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The first humans arrived in
Niagara Falls Region almost
12,000 years ago, just in time
to witness the birth of the
Falls. The land was different
then, consisting of tundra and
spruce forest. During this time
Niagara Falls was inhabited
by the Clovis people. These
wandering hunters likely camped
along the old Lake Erie shoreline,
living in simple, tiny dwellings.
They left little to mark their
time here except chipped stones.
These large, fluted projectile
points were likely used to hunt
the caribou, mastodons, moose
and elk that roamed the land.
By 9,500 years ago a deciduous
forest apparently covered southernmost
Ontario. This forest supported
the hunter-gatherers of the
Archaic Period (9,000 to 3,000
years ago) with a diet of deer,
moose, fish and plants. Small
groups hunted in the winter,
feeding on nuts and animals
attracted to the forest. Larger
groups came together during
the summer, setting up fishing
camps at the mouths of rivers
and along lakeshores.
The Woodland Period lasted
from 3,000 to 300 years ago,
culminating in the peak of Iroquois
culture in southern Ontario.
Corn, bean and squash agriculture
provided the main sources of
food. With their bellies full,
the Iroquois had time for other
pursuits and the population
boomed. Small palisaded villages
were built, with nuclear or
extended families occupying
individual longhouses. During
this period, burial rituals
and ceramics were introduced
to Ontario. Society became more
complex with a political system
based on extended kinship and
inter-village alliances.
When the European explorers
and missionaries arrived at
the beginning of the 17th Century,
the Iroquoian villages were
under the direction of various
chiefs elected from the major
clans. In turn, these villages
were allied within powerful
tribal confederacies.
Unfortunately, inter-tribal
warfare with the Five Nations
Iroquois of New York State,
made worse by the intrusion
of the Europeans, dispersed
the three Ontario confederacies,
the Huron, the Petun and the
Neutral. Niagara ceased to be
the territory of those who lived
in harmony with nature. Still,
this fascinating period of native
occupation cries out for interpretation
and study. Since human settlement
requires drinking water, sites
within 150 metres of rivers
and lakeshores have the greatest
archaeological potential. Palaeo-Indian
sites in Niagara would most
likely be associated with the
series of relic beach ridges
that once formed the shore of
early Lake Erie.
In May 1535, Jacques Cartier
left France to explore the New
World. Although he never saw
Niagara Falls, the Indians he
met along the St. Lawrence River
told him about it. Samuel de
Champlain visited Canada in
1608. He, too, heard stories
of the mighty cataract, but
never visited it. Etienne Brule,
the first European to see Lakes
Ontario, Erie Huron and Superior,
may also have been the first
to behold the Falls, in 1615.
That same year, the Recollet
missionary explorers arrived
in Ontario. They were followed
a decade later by the Jesuits.
It was a Jesuit father, Gabriel
Lalemant, who first recorded
the Iroquios name for the river-
Onguiaahra, meaning "the
Strait". "Niagara"
is a simplification of the original.
In 1651, during the fur- trade
rivalry between the Huron and
Iroquois that was first precipitated
by the French, the Iroquois
wiped out the Neutrals. Until
the American Revolution, they
managed to keep white settlers
out of Niagara almost completely.
In December 1678, Recollet
priest Louis Hennepin visited
Niagara Falls. Nineteen years
later, he published the first
engraving of the Falls in his
book Nouvelle Decouverte. The
Falls obviously made a great
impression of Hennepin, for
he estimated their height to
be 183 metres, more than three
times what it really is.
In 1812, United States President
James Madison declared war on
Canada. Artifacts from that
war dot the riverside, as do
monuments erected later, such
as the one to Sir Isaac Brock.
Recently, the skeletons of members
of the U.S. Army were found
near Old Fort Erie.
Following the War of 1812,
the region began the slow process
of rebuilding itself. Queenston
became a bustling community,
but Chippawa was the big centre,
with distilleries and factories.
In the 1820's, a stairway was
built down the bank at Table
Rock and the first ferry service
across the lower River began.
By 1827, a paved road had been
built up from the ferry landing
to the top of the bank on the
Canadian side. This site became
the prime location for hotel
development and the Clifton
was built there, after which
the Clifton Hill is named.
Niagara has perhaps the most
complex transportation history
of any area in North America.
The first Welland Canal was
completed in 1829. Between 1849
and 1962, thirteen bridges were
constructed across the Niagara
River Gorge. Four of them remain.
The roadway between Niagara-on-the-Lake
and Chippawa was the first designated
King's Highway. The first stage
coach in Upper Canada operated
on this roadway between the
late 1700s and 1896. The first
railroad in Upper Canada opened
in 1841 with horse-drawn carriages
running between Chippawa and
Queenston. In 1854 it was converted
to steam and relocated to serve
what was to become the Town
of Niagara Falls.
In 1855, John August Roebling,
the designer of the Brooklyn
Bridge, built the Niagara Railway
Suspension Bridge, the first
bridge of its type in the world.
Between the late 1700s and the
middle 1800s, boats were the
main way to get to Niagara Falls.
By 1896, three boats plied the
route between Toronto and Queenston.
One of the first electrified
street car services was provided
in Niagara, and in 1893 the
Queenston/Chippawa Railway carried
boat passengers from Queenston
to Table Rock and beyond. In
1902, a railway was constructed
across the Queenston Suspension
Bridge. Later it was extended
along the lower Gorge on the
American side of the River,
connecting back into Canada
at the Upper Arch Bridge. This
transit line, the Great Gorge
Route, continued in service
until the Depression. The use
of boats declined as tourists
increasingly chose to visit
Niagara by automobile, bus or
train.
Tourism travel to the Falls
began in the 1820s and within
50 years it had increased ten-fold
to become the area's dominant
industry.
After World War I, automobile
touring became popular. As a
response, attractions and accommodations
sprang up in strip developments,
much of which still survives.
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