Original subtitles

Escape with us on an epic journey

along one of North America's legendary rivers,

world-famous for its majestic Niagara Falls.

A million bathtubs full of water are rushing past here

every single minute.

As we venture up close, we find a waterway

churning with discoveries...

...ancient and spiritual landscapes...

Every time I paddle, I feel that energy from the spirits

from my ancestors.

...places of unspoiled beauty and adventure.

We'll ride some of the most extreme rapids in the world...

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...and dangle precariously over a hypnotic whirlpool...

It's breathtaking.

You're not going to get this kind of view anywhere else.

...alongside the people most connected to these waters.

There's just a lot of power and magic in the Niagara River.

This is one of the most scenic river journeys in the world.

The Niagara River.

The Niagara River is a legacy of the last ice age...

...dramatically carved out of the landscape 18,000 years ago.

A remarkable three-quarters of North America's surface water

passes through this 36-mile river,

making it a formidable barrier

and not just because of the 40 mile per hour rapids.

These waters also serve as an international border.

All clear!

So, for the first leg of our journey,

we've arranged for a special escort - the US Coast Guard,

who is taking us downriver from Buffalo, New York.

2690. We're just about at the Peace Bridge. Ops normal.

I'm always fascinated by bodies of water.

You know, hence I'm in the Coast Guard.

But certainly the Niagara River is special.

It is part of a greater system

and that greater system being the Great Lakes.

It's just an amazing amount of water.

Oceans inside of the United States and Canada.

To me, that's what's mind boggling.

All of that has to flow out to the sea

and this is the choke point for that to happen.

The mouth of the Niagara River.

Do you see the current wrapping around the abutment of the bridge?

That is an incredible amount of flow.

It's probably seven to eight knots.

And, you see, it's taking us past here in mere seconds.

This is the Peace Bridge, the first of six border bridges

over the Niagara River between Canada and the United States

and one of the busiest border crossings in all of North America.

The name symbolises the peace between our two nations.

The Niagara River is a part of the longest stretch

of peaceful border anywhere in the world,

where there is absolutely no conflict.

We realise between our two countries that it's on us.

This is a joint effort to keep this waterway going

and flowing in the way that we want it to.

Being a part of that is really special to me.

Connecting Lake Erie to Lake Ontario,

the Niagara River is a short but vital cog

in the Great Lakes waterway,

and our journey will be packed with attractions.

From the Peace Bridge, we travel north through the Chippawa Channel,

pass the International Control Dam and a shipwrecked scow,

and on to Niagara Falls.

Then, travelling through a seven-mile gorge,

we pass a whirlpool and a glen,

tackle the Devils Hole Rapids and finish our journey

with a visit to New York's Stella Niagara and Canada's wine country.

Four miles downstream from the Peace Bridge,

the waters have slowed.

Avoiding an international incident,

we hop over to the Canadian side to catch a stunning sunrise.

Enjoying it are a raft of ducks...

...a retiring fox...

...and a lone paddler on the water.

This is the shoreline of the Chippawa Channel,

named for some of the First Nations who populated these river banks.

"Nibi" means water in Anishinaabemowin,

and water is life.

Knowing that my ancestors paddled the same river...

...5,000 years ago, 10,000 years ago, it's incredible.

Every time I paddle, I feel that energy from the spirits

from my ancestors.

It's just magical.

We join Michele-Elise Burnett in a traditional birch bark canoe,

much like the ones her Metis Algonquin ancestors would have used.

She is paddling downriver past Grand Island

towards Niagara Falls.

I'm telling you, my ancestors...

...they were engineers.

This birch bark canoe, it's a one man canoe for hunting and fishing,

but they did make different canoes for different waters.

It was something that the whole family did together

as a collaborative, and then they would pass that tradition

on to their children.

The canoe was very, very important to us

and we held it with very high respect

because, really, the canoe was our means of hunting and fishing

and transportation.

