From the Toronto Star:
On Sept. 8, 1827, a crowd estimated at more than 10,000 crammed both sides of Niagara Falls to see a hot new tourist attraction.
A baffed-out old schooner called The Michigan was being sent over the cataract with a cargo of live animals, advertised as ferocious panthers, wildcats and wolves. Actually, the ferocious animals turned out to be two bears, a buffalo, two foxes, a raccoon, an eagle, a dog and 15 honking geese.
But a good time was had by all — except maybe for the dead animals, and the lone goose that survived the ordeal. The errant goose was recaptured below the falls, only — so the story goes — to grace the celebratory banquet of the three hoteliers (two from the Canadian side, one from the American) who, in a sterling example of cross-border economic co-operation, had cooked up this business improvement scheme.
The plunge of the deadly ark was the first-ever daredevil stunt over the falls, inaugurating the tradition of high-wire acts and shooting the brink in barrels and tires.