systems. The victories in Toronto were in large part due to the leadership and commitment of Adam Beck's ally, William Peyton Hubbard . The first transmission lines began providing power to southwestern Ontario in 1910. Berlin (Kitchener) would be

2842-408: The wave of looting and other incidents that took place during the 1977 New York City blackout , only five reports of looting were made in New York City after the 1965 blackout. It was said to be the lowest amount of crime on any night in the city's history since records were first kept. However, more than 800,000 riders were trapped in the subway. Reports about an alleged baby boom that followed

2900-863: The year 2014, entitled Providing the Balance of Power , with different scenarios attempting to address the need for additional facilities to replace aging electricity generation stations. This was derailed when electricity consumption declined due to the recession of the early 1990s. In 1998, the Legislative Assembly of Ontario passed the Energy Competition Act, 1998 , which: Ontario Hydro ceased operations on March 31, 1999. Its assets and functions were transferred by provincial statute to two commercial successor corporations, Ontario Power Generation Inc. and Ontario Hydro Services Company Inc., as well as to two not-for-profit agencies,

2958-558: Was a significant disruption in the supply of electricity on Tuesday, November 9, 1965, affecting parts of Ontario in Canada and Connecticut , Delaware , Maryland , Massachusetts , New Hampshire , New Jersey , New York , Pennsylvania , Rhode Island , and Vermont in the United States . Over 30 million people and 80,000 square miles (207,000 km ), and a population density of 144.9 inhabitants/km were left without electricity for up to 13 hours. The cause of

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3016-456: Was placed in receivership in 1932, legislation was passed over the following years to allow Ontario Hydro to take control of several Abitibi power developments. Certain dealings relating to the 1933 acquisition came to be known as the "great Abitibi swindle," which resulted in the fall of the Henry government in the 1934 Ontario election , to be succeeded by that of Mitchell Hepburn . In 1939,

3074-482: Was redirected east, over the interconnected lines into New York state , overloading them as well, and isolating the power generated in the Niagara region from the rest of the interconnected grid. The Beck generators, with no outlet for their power, were automatically shut down to prevent damage. The Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant continued to generate power, which supplied Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation customers in

3132-535: Was restored in a few hours, thanks to the Genesee River -powered generating plant in Rochester , which stayed online throughout the blackout. Like starting a car, starting or restarting a generator requires power for a starter motor (see black start ). The availability of this hydroelectric power was crucial; it was used to restart dead generators, which then could provide power to restart other generators, in

3190-426: Was signed, involving a 6.5-kilometre-wide (4.0 mi) strip of land bordering the west bank of the Niagara River, connecting Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Several battles occurred along the Niagara River, which was historically defended by Fort George (Canadian side) and Fort Niagara (American side) at the mouth of the river and Fort Erie (Canadian side) at the head of the river. These forts were important during

3248-495: Was the Fort Erie area next to Buffalo, which was still powered by older 25 Hz generators. Residents in Fort Erie were able to pick up a TV broadcast from New York, where a local backup generator was being used for transmission purposes. An aircheck of New York City radio station WABC from November 9, 1965, reveals disc jockey Dan Ingram doing a segment of his afternoon drive time show, during which he noted that

3306-483: Was the site of the earliest recorded railway in America. It was an inclined wooden tramway built by John Montresor (1736–1799), a British military engineer, in 1764. Called "The Cradles" and "The Old Lewiston Incline", it featured loaded carts pulled up wooden rails by rope. It facilitated the movement of goods over the Niagara Escarpment in present-day Lewiston, New York . In 1781, the Niagara Purchase

3364-689: Was used by the French Navy in the 18th century as a naval base and by the Royal Navy from 1763 as a small shipyard, and abandoned around 1818 after the ratification of the Rush–Bagot Treaty in 1817. On the Canadian side the Niagara Parkway travels along the River from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie. [REDACTED] NY 18F lines the river on the state side from Fort Niagara to Lewiston. [REDACTED] Niagara Scenic Parkway on

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