At this point in the river, we must come in to shore.

Just like Michele-Elis's ancestors,

we cannot navigate the Niagara the entire way.

Downstream, the Falls must be bypassed by land.

But a little portaging didn't stop this from being

a superhighway for indigenous peoples for hundreds of generations.

Niagara was a crossroad.

It was an area that our indigenous people would come from the north

and then they would come down here and then cross over

and meet with other indigenous nations and do trades.

The function of the river changed dramatically once North America

was colonised.

The Niagara quickly took on a new role as a border,

but it's a role that Michele and many others

with indigenous heritage refuse to recognise.

It's an imposed border from our point of view

because our ancestors

basically roamed all of this area.

Once a year, we go across the Niagara Falls Bridge

with flags and march.

As indigenous people, we're proud to walk across the border and say,

we don't recognise borders.

I look at this river and I see that it binds us together.

Water is something that we are all connected by

and it unifies us and it brings us together.

This river...

...is our lifeline, it really is.

The next stop on our river

will bring us to the brink of Niagara Falls...

...and the engineering that controls it.

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16 miles into ourjourney along the Niagara River...

...the water restlessly rushes us towards its famous midpoint.

Niagara Falls.

A breathtaking sight, Niagara Falls is a wonder of the natural world.

For millennia, almost 18% of the world's fresh water

has thundered over the 180-foot drop.

But what many don't know is that for the last 70 years,

the water going over the Falls has been meticulously controlled.

This impressive structure just under one mile upstream

determines whether the water gushes or trickles over the Falls.

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We take a moment here to explore the International Control Dam,

built by Canada and the US

to regulate the flow of the Niagara River.

Jim is showing us around.

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The sheer power of a portion of the water here

is harnessed ancl diverted to two large hydroelectric plants

further downriver.

On the Canadian side, enormous underground tunnels

carry the diverted water down under the city of Niagara Falls

so that it can be used to generate power

for 3.8 million homes.

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This is exactly why the dam was put in place.

The international treaty mandates that during tourist season,

a minimum of 100,000 cubic feet per second of water

must be sent over the Falls.

But after hours and off season, the flow is reduced to half that.

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It's just under one mile from the Control Dam to the Falls...

...which the raging torrents travel in just two minutes...

...so we certainly aren't boarding any vessels

on this part of the water.

But just above the thunderous Falls is a surprising sight -

the rusting hulk of a wreck.

It's the relic of a century-old rescue story

where the stakes were high.

188 feet high, to be precise.

In the river behind me is what's left of the scow,

which was a boat.

It was towed by a tug and it was working on a project

on the American side for a hydro canal.

And there was two men on board.

And on August 6th, 1918, it broke away from its tug

and started heading for the Great Horseshoe Falls.

As the scow was swept downstream towards the Falls,

the two unfortunate souls on board managed to open the doors

and flood its compartments, slowing its progress.

You want to know how much water is going over the Falls?

The best way to picture it is picture a bathtub full of water

and multiply it by one million.

So a million bathtubs full of water

are rushing past here every single minute.

And the fact the scow grounded about 600m from the brink,

these guys didn't have a lot of time to react, and it would have been

just a few more seconds and they would have gone over.

The scow got caught on a rock shoal in the middle

of the Canadian Channel near the edge of the Falls.

The men were marooned there, knowing that any second

the torrential water could knock them loose

and plummet them over the Falls.

Back then, nobody had a helicopter, so they had to rescue these guys,

and the United States Coast Guard brought over a cannon,

which doesn't sound very friendly, but it was a rescue cannon.

They put it on top of a big hydroelectric plant here

and fired a line out to the guys on the Scow.

But the lines became tangled, and it was another 12 hours

until a local hero managed to travel along the line in a canvas sling

and rescue the men.

The Scow has sat in the middle of the river for over 100 years,

stubbornly refusing to be tossed over the falls -

a reminder of the heroics of those involved in the rescue.

