A Moving Waterfall

14 A Moving Waterfall I live in a city called Niagara Falls. It's in Canada. The city is named after the massive waterfall on the Niagara River between Canada and the United States. There are two sections. One is called the American Falls. And the other larger section, which is on the Canadian side of the border, is called the Horseshoe Falls because it forms a U-shape, just like the shoes nailed to horses' hooves. At 53 metres tall, they are not the tallest in the world, but they are about one kilometre wide. So much water goes over the falls that you could fill 13, 000 bathtubs per second! The Horseshoe Falls is beautiful. Every year, more than 20 million people come from all over the world to enjoy this beauty. Now, here is the interesting thing about the falls: they have moved back 11 kilometres since they were formed. You're probably wondering how waterfalls can move. You see, the rushing water causes the rocks on the edge to wear away and fall over the edge. Over many thousands of years, the falls have moved back in this way. Today, engineers have made the falls stronger with metal and concrete so that the rushing water does not wear down the rock as easily.

The word Niagara comes from the Niagagarega people. They lived in the area hundreds of years before the Europeans discovered the falls around the year1600. Believe it or not, about fourteen people have gone over the falls on purpose. These people are known as stunt people. They do dangerous things just to get noticed. In 1901, a 63-year-old school teacher was the first person to go over the falls in a barrel! She survived. Since then, other people have gone over the falls in barrels. Nowadays, it is illegal to try such stunts at Niagara Falls. But in the old days, people did it all the time. Some even strung tightropes high above the falls and walked across!