Love Canal: A Hazardous Disaster In the 1890's, an entrepreneur by the name of William T. Love planned to build a canal connecting the Niagara River to Lake Ontario. Soon, a problem arose, and he lost all funding and had to abandon the project midway. Furthermore, a huge hole was left behind in the center of the small residential area: about 50 feet wide and 10 to 40 feet deep. With no uses for the large pit, the Niagara Power and Development Company allowed Hooker Chemical Company to dump their chemical waste into the unfinished trench in 1942. Later, the Niagara Falls City School District needed land to build new schools, so Hooker Chemical Company placed a clay cap over the hazardous chemicals and sold the land. A school and about 100