People care about the story of the Scow, I think,

because it has a happy ending.

It's a great good news story on our river.

Everybody survived and there was some nice international cooperation.

We have arrived at the Niagara River's piece de resistance,

Niagara Falls.

With upwards of 20 million visitors per year,

this is one of the most popular sites in the world.

People flock here to take in its immense power

and stunning beauty.

And today, we're getting up close and personal

to appreciate the pure thrill of it.

Below the falls in Canada, we board the Hornblower cruise ship.

During peak season, more than 25,000 people a clay take this journey

to the bottom of the falls.

But be warned - this experience might just leave you

a little misty-eyed.

Guests that come to Niagara Falls, they're going to experience

one of the most iconic boat rides in the world.

You'll board a catamaran with open-deck, 360-degree view.

You'll have your iconic red Canadian rain poncho

that will keep you mostly dry.

There are dry zones. 50 if you don't want to get wet, you can stay dry.

The catamaran's two 450-horsepower engines take us to

within 28 metres of Niagara Falls - no small maritime feat.

And here, in the wheelhouse, we meet the expert helmsman

who takes on this challenge every day.

My name is Sam Neale.

I am a captain with Hornblower Niagara Cruises.

This is my sixth year working with the company.

Manoeuvring a boat down here is a very unique experience.

The water dropping from such a height

and striking the water down here in such great volumes

really makes for a strange and interesting current.

Sometimes it's really easy, it feels like you drift right in,

and sometimes it does take a little bit of effort.

You have to use some engine power to get up there.

As we reach the climax of the tour, the Canadian Horseshoe Falls...

...those red ponchos are put to good use.

It's something that really gets the hair in your arms standing up,

once you get into the Horseshoe and pause there.

You try and take your pictures as best you can,

but, really, it's about enjoying the moment,

enjoying that experience as it's happening.

The world is constantly changing,

and sometimes it takes a place like this for people

to come and realise that this has been here for thousands of years,

unchanging.

It's hard to imagine a more exhilarating way

to experience Niagara Falls than by cruising underneath it.

But over the years, there have been a colourful collection of characters

who took the thrill of the Falls to new heights.

To the locals, they are known as the Daredevils.

Blondin, really, he's the first.

He's an accomplished acrobat, comes here in 1858,

gets mystified by Niagara Falls and says,

"Something has to happen here."

This is when tightrope walking became the thing of Niagara Falls.

Blondin makes many passes and does lots of crazy things.

He makes an omelette on the tightrope at one point,

he walks backwards, he carries his manager across the rope.

And this is where he really got fame.

And after that, we have all these people that start imitating him,

and all of them just try and one-up themselves.

This is really the era of the daredevils at Niagara Falls.

People come from all over the world to take on the danger of the Falls.

They tightrope, they go over the Falls in barrels and in tyres.

But one of Clark's favourite 19th-century daredevils

was Canadian tightrope walker Stephen Peer,

who we can learn more about with a visit to the local history museum.

So, I've got a few things in here that I'd like to show you.

We have the costume from Stephen Peer.

This is actually the wire from his tightrope walk.

Blondin was using a real rope.

And Peer was one of the first ones to use wire.

And the neat thing about Peer was that he was using a wire

that was that small, about seven-eighths of an inch wide.

You're walking across the Niagara Gorge on something

that is that thin, like it's a Sunday walk in the park.

Peer successfully completed his walk across the Niagara River

just downstream from the Falls in 1887,

but his victory was short-lived.

Three days later, he was mysteriously found dead

at the bottom of the gorge.

The family believe that somebody jealous of him -

jealous of his fame and fortune and what he is able to accomplish -

actually murdered him.

The police report it as suicide, but at this stage, we will never know.

As we continue our river journey, we'll switch our watercraft

and take to the air above a giant whirlpool.

It's breathtaking.

You're not going to get this kind of view anywhere else.

