Niagara Spray or Spar..What is It?

Niagara Spar, some folks called it spray or even petrified mist was found usually behind the falls in the late 1800 hundreds and early 1900’s.It is a white or grey crystalline, quartzite stone with supposedly curative powers. It was usually taken from the rock strata in the lower Niagara Gorge. At one time it was shaped into magical little trinkets and sold to tourists as “Magical Mist with Magical Powers”.

When the supply ran out in the early 1900’s the stone was imported from England to satisfy the visitors demand for the Magical Mist.

Some of these trinkets and a few original pieces of Niagara Spar occasionally show up in Niagara.

Here’s a photograph of a large chunk of Spar from my collection.

If you have one of these items you hold a piece of Niagara history in your hands.