Schoellkopf Power Station was a pioneer. When it began generating electricity in 1881, it was among the first hydroelectric plants in the world. Nikola Tesla's AC generators were installed here in the 1890s, proving that electricity could be transmitted over distance. The plant grew along the gorge wall: Station 3A, 3B, 3C - massive brick buildings clinging to the cliff face, turbines spinning with Niagara's endless power. By 1956, the complex was aging but still producing. Workers descended into the gorge every day, trusting the rock that had held for millennia. The rock had other plans.

The warning was brief: a rumble, then a roar. The cliff face behind Stations 3A and 3C simply detached, sliding into the gorge and burying the powerhouses. Over 200,000 tons of dolostone - the same rock the falls have been carving for 12,000 years - came down in seconds. One worker, Richard Draper, was killed. Others escaped through tunnels as debris cascaded around them. The two stations were destroyed completely, erased from the gorge wall. Station 3B, slightly upstream, survived. The cause was geological inevitability - frost, water, and time had weakened the cliff until it couldn't hold itself anymore.

Niagara Falls is retreating. The force of water falling 167 feet erodes the soft shale beneath the hard dolostone cap; when the shale goes, the dolostone collapses. The falls have retreated seven miles from their original position at Queenston, carving the gorge as they went. The rate is slowing - water diversion for power generation has reduced the flow - but the retreat continues. The Schoellkopf collapse wasn't an anomaly; it was the gorge doing what it's always done, just faster than anyone expected. Engineers now monitor the gorge walls constantly. The next collapse could come tomorrow or in a century. It will come.

The Schoellkopf disaster cost $100 million in 1956 dollars and eliminated a third of western New York's generating capacity. Replacement power was rushed in; the Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant, already planned, was accelerated. That plant opened in 1961, built safely away from the gorge edge, its water arriving through tunnels. The Schoellkopf ruins remained visible for years - twisted turbines, crushed brick, the skeleton of industrial ambition buried in rock. Most has been cleared now, though traces remain. The disaster demonstrated that Niagara's power comes with Niagara's danger. Harness the falls, but respect what made them.

The Schoellkopf collapse site is visible from several viewpoints in Niagara Falls State Park on the American side. The best view is from the gorge trail that descends toward the base of the falls - look for the section of cliff wall that appears fresher, less weathered, where the 1956 collapse exposed new rock. Interpretive signs explain the disaster. The Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant offers tours showing modern hydropower generation. The Niagara Gorge Discovery Center provides geological context. Cave of the Winds and the Maid of the Mist offer up-close falls experiences. The falls are best visited from both American and Canadian sides; bring your passport. The gorge that ate Schoellkopf continues to deepen - slowly, patiently, inevitably.