One of the most spectacular natural sights to visit, Niagara Falls, has now opened yet another beautiful location for tourists to visit. A secret tunnel which was created by an electronic company under Niagara Falls has now been opened for tourists. This 670-meter or 2,198-foot-long tunnel was created over a century ago on the Canadian side. This tunnel once used to pass around 71,000 gallons of water moving at the speed of nine meters per second.
This tunnel was part of the Niagara Parks Power Station which operated from 1905 to 2006. As a part of this power station, the water from the Niagara river was diverted toward the power station to run the generators. The electricity generated from this plant helped the regional industries to flourish. Due to this being the power source for the nearby areas, the Great Lakes port of Buffalo received the identity as the City of Light. Many businesses were being operated with the electricity generated from this hydroelectric power plant. Along with the Niagara Parks Power Station, several other power stations were created near the area of Niagara Falls such as Adams hydroelectric power plant, Ontario Power Company Plant, and Toronto Power Generating Station. Most of these plants operated between 1895 to 1999. But, the Niagara Parks Power Station is the only hydroelectric power plant that is still intact after being in existence for such a long time. The plant has a unique historical value to it. It was created by the Canadian Niagara Power Company but used the Westinghouse generators created and patented by Nikola Tesla, one of the biggest American inventors. This is very special because, at that time, most of the population was using Edison’s direct current or DC technology. On the other hand, Westinghouse generators produce AC electricity, which was a novel technology at that time, which brought the world into the modern era of electricity. Because of this historical importance, this power plant was opened for tourists in July 2022.
The park represents the engineering marvel of the 19th and 20th centuries. According to the local guides, the construction of this plant-focused similarly on strength and aesthetics. The white interior of the plant is expected to represent the white water that falls from Niagara Falls. When tourists visit the Niagara Parks Power Station, before entering the tunnel, they are greeted with the scale model of the plant which represents the beauty of engineering which went in while establishing the plant. After this model, the tourists are taken 55-meter underground with an elevator, where the tunnel lies. When it was in use, the tunnel was used to exit the water out of the plant into the Niagara river. Once the elevator reaches the bottom, the tourists enter the 670-meter-long tunnel. The tunnel is eight meters tall and six meters wide, offering enough room for people to move. As the tourists reach the end of the tunnel, they get to feel the air with the sound of fresh water pouring down from the falls. At the end of the tunnel, there is a platform created for tourists, where they can have a unique angle to look at the marvelous Niagara Falls.
