Cedar Island was a small, uninhabited and elongated island located in the

Niagara River The Niagara River () is a river that flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the province of Ontario in Canada (on the west) and the state of New York (state), New York in the United States (on the east) ...

near the Canadian shore, opposite the Table Rock observation area at the brink of the Horseshoe Falls.

History

The island was occupied by Isaac Swayze in 1804. Swayze could not build anything but his wooden house leading to the island being undeveloped. By 1857, strong currents caused erosion which reduced the island to two acres. In 1857, Samuel Street obtained the lease for Cedar Island. He built a fifty-foot wooden observation tower on top of a house. In 1905, the Canadian Niagara Power Company built a hydroelectric generating plant on Cedar Island. The power station became the William Birch Power Station. Due to the power plant, Cedar Island became nonexistent as a result of the land filling. The remnants of Cedar Island are located where the Power station is.

References

River islands of Ontario Niagara Falls Islands of the Niagara River Landforms of the Regional Municipality of Niagara {{Ontario-geo-stub