Seeing Niagara for the first time
Niagara Falls is around 18,000 years old, and was formed when glacier meltwater carved a new river through the land. Native Americans used the Falls and the area around them to find food and water, but they leave no records as to when their tribes discovered them.
The first record of the Falls is in 1602, and it was the French who made the discovery. Samuel de Champlain, a French explorer happened upon the rushing water. The popularity of the Falls as a tourist destination, however, began in 1697, when Father Louis Hennepin published the first printed description in his journal.