The neighborhood Love Canal started from a man named William T. Love who had dreamt of digging a canal between the upper and lower Niagara Rivers to generate power, however, this was not able to happen (electricity advancements and economic issues prevented it). As construction of the canal began and was immediately halted, people used the canal as a swimming pool, until Hooker Chemical Company bought the canal in 1942. Basically, the hole in the ground was used to dispose of industrial waste from 1942-1953, which amounted to around 20,000 tons of chemicals. Then, the site was covered with soil and clay, and later, grass grew on top of it. A playground was built on top of this, and kids would play on it, but their feet would burn from the chemicals that evaporated from the ground. Eventually, homes and a school were built adjacent to the canal, and smells and leaking of chemicals into drain pumps persisted. Fire rocks were rocks that the kids would throw on the ground, and these would light sparks.