IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) — Today is October 24. On this day in 1901, Annie Edson Taylor was the first person to survive going over Niagara Falls in a barrel.
A school teacher, with a school teacher’s salary, historians say Annie had been ill-prepared for both her home and investments to go up in flames. Obsessed with youth and wealth, at the age of 62, she claimed to be only 42. She believed she was past her prime in terms of economic opportunity, but she saw a glimmer of hope, a Hail Mary that could lift her out of poverty. She figured she’d try her hand at going over Niagara Falls, because either by fame or a sudden impact, she’d have enough money for the rest of her life.
She decided to use a custom-made barrel for her trip. It was made from oak wood and bound by iron. She used a mattress as padding. I’m sure she anticipated it would be easier to find people who would support her venture – especially considering how much work she put into the barrel – but there was delay after delay on the drop when she couldn’t find anyone who wanted to be involved in her adventure. Eventually, she found some friends who were willing to help her friend in her quest, and they were off.
Taylor decided that she needed to run an experiment. In an effort to see if the barrel’s structural integrity would hold, she sent it over the falls. But of course, a stress test on the barrel wasn’t enough. There had to be stakes. So, before she sent the barrel off, she placed a cat inside.
Seventeen minutes after the plunge, the cat, bleeding from it’s head, but alive, posed for a picture with Annie.
Two days later, Annie felt the pull of time clawing at her. Surely she felt it, as October 24th was her 63rd birthday.
She climbed into the barrel with her lucky heart-shaped pillow, and at that point, it was all in fate’s hands. Her friends screwed on the lid of the barrel, and used a bicycle tire pump to compress the air in the barrel, and that hole was then plugged with a cork. The barrel was rowed out into the Niagara River, and was released just south of Goat Island.
She went over the Canadian Horseshoe Falls, a tradition that future daredevils haven’t yet broken. Taylor was collected by rescuers, and after some time, they got the barrel open.
Taylor was relatively uninjured inside, besides a small gash on her head – karmic retribution for the cat for sure.
“If it was with my dying breath, I would caution anyone against attempting the feat…”, said Taylor to the press after the journey, according to archives from the Bay-Journal, a Bay County, Michigan-based newspaper. “… I would sooner walk up to the mouth of a cannon, knowing it was going to blow me to pieces, than make another trip over the Fall.”
Taylor earned some money at speaking events, but was never able to earn much from that avenue. She wrote a memoir and tried to sell it at Niagara Falls, but most of that money went to tracking down her barrel after her manager stole it. It was eventually tracked down in Chicago, but was stolen again by her new manager.
She claimed to be 57 when she was admitted to the Niagara County Infirmary, but documents show she died at the age of 82, penniless, and public donations were used to pay the costs of her funeral.
