curiousa2z
Be patient till the last.
October 24:
1901 : First barrel ride down Niagara Falls
On this day in 1901, a 63-year-old schoolteacher named Annie
Edson Taylor becomes the first person to take the plunge over
Niagara Falls in a barrel.
After her husband died in the Civil War, the New York-born
Taylor moved all over the U. S. before settling in Bay City,
Michigan, around 1898. In July 1901, while reading an article
about the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, she learned of
the growing popularity of two enormous waterfalls located on
the border of upstate New York and Canada. Strapped for cash
and seeking fame, Taylor came up with the perfect
attention-getting stunt: She would go over Niagara Falls
in a barrel.
Taylor was not the first person to attempt the plunge over the
famous falls. In October 1829, Sam Patch, known as the
Yankee Leaper, survived jumping down the 175-foot Horseshoe
Falls of the Niagara River, on the Canadian side of the border.
More than 70 years later, Taylor chose to take the ride on her
birthday, October 24. (She claimed she was in her 40s, but
genealogical records later showed she was 63.) With the help
of two assistants, Taylor strapped herself into a leather harness
inside an old wooden pickle barrel five feet high and three feet
in diameter. With cushions lining the barrel to break her fall,
Taylor was towed by a small boat into the middle of the
fast-flowing Niagara River and cut loose.
Knocked violently from side to side by the rapids and then
propelled over the edge of Horseshoe Falls, Taylor reached
the shore alive, if a bit battered, around 20 minutes after her
journey began. After a brief flurry of photo-ops and speaking
engagements, Taylor's fame cooled, and she was unable to
make the fortune for which she had hoped. She did, however,
inspire a number of copy-cat daredevils. Between 1901 and
1995, 15 people went over the falls; 10 of them survived.
Among those who died were Jesse Sharp, who took the plunge
in a kayak in 1990, and Robert Overcracker, who used a jet ski
in 1995. No matter the method, going over Niagara Falls is
illegal, and survivors face charges and stiff fines on either
side of the border.
1901 : First barrel ride down Niagara Falls
On this day in 1901, a 63-year-old schoolteacher named Annie
Edson Taylor becomes the first person to take the plunge over
Niagara Falls in a barrel.
After her husband died in the Civil War, the New York-born
Taylor moved all over the U. S. before settling in Bay City,
Michigan, around 1898. In July 1901, while reading an article
about the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, she learned of
the growing popularity of two enormous waterfalls located on
the border of upstate New York and Canada. Strapped for cash
and seeking fame, Taylor came up with the perfect
attention-getting stunt: She would go over Niagara Falls
in a barrel.
Taylor was not the first person to attempt the plunge over the
famous falls. In October 1829, Sam Patch, known as the
Yankee Leaper, survived jumping down the 175-foot Horseshoe
Falls of the Niagara River, on the Canadian side of the border.
More than 70 years later, Taylor chose to take the ride on her
birthday, October 24. (She claimed she was in her 40s, but
genealogical records later showed she was 63.) With the help
of two assistants, Taylor strapped herself into a leather harness
inside an old wooden pickle barrel five feet high and three feet
in diameter. With cushions lining the barrel to break her fall,
Taylor was towed by a small boat into the middle of the
fast-flowing Niagara River and cut loose.
Knocked violently from side to side by the rapids and then
propelled over the edge of Horseshoe Falls, Taylor reached
the shore alive, if a bit battered, around 20 minutes after her
journey began. After a brief flurry of photo-ops and speaking
engagements, Taylor's fame cooled, and she was unable to
make the fortune for which she had hoped. She did, however,
inspire a number of copy-cat daredevils. Between 1901 and
1995, 15 people went over the falls; 10 of them survived.
Among those who died were Jesse Sharp, who took the plunge
in a kayak in 1990, and Robert Overcracker, who used a jet ski
in 1995. No matter the method, going over Niagara Falls is
illegal, and survivors face charges and stiff fines on either
side of the border.
