Touring

Day two dawned clear and warm. I was the only one of the family to see that portion of the day. The rest of the tribe slept in a bit. When I started waking them, there was a lot of complaining. But eventually the tribe assembled and trooped off for breakfast. We had to be ready for the tour we had scheduled.

We were the last to be picked up, the bus was almost full. Several of the people who had boarded before us were in large family groups. When we tried to all sit, we came up one seat short. The driver had to go through his list and found that one family group had booked four kids as “lap” rather than buying the oldest kid a seat. They would have gotten away with it on a less full bus. They had an uncomfortable tour with a 70 pound “toddler” sitting on their laps.

The highlight of the tour was the trip on the Maid of the Mist. It is an awe-inspiring trip. The sheer power of 50% of the falls is amazing. Yes, only 50%. The rest is diverted to the power plants. Those awe-inspiring falls are only half the volume they were originally. They must have been truly frightening before they were diverted. (Actually, at night they are only 25%. Another 25% of the water is sent through the tunnels instead of over the falls at night.)

I have not checked these figures but am writing this based on tour signs posted in various places. The signs stated that 1/5 of the earth’s supply of fresh water flowed over Niagara Falls. The total electrical output of the Niagara River power plants is under 5,000 megawatts. Assuming the output is averaged; diverting the entire Niagara into the plants would generate something like 10,000 megawatts.

That should give even non-engineering types a rough idea of how much energy is required to create electricity.