Ever since the early part of the nineteenth century Niagara has been
the scene of perilous feats. Perhaps the earliest of these performances
was the leap of Sam Patch in 1829. From that time on, at various
intervals, men and women have journeyed to Niagara to win fame and
fortune by doing some deed they hoped would make them an unusual
attraction in the several fields they elected to enter to gain a living.
The most popular feat at Niagara for many years was to voyage through
the Whirlpool Rapids in a boat or barrel or protected only by a life
preserver. Possibly the feat of Joel Robinson of June 6, 1861, set
the pace in this field of adventure. It was Robinson who piloted the
steamer Maid of the Mist through the marvelous Niagara canyon and its
rough waters to the more placid portion of the stream at Queenston.
The intrepid Capt. Matthew Webb, a man who had successfully swam across
the English Channel, had the daring to try and pass through the wild,
tumultuous, tossing waters of the Whirlpool Rapids unprotected, but
instead of being a trip to fame, his was a trip to eternity. After
Webb came many others, and it was then that the barrel voyager of the
Niagara came into prominence. Protected by barrels several have made
trips through the Whirlpool Rapids and Whirlpool, in fact this voyage
long ago became lacking in interest.
These circumstances and conditions led several to look about Niagara
in hopes of discovering some other route to golden fame. Of course,
there was the Falls, that stupendous downpour of water that drops
the overflow of Lake Erie to the stream that runs so swiftly on to
“Old Ontario.” The Falls of Niagara were there, and had been there
for centuries, but even the ambitious men and women who desired to
link their names forever with Niagara and its wonders, looked upon
it as too great a proposition for them to trifle with; they wanted
fame, they wanted dollars, but none of them sought death. And it was
written all about Niagara, on the tongues and faces of the oldest and
youngest residents, that whoever dare try and conquer this noble and
sublime Cataract would surely go down to the grave--a grave marked by a
monument bearing a statement of the occupant’s foolishness in presuming
to pass over the precipice of Niagara and live.
When Annie Edson Taylor journeyed to Niagara and announced an
intention of going over the Falls, the announcement commanded but
little attention. Everybody looked upon it as a ridiculous ambition--a
foolish idea--and the knowing ones guessed that when she had studied
the chaotic nature of the waters in the three-quarter mile stretch of
rapids above the Horseshoe, she would quickly conclude that her home
was a more peaceful place in which to end her days. Nobody believed
that a woman would require but a glance at the awful plunge over the
Falls to convince her that death lurked in those waters, eager to
continue the unbroken record of fatalities on the list of those who had
involuntarily been caught in the suction of the upper rapids and swept
over the frightful brink into the chasm below.
But Annie Edson Taylor lingered at Niagara. The date of her announced
trip arrived. The wind was too high to allow the boatmen to reach the
current necessary to escape the rocky reefs and to be swept over the
Horseshoe, and the world was amazed by the statement sent out from
Niagara that night that Annie Edson Taylor was still determined to
conquer the Horseshoe Fall of Niagara or die. It was then that the
people of the locality got serious on the matter. Previous to this time
there had been a vast amount of joking, all at Mrs. Taylor’s expense,
but this woman’s will was terribly set, and even the Coroner of Niagara
concluded that it was time for him to interfere in his official
capacity.
On October 24, 1901, Annie Edson Taylor and her barrel were again taken
out on the Upper Niagara, and the story that follows tells that she
is the only person who has ever voluntarily made the frightful trip
through the Upper Rapids of the Niagara, plunged over the Horseshoe
Fall and floated on the foam-lashed, whirling waters of the Lower
Niagara. When it was announced that Mrs. Taylor had successfully made
the awful trip, the terrible drop into the gorge, the world was amazed,
but none more so than the people who had passed their lives close by
the Mighty Cataract, and who had come to believe that no human being
could pass over it and live.
In the lines that follow Mrs. Taylor has herself told in a plain manner
the story of her life and her victory at Niagara. Her deed singles her
out from all the world, in that she has done what no other man or woman
ever before attempted. How she became impressed with the belief that
she could conquer Niagara is a mystery, but conquer it she did.