Why niagara falls

The film Niagara starred Marilyn Monroe as a honeymooner with a wandering eye. They are a group of daredevils firmly entrenched in North American folklore.

They are the men and women who have made headlines by an act most people would find inconceivable: choosing to take a ride over the Canadian Horseshoe Falls—sometimes with only inches of wood or metal as protection from the pounding rush of thousands of gallons of water. Interestingly, these adventurers, crazy as they may seem, have chosen not to brave the American Falls—where less flowing water and more jutting rocks make the descent even more dangerous.

Fifteen adventurers have braved the Horseshoe Falls since Read some of their stories below:. Annie Edson Taylor Not only the first woman, but the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel, Taylor was a poor widow when she arrived in Niagara Falls in The sixty-three year old although she said she was forty-two saw the stunt as a way to make money.

After hiring a manager, she braved the falls on October 24, , in a barrel she designed herself. She worked as a Niagara street vendor for twenty years and died penniless. Jean Lussier The third person to go over the falls, Lussier took the plunge on July 4 , , not in a barrel, but inside a six-foot rubber ball that was lined with oxygen-filled rubber tubes.

George Stathakis This adventurer made the plunge in a ten-foot, one-ton wooden barrel on July 4, Having only enough air to survive for three hours, Stathakis died before he was rescued, but his year-old pet turtle, Sonny Boy, did survive the trip.

Red Hill Jr. The oldest son of a prominent Niagara Falls area family, Red, Jr. His father, Red Hill, Sr. Red, Jr. His bruised body was not recovered until the next day.

Jessie Sharp Sharp, who hoped to advance his career as a stuntman by going over the falls, chose to attempt the feat on June 5, , in a white water kayak without a helmet or a life vest. His body was never recovered. Five years later, Robert Overacker attempted to go over the falls on a jet ski. The fifteenth person since to purposely try to make it over the falls, Overacker died.

His body was recovered by the Maid of the Mist, the ferryboat that takes visitors to the foot of the falls for a closer lo. Steven Trotter and Lori Martin On June 18, , Trotter and Martin became the first man and woman to go over the falls together in one barrel. In , Trotter had made the trip by himself, in a contraption made of two pickle barrels enclosed in large inner tubes.

In , Canadians Peter Debernardi and Geoffrey Petkovich had become the first team to go over the falls together, enclosed face to face in a single barrel. They survived with minor injuries, as did Trotter and Martin.

Impressed, Hennepin estimates the falls to be an incredible feet high—though in reality they rise feet. When the completion of a bridge starts to erode business in , the Maid of the Mist becomes a sightseeing boat, taking visitors close to the Horseshoe Falls.

The development of the rail system in the s opened Niagara Falls to throngs of visitors and made it a prime destination for travelers from all over the world. The potential power of Niagara Falls attracted industrialists who worked to harness its force using water wheels to drive their mills and factories.

The plant used the direct current DC system, however, which could only transmit electricity yards. In , the famous electrical engineer Nikola Tesla proved that he could transmit electric from Niagara Falls to Buffalo, New York, using his new alternating current AC induction motor.

That marked the first long distance commercial use of the AC system that is still used around the world today. Electricity was first sold as a commodity at the now-ruined Schoellkopf Power Station. The region soon became a French stronghold, as forts were built at the mouth of the Niagara River, controlling access to the Great Lakes. The fort was restored between and and is now present day, Old Fort Niagara — an 18th century fortress offering daily programming including live reenactments and demonstrations year-round.

Not only are the Falls themselves powerful, but the City of Niagara was the birthplace of hydroelectric power! In , Nikola Tesla developed the alternating current system, which allowed for the transmission of power generated along the Niagara River to homes and businesses.