Annie Edson Taylor spent her 63rd birthday inside an oak barrel going over Niagara Falls. On October 24, 1901, the American schoolteacher became the first documented person to survive a barrel ride over the falls.
She tested the barrel by sending a cat over the falls in it first. The cat survived with only minor injuries.
Taylor was struggling financially and hoped the stunt would earn her money. Her custom barrel stood roughly 4.5 to 5 feet tall and about 3 feet across, with iron hoops reinforcing it. A heavy anvil served as ballast to help it stay upright, while padding cushioned the interior. She brought a heart-shaped pillow along.
Taylor was sealed inside near Grass Island, upstream of Goat Island on the American side. A boat pulled the barrel into the current and released it. Around 4:23 p.m., it plunged over the Canadian Horseshoe Falls, the largest of Niagara’s cataracts.
The barrel quickly came back to the surface. Rescuers recovered it about 17 minutes later, and Taylor emerged dazed and in shock. She had bruises and a small cut on her head, but no major injuries.
Earlier daredevils had taken barrels through the Whirlpool Rapids downstream. Carlisle Graham had made successful trips there starting in 1886. Taylor’s journey carried her over the falls themselves.
The stunt brought her brief fame and the nickname “Queen of the Mist,” but lasting wealth never followed. She sometimes presented herself as being in her 40s for publicity. After surviving the trip, she advised others against trying it.
