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NO PLANS TO REMOVE SCOW FROM BRINK OF FALLS: PARKS

FACEBOOK POST BY COMPANY CLAIMING TO BE SCRAP COMPANY SAID WORKERS WERE TO WEAR 'SPECIAL BARRELS' IN CASE THEY GET SWEPT OVER FALLS

PAUL FORSYTH pforsyth@niagarathisweek.com

There are no plans to try to salvage the famous iron scow that's been lodged above the Canadian Horseshoe Falls for more than a century, contrary to what has been posted on a Facebook page.

A Facebook account known as Sawenhalve Scrap, which has a phone number with a Raleigh, North Carolina area code, posted on Tuesday that it was contacted by the Niagara Parks Commission that day about removing the scow and the nearby remains of the First World War antisubmarine vessel known as the Sunbeam.

The Parks said no such request has been made.

"This is definitely satire," said Chris Giles, communications manager for the Parks.

The post about the scow and the Sunbeam appear to be part of a series of satirical posts by Sawenhalve, which frequently posts on its Facebook page about jobs it's landed to scrap or salvage equipment such as locomotives.

"They wish for us to remove and scrap the broken up remains of both" ships, Sawenhalve said of the marine artifacts in the Niagara River just above the Horseshoe Falls.

"Due to (the) precarious nature of where they are at, no attempt to (remove) them has been made before," reads the post, which has generated dozens of reposts by people, some apparently believing it to be true.

"Eventually time passed and both vessels have started to break apart," the post said. "We are being brought in to clear out the remains, to keep them from befouling the area any longer."

The final paragraph makes the satirical nature of the post more clear, making reference to the days of daredevils when men and women risked life and limb by going over the falls in barrels — sometimes with fatal results.

"Due to the proximity to the falls we will be charging extra for the work to be done," said Sawenhalve. "All employees working the site will be required to wear special barrels that will protect them if they accidentally fall into the river and go over the falls."

On June 6, Sawenhalve made another apparently satirical post where it claimed the City of Galveston, Texas has asked it to scrap dozens of derelict locomotives. Sawenhalve said it would cut up the locomotives and the city would buy the scrap.

"They wish to use the scrap metal to build a border wall along the Gulf of Mexico, to keep illegal immigrants out of their city," the post read.

The scow that's remained perched in the powerful rapids about 600 metres from the brink of the falls since a dramatic rescue operation to save two men in it in 1918 shifted significantly in 2019 due to a howling windstorm.

That led to some people believing it could finally be swept over the mighty calls, but the scow stayed put.

Then in early April, it broke into several pieces with at least two large sections of the main hull separating and lying in the churning water.

Niagara Parks historian Jim Hill speculated that after the ice boom in the river was released a week earlier, combined with high winds, water and ice may have hammered what was left of the scow and caused it to break up.

Cathy Roy, with the Niagara Falls Public Library, said in a column about the Sunbeam several years ago that it was a subchaser from the Great War that was put up for sale after the war. She said the 24-metre, wooden boat was docked in Chippawa in 1923 when it apparently broke free and drifted downriver before coming to rest near the old scow.

The boat lasted on the rocky shoal for more than 13 years before it eventually broke up in 1936 or 1937, she wrote.

Numerous attempts to reach the Raleigh, North Carolina phone number listed on the Sawenhalve Facebook page reached a busy signal or loud static.

NEWS

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2022-06-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-06-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://communitynews.pressreader.com/article/281805697607000

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