America's most unnatural wonder

The Niagara Falls are enormous waterfalls on the Niagara waterway, straddling the international border separating the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of New York. Niagara Falls is composed of two major sections separated by Goat Island: Horseshoe Falls, on the Canadian side of the border and American Falls on the United States side. Niagara Falls were formed when glaciers receded at the end of the Wisconsin glaciation (the last ice age), and water from the newly-formed Great Lakes carved a path through the Niagara Escarpment en direction to the Atlantic Ocean. While not exceptionally high, the Niagara Falls are very wide. More than 6 million cubic feet of water falls over the ridge line every minute in high flow, and almost 4 million cubic feet on average. It is the most powerful waterfall in North America.

The Niagara Falls are famous both for their beauty and as a valuable source of hydroelectric power. Managing the balance between recreational, commercial, and industrial uses has been a dare for the stewards of the falls since the 1800s.