You don’t hear about these stunts so much anymore — I guess the Evel Knievels of the world have kind of retired. Anyhow, I’m not sure how it came up, but the question is — who was the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel?
Turns out that the first person to ride over the falls in a barrel and live to tell the tale wasn’t some daredevil, or performer, but a widowed school teacher.
Annie Edson Taylor was a 63-year-old schoolteacher. After her husband died in the Civil War, Annie was strapped for cash when she learned about the popularity of two big waterfalls located on the border of upstate New York and Canada. So needing money, and looking for fame, she came up with the idea she would go over Niagara Falls in a barrel.
She used an oaken barrel that was (crudely) cushioned inside. She tested the barrel by sending it over the falls with a cat inside. The traumatized cat survived the plunge — so — on October 24, 1901 (her 63rd birthday) she climbed inside the barrel and was set adrift from a rowboat upstream from the falls. Less then twenty minutes later, she was recovered from the bottom of the falls — bleeding from the head, but not seriously injured.
Unfortunately, the fame and fortune she was seeking never came — Annie died in poverty.
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