A tourist hotspot
Since even before the 1790s, people were well-aware of Niagara Falls. However, due to the limitations of transportation technology at the time, there were no planes to hop onto, and the nearest railway wouldn’t pass the area for several more decades.
But as soon as Niagara Falls became a lot more accessible, it has become one of the most visited sites in the US. Since the 1990s, roughly 30 million people from across the world come to New York to see the falls up-close. And it’s clear that the locals’ livelihoods rely heavily on the fall’s flow.