Niagara Falls is known as the honeymooner's delight. If you were a TH'er about to be married, it would be a double delight. It is situated at the centre of the Niagara Frontier, which has hosted 45 forts, 70 batteries and 17 battles. Every year thousands of tourists come to visit the Falls and restock its parks with coins and jewelry. After the newly married TH'er has contemplated the Falls with his wife, he can introduce her to his other love, his metal detector. Fortunately, it is not compulsory to be a newlywed to visit Niagara Falls.

Since 1678, when Father Hennipen reported to his superiors of the magnitude of the waterfall, it has attracted visitors from around the world. It has been suggested that the attraction of the fall to newlyweds began in 1792. Sir John Graves Simcoe was appointed Governor General of the Canadas. He brought his newly married wife to the seat of the government at Niagara-on-the-Lake and included a visit to view the Falls.

On the Canadian side of the Niagara River runs a park, from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. Due to ignorant TH'ers in the past certain portions of the park have been made inexcessable to metal detectors. These are Victoria Park at the brink of the Falls and the parkland surrounding Fort Erie, Fort George and Queenston Heights. This leaves about twenty miles of parkland for detecting. Most of my detecting of this parkland is done between Labour Day and the 24th of May. The summer months are the main tourist times

 One of my favourite areas to hunt is in the Niagara Gorge. The sidewalks run along the gorge and many valuable items are lost over the wall to fall to the unkempt wilderness, 169 feet below.
In the 18OO's the gorge provided a ready area to dispose of household garbage. I discovered this while I was exploring several years ago. We were living near the gorge. At that time there were ladders down the side of the cliffs. Out of curiosity, I climbed down. I found the rusted hulk of an old car from the 20s and some very unusual bottles with embThe bottles I brought home. With a bit of research I found out that they were medicine bottles and that there was a market for them. I returned to the gorge with shovel and packsack. That year I made enough money selling the bottles at fleamarkets to buy a car. It was to help find further bottle dumps that I borrowed a device called a metal detector.

Garbage disposal was not all that the gorge has been used for. While trying to maneuver the sixty-degree slope and avoid the poison ivy I came upon a gun barrel sticking out of the rocks. With a bit of digging it came easily out. It was a Remington revolver dated 1877 on the gun barrel in engraved lettering

One summer (1982) I received a phone Call from a couple that were visiting the Falls from Berkley, California. They had descended to the "Cave of the Winds" at the base of the American falls. The woman had been removing her gloves and her wedding ring came with them. She heard the ring strike the rocks below. Due to a heavy mist, a search failed to find the ring. They wondered if I could find it with a metal detector.

With one of the guides, we descended into the gorge. The couple lead us along the series of catwalks to the spot where the ring had fallen. The ground surface consisted of loose rock that slid underfoot. To further hamper the search, there were a legacy of nails from catwalks that had been destroyed by ice in the past. Three of us searched, two by eye and one with the detector. After ten minutes the guide said that he had found it. Looking at the ring, the man shook his head. It was not their ring.

After twenty minutes detecting, the correct ring was located under a rock. The couple were very grateful for my help to recover a very precious heirloom.I have found several wedding rings in the gorge. This may lend strength to the rumor that divorced couples return to the Falls to dispose of their wedding bands.

During the War of 1812, British and American armies fought, camped and marched on both sides of the Niagara River. There is hardly a field or lot along the river that will not produce some artifact of their passage. Niagara Falls, Ontario was the site of the battle of Lundy's Lane. The battlesite is now part of the city but the parks and the schoolgrounds surrounding the area have produced buttons and musketballs. Recently, while out coin hunting, one of the members of our local detecting club turned up an American militia crossed belt plate.

The abundance of sightseers has attracted many forms of entertainment to the Falls area. Circuses, carnivals and sideshows have made their appearance in the various parks and vacant lots around the city. My finest day of coinshooting occurred in a park that had been the site of a carnival for the past 45 years. The bingo tent had always been set up in the same spot. In one afternoon I was able to recover $18. in silver dimes. I spent more time retrieving than detecting. The majority of coins were silver dimes with the occasional other coin. Ten cents was the price of a bingo card, which may account for the predominance of dimes.

Driving north along the parkway will take you through the park at Queenston Heights to Fort George at Niagara-on-the-Lake. The town grew around the formation of the Fort in 1780. It has been affiliated with the military up to 1965 as a training base. The area of military activity extended throughout the town as is evident by the shell casings that one encounters. It is not uncommon to find a couple of musketballs while coinshooting a schoolyard. We are fortunate that urban expansion has not destroyed the detecting potential of this area.

Driving south from Niagara Falls will take you to Fort Erie. Although the park area is out of bounds to detectors, the wooden areas surrounding the park continue to produce some very nice relics of the War of 1812. Residents of the area often turn up cannonballs while digging in the garden.

Returning to the States through Buffalo, you may feel inclined to stop at Delaware Park. This was the site of the Pan American Exposition in 1901. This has enabled the local TH'ers to add many seated liberty coins to their collection. The first time I visited the park was last year. During an afternoon's hunting I picked up an 1876 half dollar, an 1876 dime, five Barber dimes and several other silver coins. I continue to detect Deleware Park whenever I get the chance. I never manage to have a bad day. The Barbers, Mercury's and Indian head pennies renew my enthusiasm.

The Niagara Frontier holds more treasures. than any TH'er could hope to find in his lifetime. Whether you are a newlywed or not, you might find it advisable to carry your metal detector when you visit Niagara Falls.