History of Waterfalling

Waterfalls have always attracted people; it’s impossible not to drive or hike past a falls without taking at least a brief look!

For better or for worse, social media has put the spotlight on local tourism and exploration. It's easier than ever to find and reach waterfalls.

Despite their current popularity, waterfalls have always been a spectacle for Ontario residents. While it was a lot harder to get around in the old days, people still did.

Hikers at Lower Decew Falls, 1920

Indigenous Beginnings

Indigenous people fishing at St Marys Rapids, Sault Ste Marie.

Waterfalls were important cultural places for Indigenous peoples, often being considered to be sacred sites.

They were also important for navigation and for use as meeting places. A waterfall is a prominent, easily identifiable spot along a river. Were waterfalls also used for recreation?

Are you Indigenous? Can you help to grow the story of waterfalls? Please contact me; there is a lot more to tell here!

When the first Europeans explored Ontario, they used our rivers as a natural highway system. Waterfalls were seen as obstacles.

Some waterfalls were 'discovered' and named by famous explorers like Champlain or Brule. Of course, these places had long been known to Indigenous People.

Early development of Ontario saw waterfalls used for navigation and power. Many waterfalls were named during the fur trade and the timber drive. Were they also used for recreation? Did people even have time? Learn more in 'Waterfallogy'.

Champlain exploring the Ottawa River, un-dated, by John David Kelly

Early Tourism

Niagara Falls in 1848, by August Kollner. Public Domain, Yale University.

It is generally believed that Father Louis Hennepin, a Belgian missionary, was the first European to visit the falls. You can follow his route at Historymuseum.ca

It didn't take long for Niagara to become known as a tourist destination. By 1825, the Erie Canal was complete, with railways arriving just a few decades later. These brought rich vacationers from New York and beyond to Niagara.

Niagara soon became a major tourist attraction, with entrepreneurs capitalizing on the public's interest in the great falls.

As the railway network developed, so too did the demand and ability for people to escape cities and towns. Train excursions brought city dwellers to Muskoka, Algonquin Park and beyond.

Waterfalls weren't necessarily destinations, but they were used to promote the great wilderness. Brochures for excursions and postcards often featured waterfalls, with the imagery promising adventure that was never really accessible before.

Postcard showing Bala Falls, by Thatcher Studios in Bracebridge, 1945. Public Domain.

The Automobile Age

Picnickers at Aubrey Falls, 1952. Open Data License Ontario.

After World War 2, car ownership was on the rise in Ontario. Highways and secondary roads allowed families to vacation beyond the few destinations served by rail.

The province responded by developing its series of provincial parks. Some parks were initially developed (and named) because of waterfalls. For example, Chutes, Rainbow Falls, Rushing River and Sauble Falls Provincial Parks, among others.

Waterfalls and rapids were also recognized for their public appeal by municipalities and later by conservation authorities. In 1998, the town of Bracebridge held its first “Festival of the Falls”, with bus trips to some of the more than 20 waterfalls in municipality.

As late as the mid 1990s, finding waterfalls was difficult. You could ask your friends and family, or read about them in tourism brochures or travel books. Many waterfalls that are well-known today were local secrets not that long ago.

More serious adventurers could search topographic maps. Only some waterfalls were named; other times you had to look for map symbols or other clues. Even this wasn't easy; you had to find a place that sold maps or kept them on-hand (like a library). (If you were a geography student at university, hording topographic maps under your bed was a thing!)

At this time, Scott Ensminger of North Tonawanda, N.Y was working to catalogue the waterfalls of the Niagara Peninsula (and later Hamilton). He faced many of the same challenges listed above, but found a remarkable number of waterfalls.

Looking for Waterfalls? Find a creek crossing the Niagara Escarpment and hope for the best.

Waterfalls Online and In Print

Archive.org screenshot of an early edition of this website from 2004.

By the mid-1990s, it became possible for regular people to build a website. In 1998, Scott Ensminger released the 'Western New York Waterfall Survey'. This was probably the first waterfall web site that I came across... and gave me an idea.

In 1999, I created a web page called 'Waterfalls of Southern Ontario' came online. It was the first survey of waterfalls for recreational purposes in Ontario. Learn more about the history of the Waterfalls of Ontario Project...

A year later, Jerry and Mikal Lawton released 'Waterfalls. The Niagara Escarpment', published by Boston Mills Press. This was probably the first book about visiting waterfalls in Ontario.

In 2002, I was approached by Firefly Books. They had found my website and asked if I would work together with George Fischer on a book project. Of course I would!

In 2003, the first edition of 'Waterfalls of Ontario' was published. This was the first book to catalogue waterfalls for recreational purposes at a provincial scale. Three more editions would follow in 2011, 2018 and 2022. Learn more...

In 2013, Harold Stiver published 'Ontario Waterfalls. I was happy to see that Harold maintained the custom waterfall names that I first developed for Waterfalls of Ontario. Future projects, referencing only Harold's work, would uknowingly carry on the names devised by this website.

Four books about waterfalls in Ontario.

The Hamilton Explosion

Hamilton, Waterfall Capital of the World

In the early 2000s, around the same time that I was working on the first 'Waterfalls of Ontario' book, something was brewing in Hamilton. Joe Hollick, Stephen Head, Robert Nixon and others were surveying waterfalls in that city.

