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The Falls of Foyers
have been famous as a beauty spot for a long time. People have been
visiting the Falls since long before the Caledonian Canal was opened
in 1822. Robert Burns wrote a poem about the Falls in 1787. This
is an excerpt from it.
Visitors could get to the Falls by road, by steamboat from Inverness
or by rowing across from the opposite side of Loch Ness. In 1895 the
British Aluminium Company planned to build a factory at Foyers which
would use the water from the Falls to turn turbines and make electricity
to produce aluminium.
Visitors to the Falls didn’t want the Aluminium Factory to be
built. They thought it would take too much water from the waterfall
and spoil the famous beauty spot. It became one of the first ‘environmental
battles’.
Letters and petitions were organised throughout the country and sent
to the Secretary of State for Scotland protesting against the factory
coming to Foyers and it was even discussed in parliament.The British
Aluminium Factory closed in 1967 but the water from the Falls is still
used today by the Hydro Electric Power Station at the loch side.
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