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The Niagara Scow gets stranded at the Falls....
The Niagara Scow gets stranded at the Falls....
Item # 718822
August 08, 1918
THE NEW YORK TIMES, Aug. 8, 1918
* Niagara Scow - Old or Iron Scow
* Stranded at Niagara Falls
Page 9 has a one small column heading: "Saved From Niagara Falls" with subhead. (see image)
Complete with all 22 pages, light toning at the margins, a little irregular along the spine, generally nice.
AI notes: On August 6, 1918, a dramatic incident unfolded near Niagara Falls when a dump scow—a flat-bottomed barge used for dredging—broke loose while being towed upstream on the Niagara River. Two workers, Gustave F. Lofberg and Frank Harris, were aboard when the scow began drifting rapidly toward the Horseshoe Falls. In a desperate move to avoid being swept over the edge, they opened the barge’s dumping doors, allowing water to flood the hull and ground the vessel on a rock shoal just 2,500 feet from the brink. Stranded in the raging river overnight, the men were eventually rescued after a daring 17-hour effort involving the U.S. Coast Guard, local rescuers, and a breeches buoy system fired from the shore with a Lyle gun. The scow remained lodged in the same spot for over a century, becoming a haunting relic and local landmark until a powerful storm in October 2019 dislodged it, shifting its position for the first time in 101 years. The incident remains a legendary story of quick thinking, bravery, and a narrow escape from certain death.
Category: The 20th Century
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