Anna Edson Taylor was the first adventurer to go on an adventure of barreling over Niagara. What are the dangers associated with such a task? Plenty is the short answer. We have to remember that Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the Ontario province of Canada and New York State in the US. Imagine the size of such a vast ordeal and then imagine adventuring upon those troubled waters. The largest of the three is the Horse Shoe Falls which also has the highest flow rate. Many people with a love of adventure, tried to cross the falls in different ways and some of them have survived. However, the first ever and most daredevil of them was that of Anna Edison Taylor, aged 63 years, who barrelled over the Horse Shoe Falls and survived with some minor injuries. But what was the urge that inspired Anna to take such a daring action? The reason lies behind Anna’s life story. Anna Edison was born on October 24, 1838 in Auburn, New York. She lost her father when she was only 12, but the family survived from the income of the flour mill he owned. At 17, she met David Taylor and married him.However, only after 7 years David was killed in civil war and Anna faced hardship as the inheritance from her father was not sufficient for her maintenance. She travelled all over the country and took temporary jobs as teacher or dance instructor. However, she never could achieve financial stability. She came across an article about the Pan-American Exposition of Buffalo in the New York World which discussed the possibility of gathering of a large crowd at Niagara. This gave her an idea about crossing the Niagara in a barrel. So far, nobody has attempted this and the huge publicity she would gather would create a large fortune for her. Immediately, she travelled to Horseshoe Falls with a 160 lb padded oak barrel, to which a 100 lb farrier was attached for ballast and a bicycle pump was attached for supplying air. On October 24th, 1901, her 63rd birthday, she went over the 160 ft falls in just three seconds without any significant injuries except a 3 inch gash behind her right ear, though she was mentally shaken. Several thousand spectators present hailed her. However, the publicity she achieved did not help her much financially. May be her manager had nicked most of it. She died on April 20, 1921 in poverty. When the media people asked her if she has any message for future adventurers, all she said was “Don’t Try it”.
