From Finland to Niagara Falls: A Beautiful Little Journey Into the Past
At Go Niagara Tours, we spend our days sharing the wonder of Niagara Falls with visitors from around the world. But every so often we come across a book that reminds us just how far back this sense of wonder goes. From Finland to Niagara Falls — written by Markku Löytönen and illustrated by Riikka Jäntti — is one of those rare treasures.
It’s a beautifully illustrated account of Pehr Kalm, a young Finnish scientist sent to North America in the mid-1700s by the legendary Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus. Kalm came to study plants, wildlife, and landscapes that Europeans had never seen. His journey took him through rivers, forests, Indigenous homelands, and frontier settlements — and eventually to the thundering edge of Niagara Falls.
What makes the book special is the way it pairs history with art. The illustrations are gentle, earthy, and full of life: a canoe gliding through calm water, a beaver perched on a log, a raccoon watching cautiously from tall grass, Iroquois hunters at the ready. Every page feels like you’ve stepped into a watercolor memory of North America before the modern world arrived.
But the heart of the book, for us, is Kalm’s description of seeing Niagara Falls for the first time in 1750. He was the first scientist in history to study the Falls directly — and his words still carry the shock and awe of a newcomer standing before something impossibly powerful:
“When all this water comes to the very fall, there it throws itself down perpendicular! The hair will rise and stand upright on your head when you see this! I cannot with words express how amazing this is! You cannot see it without being quite terrified; to behold so vast a quantity of water falling headlong from so surprising a height!”
— Pehr Kalm, Pennsylvania Gazette, 1750
Nearly 275 years later, every visitor to Niagara Falls still has that moment — that jolt of amazement that no photograph or video can prepare you for.
This little book captures that feeling.
It captures the wilderness, the danger of the journey, the curiosity that drove explorers forward, and the Indigenous worlds they moved through. It captures a Niagara before industry, before tourism, before international borders — a Niagara that was raw, wild, and indescribably vast.
For families, teachers, history lovers, or anyone who simply loves Niagara Falls, From Finland to Niagara Falls is a perfect reminder of why this place has been inspiring travelers long before there were paved roads or guided tours.
At Go Niagara Tours, we bring you to the Falls.
This book brings you to the moment the Falls first entered the imagination of the world.
A beautiful little book, and a beautiful piece of Niagara history. You can purchase the book by clicking here.
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