The story of the waterfall.
When the Gotthard railway was opened at the end of the 19th century, a large part of the traffic shifted. The Christian Pitschen - Melchior family soon had only a minimal income and so they decided to emigrate to America. At that time the communities paid the emigrants the crossing to overseas and so the young family left home. Her parents still hosted the few guests and ran the small farm.
When they arrived in New York, they looked for a job. The family grew more and more, but also with the children they did not feel well in New York. Christian Pitschen - Melchior worked for a time as a servant with a rich Englishman. With this he made a trip through America, among other things, they came to the Niagara Falls. He saw that the waterfall was a destination for many people and money could be made.
After this trip, he often thought of this waterfall, because he knew that there was also a waterfall at home in Switzerland, but this was only heard, as there was no way into the gorge. When his parents wrote in a letter that they could no longer continue the inn for reasons of age, the emigrants decided to return home. Since they had to earn the money for the return journey, it took another year before they arrived at the Roffla.
Once home, they got the house in order and then started the huge work to make their way into the gorge. In the winter of 1907-1914 they worked in the gorge, about 8,000 explosive charges were ignited, but it took above all a lot of stamina and strength to beat the holes in the hard stone.
Over the next few years, more and more people came to the inn and visited the imposing gorge. The family was looking forward to better times again.