First to Survive Niagara in a Barrel
Annie Edson Taylor became the first person to survive going over Niagara Falls in a barrel
October 24, 1901
A Schoolteacher and a Dream
On October 24, 1901, a 63-year-old widowed schoolteacher named Annie Edson Taylor climbed into a wooden barrel, had the lid nailed shut, and was set adrift in the Niagara River just above the falls. The barrel — padded on the inside and weighted at the bottom to keep it upright — was swept over the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side of Niagara, plunging about 170 feet into the churning water below. Minutes later, workers pulled the barrel from the river. When they pried it open, Taylor climbed out, bruised and with a small gash on her head, but alive and alert. She became the first person in recorded history to survive going over Niagara Falls in a barrel.
Why She Did It
Annie Taylor was motivated primarily by money. She was broke, in debt, and worried about ending her days in a poorhouse. She had heard of people doing daring stunts for fame and fortune and decided that going over Niagara Falls would make her famous and financially secure. She spent months planning the stunt, commissioning a custom barrel and testing it first with a cat — who survived. Taylor chose her 63rd birthday for the attempt, though she initially told reporters she was 43. She had hoped to capitalize on her fame with speaking tours and endorsements, but her manager ran off with her barrel and most of her earnings. She spent her later years selling photos of herself near the falls, never achieving the financial security she had hoped for.
A Legacy of Daredevils
Annie Taylor's stunt opened the door to a long tradition of Niagara daredevils. In the century after her plunge, roughly 15 people successfully went over the falls in various devices — barrels, kayaks, jet skis, and rubber balls — while others died trying. The Canadian and American governments eventually made it illegal to attempt the stunt, with fines for would-be daredevils. Taylor herself was buried in 1921 in a section of Oakwood Cemetery in Niagara Falls, New York, called "Stunters' Rest." Her plunge remains one of the more eccentric milestones in the history of human daring, and she deserves to be remembered as the original Niagara daredevil. Check out how long ago her famous plunge took place.