April 2022
The twin border towns of Niagara Falls, Ontario and Niagara Falls, New York are a popular tourist destination for the iconic trio of waterfalls that straddle the border between the two countries.
Another lesser-known tourist attraction is known locally as the Niagara Scow. Also called the Old Scow or Iron Scow, is the unofficial name of a small, wrecked iron scow that ran aground on 6 August 1918, while being towed the tugboat Hassayampa.
The Hassayampa, captained by Master John Wallace, was towing a Great Lakes Dredge and Docks Company scow, a small, flat-bottomed boat with sloping ends used in dredging and other harbor services. On this day, the scow was being used for dredging up sand banks from the Niagara River, upstream from the Canadian Horseshoe Falls.
As Captain John Wallace brought the tug and the scow around to bring the scow back to shore, it broke loose and began floating downriver rapidly towards the falls. There are conflicting reports as to whether the two men aboard the scow, Niagara Falls Power Company employees Gustave F. Lofberg and Frank Harris, were able to release the false bottom of the scow to dump their load of sand and silt, but regardless, the boat got caught on a rock shoal approximately 838 yards from the edge of the falls.
After failed rescue attempts by the Niagara Falls fire and police departments and the Niagara Parks Police, a U.S. Coast Guard ship, dispatched from Youngstown, New York, arrived on scene and was able to rescue the two men by sending a lifeline over to to the scow, 17 hours after they became stranded, with assistance from famous riverman William “Red” Hill Sr., who had just returned from fighting in the First World War.
As for the scow itself, no attempt was made to recover it and there it remained for 101 years, becoming somewhat of a tourist attraction.
On 31 October 2019, Tropical Storm Olga caused strong southwest winds to raise Lake Erie’s East Basin water levels to record highs. What resulted was record high flows into the Niagara River at Fort Erie, causing the scow to lift off the rock outcrop and drift around 160 feet downriver, finally coming to rest again near the historic former Toronto Power Generating Station building.
Now spun around and laying on its side, the rusted and severely deteriorated scow seems to be nearing the end of its life as an accidental tourist attraction. On 4 April 2022, the scow was observed to have broken into several pieces, the result of over 103 years of being pounded by the river, storms and ice.
The Niagara Scow escaped certain destruction that fateful night in 1918, but it’s luck may be running out.
Sources: Historic iron scow in Niagara River breaks into several pieces after more than a century | TheSpec.com, Niagara Scow – Wikipedia.
