List of waterfalls in Hamilton, Ontario

File:Waterdawn Webster Falls5.jpg

Webster's Falls

The city of Hamilton in Ontario, Canada is home to more than 100 waterfalls and cascades, most of which are on or near the Bruce Trail as it winds through the Niagara Escarpment. Ontario's internationally recognized Niagara Escarpment provides perfect geological conditions for waterfalls to occur, from Tobermory to Niagara Falls.

With its crest, Webster's Falls is the largest waterfall within the city. Tew's Falls is a ribbon waterfall, and is the tallest waterfall found in Hamilton. Both Webster's and Tew's Falls are located at the Spencer Gorge / Webster's Falls Conservation Area. Albion Falls was once seriously considered as a possible source of water for Hamilton. Rocks from the Albion Falls area were used in the construction of the Royal Botanical Gardens' Rock Garden.

There used to be more waterfalls in Hamilton than exist today. Many of the waterfalls in central Hamilton slowly vanished as population and construction on Hamilton Mountain increased. As well, in the early years, James Street extended south, but was interrupted by a bog at Hunter Street which eventually (1844) was drained out and graded. Many of Hamilton's main buildings and factories in the north end are built on reclaimed or infilled land, which harmed the drainage of Hamilton and the water ecology of Hamilton Harbour.

Many of the falls in west Hamilton are accessible from the Chedoke Radial Trail. It is built on what was once the route for the Brantford and Hamilton Electric Railway owned by the Cataract Power Light and Traction Company (later Dominion Power and Transmission). The "Five Johns", (John Cameron, John Dickenson (Canadian politician), John Morison Gibson, John Moodie, Sr. and John Sutherland), formed The Cataract Power Co. Ltd. introducing electric power to Hamilton in 1898. On August 25, 1898, power was sent twenty seven miles from DeCew Falls, St. Catharines, using water from the old Welland Canal. New industries, such as the forerunners of the Steel Co. of Canada (Stelco) and Canadian Westinghouse, were attracted here by the cheaper, more efficient power. One time this Company controlled hydro power from Brantford to St. Catharines, including the Hamilton Street Railway and the area's radial lines. Back then the city's nickname was "The Electric City."

File:Niagara Escarpment map.png

Niagara Escarpment (in red)

There are four waterfall types and they are designated as follows:

• Ribbon – height is notably greater than its crest width; stream forms a thin ribbon of water.
• Classical – height and crest width are nearly equal.
• Curtain – height is notably smaller than its crest width.
• Cascade – vertical drop is broken into a series of steps causing water to cascade down incline.

Some of the criteria used to define a separate Hamilton waterfall include: The waterfall has to have a vertical drop of at least 3 metres or either as a vertical drop or a cascade, the crest width has to be at least 1 metre or wide, the waterfall must have some natural component and not be entirely man-made; If a waterfall is beside another waterfall but coming from two separate creeks or streams, then they could be considered as two separate waterfalls and the waterfall has to be located within the boundaries of the new City of Hamilton.

On January 1, 2001 the new city of Hamilton was formed from the amalgamation of the Regional Municipality of Hamilton-Wentworth and its six municipalities: Hamilton, Ancaster, Dundas, Flamborough, Glanbrook, and Stoney Creek. Before amalgamation, Hamilton had a population of 331,121 divided into 100 neighbourhoods. The new amalgamated city had 490,268 people in over 200 neighbourhoods.

Waterfalls list

The Hamilton Conservation Authority maintains a web database of the city's waterfalls. The list below comes from that website, which contains 100 waterfalls.

Photo	Name	Height	Width	Coordinates
File:Albion Falls, Hamilton,..jpg	Albion Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Ancaster Heights Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Auchmar Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Baby Albion Falls
File:Waterdawn Webster Baby Falls1.jpg	Baby Webster Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Beckett Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Billy Green Falls
File:Billy Monkley Cascade (35596122764).jpg	Billy Monkley Cascade
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Blue Falls
File:Borer's Falls.jpg	Borer's Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Broman Falls
File:Buttermilk FallsA.jpg	Buttermilk Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Canterbury Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Cave Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Centennial Falls
File:Chedoke Falls - panoramio (4).jpg	Chedoke Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Clappison Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Cliffview Falls
File:Spencer Gorge Cons. Area Laslovarga (23).jpg	Darnley Cascade
File:Denlow.jpeg	Denlow Falls
File:Devils Pouch Bowl Conservation Area- Hamilton-Ontario (1).jpg	Devil's Punch Bowl Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Dewitt Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Duchess Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Dundas Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Dyment Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	East Glover's Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	East Greensville Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	East Iroquoia Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	East of Fifty Falls
File:Felker's Falls - panoramio (2).jpg	Felker's Falls
File:Ferguson Falls.jpg	Ferguson Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Fifty Road Cascade
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Glover's Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Grand Cascade
File:Great Falls - Waterdown.jpg	Great Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Grindstone Cascade
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Hannon Cascade
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Harvey Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Heritage Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Heritage Green Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Hermitage Cascade
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Hidden Grindstone Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Jones Road Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Lewis Road East Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Lewis Road West Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Limeridge Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Little Canterbury Falls
File:Little Davis Falls Red Hill Valley.JPG	Little Davis Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Little Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Lower Borer's Falls
File:Lower Chedoke Falls - panoramio (3).jpg	Lower Chedoke Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Lower Cliffview Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Lower Glendale Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Lower Hopkins Cascade
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Lower Little Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Lower Mill Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Lower Mohawk Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Lower Princess Falls
File:Lower punchbowl falls - Flickr - LukeDetwiler.jpg	Lower Punchbowl Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Lower Sanitorium Cascade
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Lower Scenic Cascade
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Lower Sydenham Falls
File:Waterfall at Dundas Peak, Ontario.jpg	Lower Tew's Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Lower Westcliffe Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	McNeilly Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Middle Glendale Falls
File:Mill Falls -Ancaster Heights- Hamilton-Ontario.jpg	Mill Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Mineral Springs Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Mountain Spring Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Mountview Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Oak Knoll Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Patterson East Cascade
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Patterson West Cascade
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Princess Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Pritchard Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Progreston Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Promontory Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Puddicombe Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Rock Chapel Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Romar Cascade
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Scenic Falls
File:Sherman Falls - panoramio - Eric Marshall (4).jpg	Sherman Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Smith Cascade
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Snake Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Steven's Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Sugar Shack Falls
File:Tew's Falls at Sunset.jpg	Tew's Falls
File:Tiffany Falls, Hamilton (6663519687).jpg	Tiffany Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Upper Glendale Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Upper Hopkins Cascade
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Upper Mohawk Cascade
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Upper Quarry Cascade
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Upper Sanatorium Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Valley Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Veevers Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Walnut Grove Falls
File:Washboard Falls (Close-Up).JPG	Washboard Falls
File:Webster Falls (49139224).jpeg	Webster Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Wesley Cascade
File:Blank - Spacer.png	West Iroquoia Falls
File:Blank - Spacer.png	West Moss Cascade
File:Blank - Spacer.png	West of Fifty Upper Cascade
File:Blank - Spacer.png	Westcliffe Falls

