Niagara Daredevils: Thrills and Spills Over Niagara Falls

Virginia Gillham is university librarian and archivist at Wilfrid
Laurier University library. She is also a judge of national and
international figure skating competions.

The stunt of choice for challenging Niagara Falls has been to go over it
in a barrel. As this book documents, however, there have been many other
innovative approaches to the falls. Beginning early in the 19th century,
a number of individuals simply jumped, unencumbered by the likes of
barrels or boats. Various performers walked tightropes over the falls,
incorporating an escalating variety of stunts and props to add interest
to their feats. History records dozens of intrepid sailors navigating
through the whirlpool rapids using vessels ranging from rubber rafts,
through kayaks, to the earliest Maid of the Mist.

Riding barrels through the rapids came next. Its many proponents
included Red Hill Sr. and Red Hill Jr. The son eventually moved on to
actually going “over” the falls, and lost his life to the challenge.
Anna Edson Taylor was the first person to go over the falls in a barrel,
and unlike Red Hill Jr., she survived. Many others have tried, some
successfully, others tragically. They made headlines briefly and then
were lost to public memory, but the whole amazing history has been
gathered by Cheryl MacDonald.

Niagara Daredevils is a fascinating and well-documented slice of local
history that leaves the reader wondering what will be the 21st
century’s manifestation of this obsession.