Though it was always sort of the ugly duckling of the generating stations in Niagara Falls, I still have fond memories of walking down into this one for the first time. Back then, two years ago, it was still owned by Ontario Power Generation and while it had been retired several years earlier, it seemed as though the pulling of a few switches in the master control room would be all it took to get the old beast back running again. I regret not taking more pictures of it during that time, but it was near dark inside and so my options were fairly limited. Kowalski, who later went with portable spotlight in hand, was able to get much more definitive shots of what this place looked like when it was still intact. All I have are some crummy snapshots taken hastily using the on-camera flash.

Shortly thereafter, because of someone else's sloppiness (lesson learned: be mindful of who you pass information to), the place was locked up tight. Although the surrounding infrastructure of the station later provided great adventures, "legal" access to the interior of the power house itself was made next to impossible. That is, up until fairly recently when they started to empty the place out entirely. Similar to the Toronto Power Company station (see previous entries), they've stripped every last feature out of the place to the point where it now resembles a generic warehouse. With the exception of items belonging to the demolition crew, a half dozen boxes full of paperwork lying on the floor were all that remained from its time in operation.

It was never believed that the remediation/renovation of this particular station would be done in a way that respected its past use. That said, it was still a bit shocking to see it like this. Actually, sobering would be a better way of putting it. While a few exciting opportunities for exploration have sprung up recently, many more have been lost entirely. They're sealing the tunnels, hollowing out the buildings and a great deal of history will be lost in the process. Normally I tend to take a c'est la vie attitude towards stuff like this. Given the careless destruction of the old hydroelectric powerhouses on the US side, though, I'm hoping they can at least preserve something (ie: Rankine station) for future generations to enjoy. Exterior facades only go so far.

Or who knows, maybe the extent of historical recognition will be a couple more commemorative plaques, or worse, a tacky "tribute" in the form of a fountain slash light show similar to Casino Niagara's garish"Tesla-tron". After all, it is Niagara Falls. I suppose it's probably asking a lot from a place that tends to put an increasingly high level of emphasis on things like indoor water parks, theme restaurants, and "4D" movie theatres. I suppose time will tell.