Continue reading “THIS DAY IN HISTORY – Daredevil crosses Niagara Falls on tightrope – 1859”
Tag: Niagra Falls
THIS DAY IN HISTORY – Daredevil crosses Niagara Falls on tightrope – 1859
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Jean Francois Gravelet, a Frenchman known professionally as Charles Blondin, becomes the first daredevil to walk across Niagara Falls on a tightrope. The feat, which was performed 160 feet above the Niagara gorge just down river from the Falls, was witnessed by some 5,000 spectators. Wearing pink tights and a yellow tunic, Blondin crossed a cable about two inches in diameter and 1,100-feet long with only a balancing pole to protect him from plunging into the dangerous rapids below.
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THIS DAY IN HISTORY – First barrel ride down Niagara Falls – 1901
On this day in 1901, a 63-year-old schoolteacher named Annie Edson Taylor becomes the first person to take the plunge over Niagara Falls in a barrel.
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