Century-old barge stuck in Niagara River moves for 1st time since 2019 as ice conditions change

A century-old shipwreck in the Niagara River suffered further damage and shifted its position over the weekend following changes in ice conditions along the powerful upper rapids.

The iron scow has remained lodged in place above the Canadian Horseshoe Falls since 1918, last moving in October 2019.

Jim Hill, senior manager of heritage at Niagara Parks, said pieces of the scow started to break off over the weekend.

Hill told CBC Hamilton they noticed the scow had moved "after some storms and something called the ice boom, which keeps the ice in Lake Erie.

"It's really just a chain of metal floating beams in the upper Niagara River that keeps the ice out of the remainder of the river, mainly to protect the hydroelectric plants," he said.

"It was opened up, so a combination of the weather, a lot of snow melt, just Great Lake levels being higher, I think, and all of that ice started crashing into what's left of the poor old scow."

According to Niagara Parks, despite considerable deterioration over the years, the scow — the site of a heroic rescue of two men who were stranded aboard — has miraculously clung to its perch in the upper Niagara River since breaking loose from its towing tug on Aug. 6, 1918.

One hundred years later, on Aug. 6, 2018, Niagara Parks celebrated the anniversary of the iron scow and officially recognized the heroism of William (Red) Hill Sr., who rescued the two men. Part of the anniversary celebration included the unveiling of a set of interpretive panels, to share the story of how the scow became stranded and the harrowing rescue, Niagara Parks said in a news release.

On Halloween night in 2019, the scow shifted about 50 metres down river toward the falls, leading to speculation it would wash over the brink.

Hill said it did not move far this time around and there is no public safety concern.

"What seems to be happening is it's simply falling apart in place," Hill said. 

"These are sizable portions of this thing, probably on one end, I'd say 20 per cent has been pulled off and is sitting beside it now. And probably the one-third of it [that's] facing the falls itself, it seems to have pulled away a little bit too.

"In 1918, it looked like a boat, a big boat in the river. And now it's just a collection of rusted chunks of metal that's sitting about 200 metres from the Canadian shore," Hill said.

The shipwreck is a significant part of Niagara's history, as is the story behind it, Hill said.