Water quality problems

Many of Hamilton's creeks and waterfalls, especially those in the heavily-urbanized Chedoke and Red Hill creek watersheds, suffer from chronic water quality problems. Much of these systems have been buried in large underground concrete storm sewers that run under neighbourhoods established decades ago atop the Niagara escarpment. Industrial and residential use through the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries have caused, and continue to cause, substantial environmental damage to these watersheds. While the city of Hamilton has invested in wastewater storage tanks and tunnels in recent years, as of 2020, water testing performed by non-governmental monitoring bodies continues to reveal high e. coli counts. While the City of Hamilton's website does state that some waterfalls may be polluted and discourages entering the water around waterfalls, it does not state which ones are polluted, nor does the city test the water at any waterfall locations, since it does not designate them as official swimming areas.

Chedoke Falls and watershed

In March 2020, it was revealed that as much as 24 billion litres of untreated wastewater had been leaking into Chedoke creek since at least 2014 due to insufficiencies in Hamilton's sewerage and stormwater management system. Chedoke falls is often listed as one of Hamilton's 10 most popular waterfalls, and visitors can regularly be seen swimming and wading in its waters. The Chedoke creek watershed has seen regular discharges of raw sewage for the past century; today, untreated wastewater is discharged into the river regularly during rainstorms, when the city's Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO's) and a 77 million litre concrete wastewater storage tank are incapable of handling increased water volumes. The storm sewer feeding Chedoke falls has also been plagued by incorrectly-installed sanitary sewer cross-connections from the residential neighbourhoods it runs beneath. The amount of raw sewage flowing into the creek on an ongoing basis is unknown. These problems are compounded by the fact that the Chedoke creek is buried in a series of concrete stormwater-and-overflow sewers for almost all of its length; indeed, Chedoke falls itself flows directly out of a storm sewer outfall, visible from the base of the falls. Other waterfalls in the Chedoke creek watershed include Westcliffe Falls and Princess Falls.

Albion Falls and watershed

Albion Falls is one of Hamilton's largest waterfalls, and sees a significant volume of visitors during the summertime. All of the water flowing over the falls originates in storm sewers that drain substantial portions of Hamilton's west mountain neighbourhoods. In particular, the Stone Church Rd. Storm Trunk Sewer that drains neighbourhoods on either side of Stone Church Road East, nicknamed the "mountain juggernaut", is the largest known sewer in Canada. Water from upstream of the falls emerges from various sewer outfalls, traverses the Dartnall Rd. off-ramps from the Lincoln M. Alexander Parkway, and proceeds to a pond adjacent to the falls before flowing over the falls themselves. Studies in the early 2000s and 2012 indicated high concentrations of e. coli bacteria in various locations along the Red Hill creek watershed, which Albion falls is a part of. A 2013 study of a Red Hill sub-watershed, the Upper Ottawa Creek, noted high concentrations of chloride, sodium, various heavy metals, phosphorus, and likely contamination from sanitary sewer cross-connections. It remains unknown whether the city has addressed these issues.

Images

• Devil's Punch Bowl
  Devil's Punch Bowl
• Chedoke Falls
  Chedoke Falls
• Albion Falls, King's Forest Park
  Albion Falls, King's Forest Park

See also

• List of waterfalls
• List of waterfalls in Canada
• Geography of Hamilton, Ontario

External links

• Great Lakes waterfalls and beyond (www.gowaterfalling.com)
• Cascades and Waterfalls of Hamilton (www.waterfalls.hamilton.ca)
• Hamilton- "The Waterfall Capital of the World" (www.cityofwaterfalls.ca)
• Hamilton Conservation Authority- Waterfalls (www.conservationhamilton.ca)
• Hamilton Naturalists Club (www.hamiltonnature.org)
• Hamilton Waterfalls- Photo Gallery (www.hamilton.worldweb.com)
• Bruce Trail (www.brucetrail.org)
• Travel the Niagara Escarpment: Parks in the City of Hamilton (www.escarpment.org)
• Vintage Postcards: Waterfalls in and around Hamilton, Ontario

Maps

• Hamilton Waterfall Map PDF. (http://map.hamilton.ca)
• Map: Hamilton Waterfalls (www.hamiltonnature.org)

Video clips

• Hamilton- The City of Waterfalls (www.myhamilton.ca)

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