The Reversing Falls are a series of rapids on the Saint John River located in

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of K ...

, Canada, where the river runs through a narrow gorge before emptying into the Bay of Fundy. The semidiurnal

tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ...

s of the bay force the flow of water to reverse against the prevailing current when the tide is high, although in the spring

freshet The term ''freshet'' is most commonly used to describe a spring thaw resulting from snow and ice melt in rivers located in upper North America. A spring freshet can sometimes last several weeks on large river systems, resulting in significant in ...

, this is frequently surpassed by the downstream volume of water. The rapids, or "falls", are created by a series of underwater ledges which roil the water in either direction, causing a significant navigation hazard, despite the depth of water. As a result, vessels wishing to enter or exit from the river must wait for

slack tide Slack water is a short period in a body of tidal water when the water is completely unstressed, and there is no movement either way in the tidal stream, and which occurs before the direction of the tidal stream reverses. Slack water can be estim ...

. The Reversing Falls have also been an important industrial site for over a century. The Canadian Pacific Railway constructed the

Reversing Falls Railway Bridge The Reversing Falls Railway Bridge is the name given to two different steel truss bridges crossing the Saint John River at the same location in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. The original bridge was constructed in 1885 immediately upstream ...

in 1885 and this structure was replaced in 1922; it is currently used by the

New Brunswick Southern Railway The New Brunswick Southern Railway Company Limited is a Canadian short line railway owned by the New Brunswick Railway Company Limited, a holding company that is part of "Irving Transportation Services", a division within the industrial conglo ...

. The railway bridge crosses the gorge immediately downstream from the falls, parallel to the Reversing Falls Road Bridge. The location of the falls was the site of a

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

and other light industrial operations on the east side of the gorge, while a large

pulp Pulp may refer to: * Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit Engineering * Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture * Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper * Molded pulp, a packaging material ...

mill lies on the west side. J.D. Irving, the company which has operated the pulp mill since purchasing it in the late 1940s, has encountered some criticism in recent decades for maintaining the facility at what is viewed as one of Saint John's prime tourism locations. This criticism became most pronounced during the 1980s and 1990s when the city government created Fallsview Park on the former industrial foundry lands on the east side of the gorge. The Falls were even given the dubious distinction by one publication as being among the worst tourist attractions in the world. During the late 1990s, a tourist business was established, offering

jet boat A jetboat is a boat propelled by a jet of water ejected from the back of the craft. Unlike a powerboat or motorboat that uses an external propeller in the water below or behind the boat, a jetboat draws the water from under the boat through a ...

rides on the river in the vicinity of the falls; however, the boats did not operate in the roughest areas which experience a drop in water level over a very short distance. The business closed at the end of the 2013 season after 19 years. The operators tended to stay in the choppy waters immediately downstream and attempted to soak passengers by driving through small whirlpools at the base of the railway bridge. Another more recent development at the Reversing Falls has been its growing use as a

whitewater kayaking Whitewater kayaking is an adventure sport where a river is navigated in a decked kayak. Whitewater kayaking includes several styles. River running; where the paddler follows a river and paddles rapids as they travel. Creeking usually involving s ...

location, made unique by the changes in formation of the rapids during incoming or outgoing tides. ReversingFalls inbound.jpg, The falls flowing inbound ReversingFalls slack.jpg, The falls slack, 38 minutes after the previous picture was taken ReversingFalls outbound.jpg, The falls flowing outbound, 15 minutes later after the slack picture was taken and 53 minutes after the first of the series was taken

References

External links

* {{Saint John River Waterfalls of New Brunswick Saint John River (Bay of Fundy) Tourist attractions in Saint John, New Brunswick Landforms of Saint John County, New Brunswick