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Hey, history lovers. I'm Mike Rosenwald with Retropod, a show about the past, rediscovered.

If you go to Niagara Falls in the winter, you might witness something remarkable.

The violent torrents at the base will seem to disappear.

The spot where the freezing cold water of the falls crashes into the rocks below will

freeze solid.

And then comes the remarkable part.

Giant ice flows will form there, and sometimes, if you're lucky,

enough ice will build up to connect the United States to Canada.

If you have seen this, you have seen the Niagara Falls Ice Bridge.

At one time in history, people would hang out on the Ice Bridge, play on it, and even walk along it to cross the border between the two countries it connects.

These days, though, people don't set foot on the Ice Bridge anymore.

The Niagara Ice Bridge used to be a busy destination People don't set foot on the ice bridge anymore.

The Niagara Ice Bridge used to be a busy destination in winter.

In the 1880s, children would ride sleds there in the shadow of the gushing falls.

Entrepreneur sold food and drinks from makeshift concession stands to the tourists strolling back and forth between the United States and Canada.

One guy, described as a sharp rogue in the Niagara Falls Gazette, built a shanty in the middle

of the massive bridge, right on the border between the two countries.

Technically, no laws apply there, and he took advantage of this technicality to sell liquor

from his hut.

But one afternoon, the festivities on the flows crumbled.

...