NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. -- The sights and sounds of Niagara Falls' rapid-moving waters are familiar to most everyone, but Joel Paradise remembers a time almost 50 years ago when the water stopped running.
"It was a barren landscape, kind of looked like the moon. It was odd to see just the bare rocks like craters," said Paradise.
There's a chance that once-in-a-lifetime event may happen again. Diverting the water to the Horseshoe Falls in Canada again is being considered as part of a proposal to revamp the American Falls Bridges that connect to Goat Island.
"How they did it, they built that dam. It took a long time to turn it off. It wasn't just overnight, they had to slowly build up that dam," said Michelle Kratts, former Niagara Falls city historian. "It was about a six-month period that the Falls went dry and I think people were shocked that it could even be done."
Back in 1969, the American Falls were closed to study erosion. This time, it would be to replace the two 115-year-old pedestrian bridges for both safety reasons and to improve their appearance.
"You could see a lot of coins. Everyone wanted to go walk out on the river bed, and they did find a couple bodies," said Kratts.
If history repeats itself, Kratts says you could expect to see something similar to the old pictures.
"There are people that didn't know it was happening 'cause it wasn't the age of the internet back then and they got there and the American Falls were dry and there were some people that were disappointed," said Paradise.
Funding has not been secured yet for the construction of the project, so dewatering the falls is not a definite as of yet.
Three alternative designs for the replacement bridges have been developed, and the work could be done while letting nature take its course.
A public meeting is taking place at the Niagara Falls Conference Center at 5 p.m. Wednesday to discuss the proposed replacement of the bridges.