The Beginning

The Ice Bridge Tragedy
TRAGEDY AT THE FALLS

Ice Bridges do not form every year. In fact today with the flow of water over the falls monitored ice bridges have become a thing of the past. Perhaps the most notable of all ice bridges occurred in 1899. That was the year the most massive and longest lasting ice bridge formed.

The winter of 1899 was a particularly cold one and extended periods of below zero temperatures had created huge chunks of ice on Lake Erie. When temperatures rose and the winds picked up, the ice was broken down into large chunks and swept towards the mouth of the Niagara River where the current quickly brought it downstream and over the falls.

Mound after mound of jagged ice would be swept over the brink until eventually, with colder temperatures setting in, the chunks would fuse together forming a colossal ice bridge. Spectators by the thousands would then venture out to view this dazzling display of nature.

Ice shanties would be set up on the ice selling everything from hot coffee and souvenirs to a nip of hard liquor. Riders on horseback or horse drawn sleighs could even be seen occasionally.

Winter Ice Bridges were a common occurence in the early part of the twentieth century. Here we can see the paths that visitors would take to the ice bridge where shacks were set up serving refreshments.

Today even if an ice bridge were to form below the falls it is now illegal to venture out on one. Ice bridges, although appearing safe can actually break apart rather quickly, and lives can be lost. Perhaps the most tragic of all ice bridge mishaps occurred in February of 1912.

That day saw a wave of flurry on the ice bridge as spectators and visitors braved the early morning cold to take in the winter wonderland.

Red Hill Sr. was on the ice bridge that day, selling his wares from a shanty that he had built on the ice. By lunch time most of the crowd had left but about two dozen or so remained on the ice.

Two teenage boys from Cleveland, Ignatius Roth and Burrell Hecock, both seventeen were playing on the ice when they encountered a couple from Toronto. The couples’ names were Clara and Eldridge Stanton.

The Stantons were well known in the Toronto community. Mr. Stanton owned a profitable stationery company in Toronto. He was also quite musical and performed in operas at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto. His lovely wife Clara was an avid photographer. The couple had visited Niagara regularly since their wedding several years before, however this was their first winter visit and Clara was excited about photographing the mighty falls in the winter time.

The Stantons encountered the boys from Cleveland that afternoon and exchanged pleasantries. Mrs. Stanton offered to photograph the boys. It was around noon when several spectators peering into the gorge from above noticed the ice begin to move.

When the loose ice came into contact with the ice bridge, it caused the bridge to fracture and rise. Red Hill, sitting in his shanty immediately recognized the impending danger and sprang to action. He cried to the nearest tourists to follow him and helped several to the Canadian shore.

Realizing that several people were still out on the ice he returned to the ice pack and valiantly tried to encourage the Stantons to follow him back to shore. The Stantons, either out of fear or indecision did not follow Hill’s orders and instead tried to retreat to the American side where they found their path no longer there.

Hearing their cries for help were Roth and Hecock, the two Cleveland boys, still somewhat oblivious of the impending danger.

All four quickly found themselves on an ice flow, headed towards the Whirlpool Rapids. Eventually the ice pack that the four were traveling on broke apart and Roth found himself alone, stranded on a small ice flow.

It did not take long for word of the looming disaster to reach both the Canadian and American shores. Throngs of would be rescuers turned out along both banks. Red Hill still watching and realizing the plight of the four saw a chance to save Roth.

He ran along the shore, checking for the best possible route of escape and yelled instructions to the frightened boy who was 150 ft out in the river. Roth, heeding the men’s commands leapt from ice floe to ice floe until he was within fifteen feet of the Canadian shore. It was then that Red Hill threw a rope out to the exhausted boy and helped him make his way in the freezing waters to shore.

Even horse drawn carriages managed to make their way to the bottom of the falls. Notice the people descending down the frozen American Falls

Meanwhile another drama was unfolding on the river as attempts were being made to rescue Hecock and the Stantons. The ice had moved a great distance downstream by now and with the pounding of the waves the ice floe was breaking apart and becoming smaller and smaller.

Spectators and rescuers on the banks and bridges could only watch helplessly as the trio drifted past on the last calm stretch of the Niagara River.

Many encouraged Burrell to jump and swim for shore, hoping that he would make it close enough to the shore to be rescued before hypothermia would set in.

People on the bridges attempted to throw a rope to the helpless victims but to no avail. The ice moved too fast and the cold made it almost impossible to get any sort of grip on the rope.

At one point Burrell managed to hoist himself off the ice for a short time but the exhausted boy could not hold onto the rope.

Helplessly the three floated down river until first Burrell and then the Stantons disappeared behind a huge green wave of water.

For weeks afterwards rescuers searched for bodies but neither the Stantons nor Burrell Hecock were ever recovered from the river. Since that tragic day in February of 1912 authorities on either side of the river have not permitted any sort of activity on the ice.

A portrait of Burrell Hecock who was regarded as a hero after losing his life trying to rescue the Stantons, of Toronto, Canada from an ice floe in the Niagara River
LIBRARY PHOTO