In 2002, Joe Hollick had released the first of a series of posters to feature the waterfalls of Hamilton. Sales were brisk, although you had to find Joe to find his poster; there was no e-commerce at that time! Other posters were subsequently released, with each one featuring a different season.

In 2005, the Hamilton Conservation Authority released a report entitled 'Waterfalls and Cascades of Hamilton'. This was spearheaded by Joan Bell and Nadeem Paracha of the HRCA, though many others also contributed. They had catalogued 65 waterfalls.

Legend has it that Chris Ecklund, a local philanthropist and community leader, saw one of Joe's posters at a silent auction around 2008. He was intrigued, and soon spearheaded the 'City of Waterfalls' initiative.

This new "brand" for Hamilton caught on in a big way! Waterfalls were featured on billboards and a city bus 'wrapped' in waterfall decals. Special night-time events illuminated waterfalls in bright colours and drew large crowds.

A book entitled Hamilton City of Waterfalls was written by Ecklund, Hollick and Rose Keefe. A year later, "The Golden Age of Waterfalling (1889-1905) was published." Both are out of print, but can be found in used bookstores and online. Any fan of Hamilton's waterfalls should seek these out.

A Hamilton city bus showing off waterfalls.

The Social Media Monster that Almost Ate Our Waterfalls

Cordova Falls, east of Peterborough.

Before the late 2000s, the flow of information online was largely one way. People like me, for example, would maintain a web site and others would get information from it.

When Facebook went live in 2006, people found that it was an easy, de-centralized way for them to share information about any particular topic.

In 2008, the Facebook group 'Hamilton, Waterfall Capital of the World' was created. A year after, Peter Evelyn started 'Waterfalls of Ontario, Canada.'

To help promote the second edition of my book, I started 'Waterfalls of Ontario' on August 20, 2011. Learn more...

Social media exploded at the peak of the Hamilton waterfall craze. Thousands learned they could explore their province just by asking others. Unfortunately, they all went to the same few spots at the same time.

Places like Websters Falls and Albion Falls were already very popular, but were absolutely overrun when they were promoted by some large GTA-based blogs.

People not accustomed to hiking were falling and getting stuck. Rope rescues by Hamilton EMS were almost a weekly occurrence. In 2016, someone hiked to Albion Falls at night fell in icy conditions. Shortly after, they sued the city, and access to the falls was closed. Others followed.

The troubles at waterfalls would only get worse....

We can no longer access the river bed at Albion Falls.

The Covid Fiasco

When Covid-19 cases rose, so too did interest in our Facebook Group.

In March of 2020, Ontario went into lockdown. The Covid-19 pandemic meant that millions of Ontarians were suddenly stuck at home and with nothing to do.

So they went outside.

The outdoors took a real beating. Trails were overloaded with people, and who could blame them? The outdoors was safe, free and open!

The pandemic's influence on outdoor recreation was undeniable. The number of people asking to join our Waterfalls of Ontario Facebook Group (green) rose and fell with the number of number of Covid cases (red).

The third edition of the 'Waterfalls of Ontario' book also sold out. This drove a request from Firefly Books for a fourth editon, which came out in 2022.

People visited waterfalls like never before. Many visitors had no experience being outside! Many others didn't share the same values that you and I do. Traffic jams, illegal parking, trespassing, littering, urination were all common.

At Burleigh Falls , there were cases of visitors defacating on neighbour's front lawns. The fact that there were public washrooms was one reason why we were told not to travel. Did these people think they wouldn't have to poop?!

At Decew Falls there were so many illegally parked cars, cars had to be towed before EMS staff could bring in fire trucks to resuce people that had again been injured at the bottom of the gorge.

For the first time that I can remember, waterfalls started to close. Burleigh Falls, Crowe Bridge Rapids, Decew Falls, Eugenia Falls, Healey Falls, etc. Nervous authorities saw crowds and feared that someone would get injured and that these beuatiful places would be ruined. This was the lowest point in my waterfalling hobby.

Healey Falls was closed during the pandemic; the driveway never reopened to the public.

Post-Covid, What's Next?

Minnehaha Falls, Muskoka.

Ontario's population recently topped 15 million. It's impossible to think that easily accessible waterfalls aren't going to attact attention.

Yet surprisingly, to this day, I still find myself to be alone at most of the waterfalls that I visit. Other long-time waterfallers have told me the same thing.

Yes, some waterfalls do get very busy at times. But it's possible to avoid the crowds by not visiting the most popular waterfalls on warm holiday weekends.

I recognize that many people can only visit places on summer vacation. But if you have the flexibility, visiting less popular places and/or on off-peak times can make a huge difference.

Will waterfalls continue to increase in popularity, or did we see "peak waterfall" during the pandemic? I'm not sure. With the increasing cost of living, it's likely that many people will temper their expectations for extensive travel. I know that I have.

What part will you play in the next chapters of waterfalling in Ontario?

You can read more about the history of the Waterfalls of Ontario Project.
McArthur Falls, east of Bancroft.

Waterfalls of Ontario Project

This project has been online since 1999, in print since 2003, and on social since 2011. (See archives: 2003, 2012, 2018). It was the first to inventory and map Ontario's waterfalls for recreational purposes. With your continued help, it grows. Learn more...
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This page last updated on April 20, 2024. Earlier versions can be examined on Archive.org, dating back to 2003.