For just over a century, an 80-foot long iron sand-dumping scow has been stuck on a rock in the raging currents of the Niagara River just upriver from the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. After a powerful storm blew through on Halloween night, the scow began to shift and slip downriver toward the thundering falls. The scow has been stuck on a rock shelf in the rapids, roughly 600 meters from the edge, since 1918.  It is now 50 yards closer to the precipice.  

“It appears to have sort of flipped on its side and spun around,” Jim Hill, superintendent of heritage at the Niagara Parks Commission, described in a Facebook video. 

How did the scow, essentially, a sand barge, come to be stuck in the rapids for over a century? 

On August 6, 1918, Gustave F Lofberg and Frank Harris were aboard the Great Lakes Dredge and Docks Company scow dredging sand from the Niagara River about 1.6 km above the falls. When a tug came out to move the scow back to the dock, the scow broke free and drifted downriver toward Horsehoe Falls with the two men aboard.

The scow grounded on a rock shelf. Stuck there in the rapids, 200 meters from the Canadain shore and 600 meters from the falls, the barge was too close to the edge to allow a rescue boat to be dispatched. Ultimately the US Coast Guard was able to shoot a line with a grappling-gun to the scow and set up a breeches-buoy to rescue the two men. 

After staying put for 101 years, will the rusting scow continue to move and slip over the falls?

“It’s stuck where it is now and it could be stuck there for days or could be stuck there for years,” Jim Hill said. “It’s anyone’s guess.”

The Iron Scow Rescue