We are just over halfway along our journey on the Niagara River,

the fast-flowing border river

between Canada and the United States.

And as we leave the timeless site of Niagara Falls,

we see that time has taken its toll on the landscape around it.

12,500 years ago,

the Falls was more than six and a half miles downstream.

Slowly receding upstream, eroding the limestone riverbed,

it has left a spectacular scar on the landscape -

the Great Gorge.

We reach an unnavigable part of the river,

funnelling frantically through the top of the gorge

as Class VI whitewater.

From the banks, we can admire the Himalaya waves named for -

you guessed it - their height.

These are some of the largest rapids on Earth.

And the gorge has another dramatic effect on the river.

Just three miles from the Falls, it makes a sudden, sharp turn,

creating a mesmerising natural phenomenon - a giant whirlpool.

Here, in lieu of getting on the water, we'll float above it,

hitching a ride on the antique Aero Car.

Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Lori...

We've been running since 1916, so way over 100 years.

It was built and designed by a Spanish engineer

by the name of Leonardo Torres Quevedo.

The Aero Car itself was built in Spain,

and then they brought it over and they assembled it

on our SOO-metre cables.

Powered by a 50-horsepower electric motor

and suspended 250 feet above the river on six sturdy cables,

the Aero crosses the gorge directly over the whirlpool.

You can hear the power of the water here.

170 million litres of water comes through this per hour.

Right now, the whirlpool is going in a counterclockwise direction -

that's its natural direction - but between 12-8am,

it'll actually change direction to a clockwise direction

because more water is diverted to our power plants.

We cross the international border four times

during our eight-and-a-half-minute trip on the Aero Car.

But no need to pack a passport -

our trip begins and ends on the Canadian side of the border.

Believe it or not, I've worked here for 31 years.

Never get sick of it. Never.

Oh, you're welcome...

Let me get the gate for you.

It's the beauty of it.

Fall is my favourite time here, with the coloured trees.

It's breathtaking.

You're not going to get this kind of view anywhere else.

From its source at Lake Erie, we have followed the Niagara River

on its short but tumultuous 20-mile journey so far through a channel,

a dam, over a waterfall and a whirlpool to the Niagara Glen.

Here, the current almost seems to pause to appreciate the view

as we pass through a very special landscape.

We leave the water for a moment to explore this pocket

of pristine Carolinian forest.

The tree species here is stuff we will find

in the Carolinas of the United States.

The topography, the river have created this microclimate

that creates temperatures that sustain these trees.

With two and a half miles of hiking trails, over 400 species of birds,

rare plants and endangered animals and 600-year-old trees,

this is a naturalist's paradise.

And don't get Corey started on these prehistoric geological formations.

The boulders behind us are interesting because

they actually show you about 400 million years of natural history.

We have evidence of a seabed about 200 million years ago.

We have fossilised coral and different sea creatures,

such as trilobites and crinoids.

Long after the ancient sea receded,

these gigantic boulders formed part of the Niagara riverbed.

They would have been pummelled by the falls that once stood here

8,000 years ago.

And now ghosts of those falls, they provide one of the most unique

recreational activities on the Niagara River.

The line I'm working on right now is called Black Eagle.

It's rated V9, which is just a difficulty grade for bouldering.

Misty and Efix have driven 14 hours from Quebec

to go bouldering here.

HE GROANS

There's a technical section where I need to invert

and try to get my feet above my head, to escape the roof of the cave

and be able to finish the boulder.

So...that's where I'm stuck at right now.

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I'll try from the bottom.

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Mm-hm.

Just downhill from the climbers,

the Glen has attracted some other hobbyists.

The Niagara River is home to some 90 species of fish.

And this time of year, it's a popular spot for king salmon fishing

since they are migrating up the river.

My name is Breno, I'm from Brazil,

and today I came here to fish.

We're fishing for salmon...

...but no luck so far! HE LAUGHS

The Niagara Falls - we always seen it on TV, cos in Brazil,

you have pretty big waterfalls, too, Iguazu Falls.

