Plugging the river
The first thing scientists needed to do was assess how the land underneath the flowing water was doing. Eventually, the scientists concluded that of the three falls, stopping American Falls was the most feasible. But if you’ve been to Niagara Falls or any high-speed river, you’ll know that stopping the natural flow of water is a lot easier said than done.
However, it wasn’t impossible to do. Over the course of three months, the project employed 1,000 trucks to carry over 28,000 tons of rock to redirect the waterflow from American Falls to Horseshoe Falls. With the makeshift dam set up, the scientists could finally begin working.