Niagara — Historical and Reminiscent 



was carried away by the first waves, but the opening had been cov- 1902 

 ered in anticipation of such an occurrence. The boat entered the Dun,a P 

 whirlpool safely, but the propeller and the rudder were carried 

 away by striking driftwood. Some days later, Nissen and Rich 

 again boarded the steamer to take soundings of the pool. But 

 soon the rudder gave out, and the craft was drifting helplessly in 

 the maelstrom. Hour after hour they whirled around, prisoners 

 in the seething water. As the afternoon waned and the shadows 

 of the stern, silent cliffs crept across the water, the men grew 

 more and more desperate. They had kept up steam on the boat, 

 and this made it very hot under deck, and not daring to leave 

 the hatch open, they nearly suffocated. They were at the mercy 

 of the currents, and any moment might be sucked out of the 

 outlet and carried down the river over the route where Nissen's 

 boat had been wrecked the year before. 



About five o'clock that afternoon, the boat floated quite 

 close to the Canadian side. Rich had told Nissen that should 

 opportunity offer he would leap to the shore. Closer and closer 

 the current swept the boat. Rich leaped and landed on 

 a rock, but before Nissen could follow the boat was fifty feet 

 from shore. Night had settled before Nissen could jump to the 

 rocks. The boat is supposed to have sunk in the whirlpool. 



The fact that Graham had five times successfully voyaged 

 through the Whirlpool Rapids in a barrel led others to adopt 

 this craft in 1 90 1 . The first to follow Graham last summer was 

 Martha E. Wagenfuhrer, the wife of a professional wrestler. 

 She selected Friday, September 6th, as the date of her trip, 

 possibly with the hope that she might have a President of the 

 United States in her audience, for that was the day President 

 McKinley last visited Niagara. Quite a crowd collected, for 

 she was the first woman to try the feat alone. She was resus- 

 citated after being in the rapids over an hour. 



Following Graham's barrel trip on July 14, 1901 , he arranged 

 to give a double performance with Maud Willard. It was 

 planned that Miss Willard should make the barrel trip, and 



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