But I never thought about the Niagara River being so big.

Look at this. It's, like, huge!

Being next to the river, you can feel it,

almost like...it's alive.

Just downstream from the Niagara Glen,

we are back on the water.

Our pilot today is John.

He takes us under another international border bridge

at Queenston-Lewiston, and we find ourselves at a part of the river

ominously called The Devil's Hole.

Named for its extreme depths,

this is where the Falls originally stood 12,000 years ago.

Water depths here, 210 feet, the deepest part of the entire gorge,

because that's where the original plunge pool of Niagara Falls was

12,000 years ago.

Here, we are going to interrupt our journey downstream

and go against the flow for a moment...

...quite literally.

We are going to take a ride back up some of the most powerful rapids

in the world, because why not when you have jet power on your side?

This is just a big vacuum cleaner of water.

That's what a jet boat is - it sucks water up into it,

the engine pressurises it and shoots it out the back,

and that gives you both your propulsion and your steering.

Today, we are riding on one of John's fleet of nine jet boats

that he designed specifically to take on the Class V rapids

of the Devil's Hole and carry visitors up the gorge

to the great Niagara Whirlpool.

If you're looking for big waves, big whitewater,

the Niagara Gorge is certainly one of the world's foremost.

There's just so few places in the world

that water is channelled into such a tight area like that,

and that's what we have here in the gorge.

Going up the rapids, it's so smooth.

But when you come back down river, the waves crash back upriver,

onto the nose of the boat,

and that's where the water starts to fly.

And everybody on the trip gets very, very wet.

SCREAMING WOMAN: Oh, there we go!

It's certainly refreshing to get back on the water.

SCREAMING

All right, folks! Thumbs up! How we feeling?

THEY CHEER Perfect!

Irina and Ruslan are from Russia.

It's their first time on the Niagara River.

It was wonderful and it was exhilarating, I would say.

Immensely enjoyed it. Yes. Terrific! THEY LAUGH

Did you like being soaked?

It's fun.

In the next part of our journey,

we'll visit the little miracle chapel that survived the power

of an ice jam on the Niagara.

Ice surrounded the chapel, water level kept rising.

Docks, homes started getting destroyed along the river.

After a rip-roaring ride on the rapids of the Niagara River,

the calmer waters on the leisurely approach to Lake Ontario

are a welcome change.

We start seeing charter and pleasure boats for cruising and fishing.

And the river and its banks here are a destination for sport, play

and enjoying nature.

I'm a bird watcher,

and the Niagara River is one of the most interesting places

to come watch birds.

You get flocks of thousands and thousands of gulls and ducks

in the winter, migratory warblers in the spring and fall,

herons, bald eagles.

Even in the winter, this quarter mile of American shoreline -

known as the Stella Niagara Nature Preserve -

is a destination for congregations of waterfowl ancl gulls.

The Niagara River stays open year-round, it doesn't freeze,

so you have open, fresh water where you can't find that

for hundreds or thousands of miles around this area.

The Niagara River doesn't freeze because it's so fast-flowing

and its climate uniquely mild.

But Lake Erie at the top of it does freeze.

And before booms were installed, it meant that, on rare occasions,

ice flows from Lake Erie would travel down the river,

sometimes with devastating results.

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In 1955, there was a storm in Lake Ontario

pushing the ice upstream.

There was a storm on Lake Erie breaking up the ice,

sending the ice downstream.

Ice dam formed, water level kept rising.

All the ice started jamming up.

Docks, homes started getting destroyed along the river.

On the banks of the Nature Preserve sits a small historic chapel

built by the Sisters of St Francis.

It's known as the "Miracle Chapel" because in 1955,

it was right in the flow of the ice jam.

Sister Maura Fortkort witnessed the events and remembers them well.

There was a rumble, and then the ice just jumped up in the air.

