Niagara Falls Runs Dry Day
March 29
This day celebrates when Niagara Falls went dry. In an attempt to get rid of the unsightly boulders which had built up at the base of the falls, engineers built a dam at the tip of Goat Island, only a short distance from the lip of the falls and thus stopped the flow of nearly 76,000 gallons of water dropping over the 11-story edge. The falls formed more than 12,000 years ago when water from Lake Erie carved a channel to Lake Ontario and created what we know as Niagara Falls. In 1950, the United States and Canada decided to divert 50% of the water from Niagara Falls through underwater tunnels to hydroelectric turbines during peak tourist hours.
World Piano Day
March 29
The Days of the Year web site states the invention of the piano began mainly through medieval times as a dulcimer, a fretted string instrument with three or four strings attached. From there it developed into the clavichord, the spinet, virginal, clavecin, gravicembalo, and finally, the harpsichord in the 15th century.
The harpsichord was invented by Bartolomeo di Francesco Cristofori and the harpsichord is considered to be the closest predecessor to what modern day people know as the piano because of the keyboards that activated the strings. From there, the harpsichord developed further over the next 300 years into what we know as the modern piano.
Today’s Birthdays of Note….
Sam Walton – Founder of Wal Mart – born in Kingfisher, Oklahoma
Earl Campbell – Heisman at Texas University – born in Tyler, Texas
