Severe ice conditions were one of the engineering problems encountered in designing plants for northern climates. Ice was cleared away manually from the intakes. Sometimes it was blasted loose. Occasionally, in spite of screens and other methods of keeping the ice out, it piled up inside the stations. The men seen above are clearing the intakes of the Ontario Power Company. The bottom photo, taken on the American side of the Falls in February, 1904, shows an enormous ice bridge that sometimes formed at the base of the discharge.