The ice was 40 feet thick in places.

There was talk of dynamiting it to break it up,

but that was deemed useless...

...so people watched helplessly as it caused the river to rise

by up to 15 feet, flooding freezing water

and huge chunks of ice over its banks.

The water came over what would have been the shoreline,

and normally that would have been like 10 to 12 feet down.

And the ice had built around the chapel.

Everybody was praying for the chapel to survive

and asking Our Lady's protection for the chapel and for all of us.

The jam lasted a week and caused quite a stir

across western New York and the globe.

There was a steady stream of cars along here.

I read one newspaper article that said

it was the highest volume of traffic that they've ever had

on the River Road. You know, that was pretty exciting.

I mean, we were just excited to know that

we were really witnessing history

and that we were there.

And they may have been witnessing something else, too,

because once the water receded, the nuns discovered that

their beloved chapel was somehow still standing.

We do believe it was a miracle that it survived.

Everybody felt that it was our prayers to Our Lady

that saved the chapel.

The ice took out docks and homes all along the river, not the chapel.

You know, I can't really explain it myself, but I know

there's just a lot of power and magic in the Niagara River here.

We are almost at the end of our incredible journey

along the Niagara.

As the river flows into Lake Ontario,

we arrive at its most affluent, lush region.

Here, the river and the lake work together

to physically influence the climate.

They create mild temperatures, extending the season

and making this an attractive destination for tourists,

whether exploring by boat or on land.

And at the centre of it, nestled between the lake and the river,

is one of the most picturesque towns in Canada,

best visited by horse-drawn carriage.

Once the capital of British Upper Canada,

Niagara-on-the-Lake is famous for its historic buildings,

quaint bed and breakfasts and theatre festival.

Coming up on the right is the first provincial courthouse

in Upper Canada. This is used for live theatre by the Shaw Festival.

It's known as the Courthouse Theatre also.

Visitors flock here to enjoy carriage rides, fine dining,

to soak up the culture and to sample a refined local speciality -

ice wine.

No-one knows ice wine better than this man.

Klaus is a 13th-generation winemaker whose family emigrated from Germany

to establish a vineyard here on the banks of the Niagara.

Klaus prefers fancy cars to riverboats,

but the waterway is vital to his wine business.

The Niagara River, for me, means life.

It provides water for my plants,

it provides winter protection for my plants.

It's a very important part in our winemaking process

and our growing process.

We have actually our own terroir,

which is a combination of soil and climatic conditions,

and which gives a very specific characteristic to our wines.

What a sweet way to end our river journey, amongst the vineyards

of the largest ice wine-producing region in the world.

Klaus grows 16 varieties of grape here - and much of the crop

is being harvested right now, before the winter...

...unless it's destined for ice wine.

Those grapes need special treatment.

Ice wine is made from frozen grapes.

You leave the grapes until it's cold enough, -10 degrees Celsius.

The water in a grape is a solid now,

so you squeeze it and you have this liquid, you know,

which is almost like honey-like.

Just follow me!

That's an excellent winepress we use for our ice wine-making.

They do look antique, but actually, they are new

and the best and most modern technology right now

to press ice wine.

In a regular wine, out of 1kg of grapes,

you get about 700ml of grape juice.

On ice wine, out of 1kg of ice wine grapes,

you end up with about 70ml,

so it's a factor to ten.

Hence, ice wine is very expensive and we call it "liquid gold".

Hm! Tasty.

People ask me, "So how do you like your work?

"How do you like your job?"

Then you realise - I never worked a day in my life.

It's a lifestyle, it's a passion, what you do.

Living here on the Niagara River, it's just so stunning.

I could live anywhere in the world, but I choose to live here.

It's been an enlightening and awe-inspiring 36-mile journey

along the Niagara.

From border river to natural wonder,

through waters spiritual and fierce,

we have witnessed a larger-than-life river teeming with surprises,

unforgettably unique and full of adventure.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media