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OLD SCOW POPULAR
[Welland Tribune, August 1983]
It’s been 65 years, August 6, 1918 to be exact, since the steel scow or barge lodged in the Niagara River, about ¼ mile above the Horseshoe Falls. The scow to this day remains a mute reminder of near tragedy and a spectacular rescue. Briefly here’s the story.
That steel barge, loaded with rock and with three men aboard, was being towed to the upper river by a Hydro tug, when its tow line boke and set it adrift. One of the men plunged into the river at once, and swam shore. Soon the River’s swift current seized it and carried the clumsy steel craft quickly toward the brink of the Falls. However, the men on board had the presence of mind to open the dumping hatches in the bottom of the craft and thus admitted enough water to go aground.
Frantic efforts were begun to rescue the two stranded me. All that night and until late the next afternoon, attempts were made to devise some means of getting the two men to safety. The only hope was to shoot a line from the roof of the nearby powerhouse and rig a breeches-buoy onto it. After several lines had fallen short, the men were finally able to grasp one and make it fast but before the buoy could be rigged, the lines became tangled, preventing the buoy from reaching the barge.
Red Hill Sr., a famous Niagara River daredevil, volunteered to swing himself out to the obstruction, hand –over- hand above the ragging water. A false move, a broken rope or a sudden lurch of the Scow would have carried him to sudden death. There he clung by his legs while he straightened the lines with a Marlin spike. The breeches-buoy finally reached the scow and the men aboard were rescued.
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