On three small scraps of paper
grandmother writes
how the suspension bridge
fell down
how the cotton wool
crash
pulled her from
starched sheets to the
lung-stopping chill
of the january night
how her shoes squeaked
in the snow
and looking at the
suspension bridge
lying
broken-backed against the ice
like an injured dragon
grandmother
must have wondered at
each of her magic crossings
but writes here
only
the suspension bridge
fell down
and it did make a noise
Source: Urquhart, Jane. False Shuffles. Victoria: Press Porcépic, 1982. Section entitled The Undertaker's Bride.
Across the gorge the remains of the foundations of the Fallsview Suspension Bridge, referred to in the poem above, can be seen. This was destroyed in a storm in 1889, rebuilt, and then replaced by the Upper Steel Arch Bridge in 1898. This bridge, aka the Honeymoon Bridge and the Fallsview Bridge, was destroyed by a massive build up of ice in 1938.
It was replaced by the Rainbow Bridge, finished in 1942, and which was moved just north of the Upper Steel Arch Bridge. In this area the gorge narrows and it is the start of the lower rapids, which leads into the whirlpool further downstream.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries the bridge was crossed with few border restrictions. This resulted in many cross-border marriages, with families living in the area for generations having relatives on both sides of the broder.