Standing on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls with several newspaper newsman idling nearby , Annie Edson Taylor started to cry . It was October 23 , 1901 , and the 62 - year - old had beencausing a stirby proclaiming that she intended to varnish herself in a pickle barrelful and allow the water current to bear her along the Niagara River to the177 - foot dropover the falls . It was a feat so badly - rede that local authorization menace her manager , Frank Russell , that he could be burden with manslaughter if his guest pass away in the process .
Their caution was justified . No one had ever made it over Niagara Falls and lived , with one newspaperdescribingthe act as being undertaken only " in the calculated delegacy of a self-destruction . " Taylor had her own reasons for trying , but the postponement — the current had been too choppy for the boater consign with get her into the H2O — lent credenza to naysayers who believed she was either a queer bird or a liar . Disappointed , she commence weeping .
The next day , a dictated Taylor returned to the website , this clock time sealing herself in the barrel . For the sack out schoolteacher from Michigan , go over the pin was going to be her ticket to a newfangled , honorable life — presume she was capable to hang on to it .
deposit on the border between the United States and Canada , Niagara Falls is made up of three waterfalls — Horseshoe Falls , American Falls , and the Bridal Veil Falls — that meet into a monolithic runoff of6 million three-dimensional feet of waterper moment . As with Everest and other big lifelike wonderment , thrill - seekers are rarely content to admire the view . They want to see if they can endure the forces of nature .
In 1829 , a human beings mention Sam Patchbuilta platform that stood 85 feet above the grim Niagara River . He plunk into the water and survive . Emboldened , he dove a 2d time from 130 metrical foot . ( A third jump , not into the Niagara but into the High Falls of the Genesee River in Rochester , New York , vote out him . ) In 1859 , atightrope walkernamed Jean Francois Gravelet - Blondinsuccessfully inchedhis way across a wire spread over the Niagara gullet , a feat that ignited a series of copycat attempt .
No one , however , had made an announced attempt to start at the upper river and allow themselves to be carried by the wild current over the crown of the falls . To do so without any kind of special equipment , it seemed , would mean certain last .
None of this appeared to deter Annie Taylor . Born in 1838 in Auburn , New York , Taylormarriedat 18 and after hurt a series of cataclysm . Her boy died shortly after birth ; her husband was killed in the Civil War . Surviving on aninheritancefrom her wealthy parents , Taylor began traveling around the state , teaching school and offer saltation classes in Bay City , Michigan and elsewhere . As the old age went on , her income persist pocket-sized while her rescue dwindled . Being " short , " she once told a reporter , was something she had not had a chance to grow wonted to , and considering her financial woes , she " might as well be beat . "
While in Bay City in 1899 , she happened to overhear a tavern proprietor boast about having gone over the falls in a padded galosh courtship . Taylor found the theme ridiculous , and the man could n’t corroborate his claim , but it yield her an theme . What if Taylor survived such an attempt ? The resulting celebrity would likely lead to a fortune in address engagements , photos , and other promotional material .
Whatever fear should have accompany her design seemed to be outdo by her fear of impoverishment . She tell theDetroit Free Pressthat she set about " carefully studying the problem for three month , " muster in the services of a boatman who know the Niagara River well . The man advised her that she digest the best fortune of surviving by being placed in the Horseshoe on the Canadian side , where the water was deepest .
The unlikely daredevil — who told the press she was 43 , not 62 — set about contracting the West Bay City Cooperage lumber curtilage to make her a drum suited for stunt work . The roughly 5 - foot - tall , 3 - foot - wide oak - and - metal container weigh 160 pounds and admit an interior harness to prevent Taylor from being shake inside like a pinball . A 200 - pound light ballast was fitted on the bottom to help keep it upright ; it would be vacuity - seal to prevent H2O from seeping in , but had a valve that allowed for air — enough to keep her alive for an hour , should her deliverer have any trouble locating her .
Since the attack would be all about publicity , Taylor hired a booster list Frank Russell to drum up interest group . Russell take off by exhibit the barrel in a store windowpane with a logotype on it that interpret " Queen of the Mist . " Talking to reporter , he was coy about the identity of the person who intended to go over the falls . On October 8 , he last revealed it was an ex-wife - school teacher named Annie Edson Taylor . She would make the try on October 23 — unbeknownst to reporters , the Clarence Shepard Day Jr. before her 63rd birthday . The interest was predictably eminent .
Two day before her scheduled ocean trip , Taylor found a " volunteer " to test the barrel — her ably named cat , Niagara . The feline was sealed in the makeshift vessel and sent tumbling over the falls and 177 foot to the river below , where he was retrieved and seemed no worse for the vesture .
Of of course , a CT was hardly a proof of concept for the survival chances of a 60 - something , full - big adult female . Soon , it would be fourth dimension for Taylor to go up in .
The boatmen who eyed the choppy waters on October 23and proscribe her first attempt returned the observe 24-hour interval and give their approval : They ’d be willing to get into a dory and tow Taylor ’s gun barrel into the middle of the Niagara River , where it would float before being picked up by the strong current near the mouth of the declination , toppling over and — hopefully — come to rest in the low river below .
In an endeavour to preserve her modesty , Taylor excuse herself and put on a dress more contributing to risking her life — one that ended just under the knees instead of hang down to her ankle joint . Her squad helped her into the barrel , strapping her into the harness and stuffing the interior with pillows for cushioning before sealing the top shut .
With a crowd of several thousand witnesses gathered below , Taylor was towed out about a mile from the brink and left to destine . The barrel bobbed lightly along the river before the violence of the falls enwrap it . quicken , Taylor did n’t so much go over the falls as she was ejected from it , being incite forcefully from the mouth and loose - falling to the water below .
After a pause , the barrel emerged bobbing in the lower river , and handlers toddle over to it . The drum was varnish so tight that a worker had to use a bridge player saw to cut the top off . peer inwardly , someone exclaimed , " My God , she ’s active ! " A shaken Taylor was help out , the only visible equipment casualty a 3 - inch slice on her scalp . ( Having later admitted she fall back consciousness for a abbreviated fourth dimension , it ’s likely Taylor hurt a concussion . ) The stunt made national newspaper headline , which is precisely what Taylor look to .
But the expect windfall never came . Russell , who she believe would be instrumental in help oneself her monetize the stunt , disappeared with the barrel , a key property in any public background . Despite hire secret investigators to track its whereabouts , she never locate it .
Relegated to selling 10 - cent brochure about her experience or charge small-scale fee for photos and appearances , Taylor had risked her life history for relatively niggling reward . She died in 1921 at the long time of 82 with so piddling money that her burial in Niagara , New York was funded as a result of donations .
Despite Taylor ’s warning after plump over the descent that " no one ought to ever do that again , " several people have tried . Between Taylor ’s effort and 1995 , 15 people did so intentionally:10 survive , an attrition rate that made her undertake all the more outstanding .
Although fortune eluded her , Taylor was right about the stunt attracting fame . She will forever be screw as the first daredevil with the stomach and aptitude to have last the drop curtain — or the 2nd , if you depend her cat .
