Who was the first person to go over Niagara?

Jean François Gravelet-Blondin, a French aerialist known as the Great Blondin, was the first of many tightrope walkers to cross Niagara Falls. On June 30, 1859 he began a famous series of tightrope walks across the Niagara gorge. Each time Blondin crossed, the stunts increasingly became more difficult and dangerous.



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Back on July 9, 1960, a seven-year-old boy named Roger Woodward was swept over Horseshoe Falls, wearing only a lifejacket and somehow survived.

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Jessie W. Sharp, a 28 year old bachelor from Ocoee, Tennessee attempted to ride over the brink of the Horseshoe Falls in a 3.6m long kayak on June 5,1990. Sharp, unemployed at the time, was an experienced white water kayaker.

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The Niagara River is a river that flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. There are differing theories as to the origin of the river's name.



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People do not recommend swimming in the Niagara River, nor is it allowed in most areas. The river has strong currents, turbulent rapids, and unpredictable undertows, especially in the Lower Niagara River below Niagara Falls.

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The barrel was quickly toward the crest of the Falls. Steven Trotter had survived the plunge uninjured. He became the youngest person, aged 22, to ever survive the plunge in a barrel. Trotter had received a short lived notoriety and appeared on several national television talk shows.

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From the original falls going over the Niagara Escarpment, the water began to wear its way back up the river. The path that it left is known today as the Niagara Gorge (a deeply-cut and very scenic river path). Currently, Niagara Falls wears its way back another approximately 1 foot/year.

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— Fifty years ago, Roger Woodward earned bragging rights as one of the few people to survive a plunge over Niagara Falls. Not that he ever used them. For sure, the 7-year-old miracle boy who tumbled over the brink after a boating accident is part of the colorful folklore of the Falls.

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His body has never been recovered.

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Niagara Falls Facts The sound of the Falls has been described as thunder, and is caused by air bubbles breaking as they are slammed up and out of the water. The plunge pool beneath the falls is 35m(100 feet) deep. It is estimated that Niagara Falls erodes at the rate of 1foot per year.

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