Near the Canadian city of Niagara Falls(and the falls themselves) is Queenston Heights National Historic Site, as well as Queenston Heights Park. The park is well maintained, with several historic buildings and monuments. The most prominent of these monuments is definitely Brock’s Monument, in the centre of the park.

Brock’s Monument is a 56 metre tall pillar in Queenston Heights, along the Niagara river. It’s pretty much Canada’s equivalent of Nelson’s Column in London.  The monument was constructed as a memorial to Sir Isaac Brock, one of the major figures in Canadian history. Major General Brock led the troops in the British colony of Upper Canada( included in present day Ontario) in the War of 1812.  On October 13, 1812,  An American contingent crossed the Niagara River, capturing the heights. During the Battle of Queenston Heights, Brock led the counterattack. The British and Canadian forces retook the heights, but Brock himself was killed in the battle. A monument was created at the top of the heights to remember him; after being badly damaged in an explosion in 1840, the current structure was built to replace it. 2014 08 18 1417 IMG_2341

The column features a statue of Brock himself at the top, with numerous decorations below. IT is constructed out of local limestone. I don’t have any infrared photos of the above photo, but do for the following photo, taken at the base of the column.

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First, here is the photo broken down into the blue, green, and red channels.2014 08 18 1420 blue SAM_02782014 08 18 1420 Green SAM_02782014 08 18 1420 R REd SAM_0278

The only real variation seems to be the shade of the sky- as the wavelength gets longer, the sky gets darker. In comparison, here is the monument as seen with my Zomei 760 nm filter.

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The sky is slightly darker, but the real difference is in the monument itself. Partly due to a longer exposure time(dark monument, dark sky) but also to the properties of the limestone, the monument is much lighter in colour. Detail can even be seen in the shadows. The column actually resembles white marble in the infrared range; with the statues at the bast, it looks like a photo from Greece.

Inside the monument is a small interpretive display at the base. As well, if you aren’t claustrophobic, you can climb the narrow 235 stairs that wind around the column, reaching a small room  just below the top. There are four small porthole shaped windows in the rock, each with a good view over the Niagara landscape.

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Again, here are the blue, green, and red channels.

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And here is the view using my 760 nm filter. There is a grating across the openings; my visible spectrum camera’s lens would fit through the grating, but not my dull spectrum camera. As a result, there is a small bar obscuring part of the foreground.

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From the other direction ,the Niagara river is visible. The river divides Canada and the USA; the left side of the river is Ontario, and the right is New York. The photo is looking downriver, towards Lake Ontario.

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Finally, here it is at 760 nm again.

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In both visible spectrum photos, there is some slight haze on the horizon- it is most visible in the blue channel, but is still there in the green and red channels. The infrared range is good at cutting through haze- in the last infrared photo, Lake Ontario is clearly visible on the horizon. As always, the vegetation is bright white, making a good contrast with the sky.

Beyond Brock’s monument and the falls themselves, there is a lot to explore in the region, and a lot to do. I’ll have more photos another time looking at the Niagara region.

Th