From the Buffalo News:
Boats have chugged through the waters below the American and Horseshoe falls as far back as 1846, but unusual lease arrangements as old as the Maid of the Mist Steamboat Co. have gone largely unnoticed — until now.
Today’s Maid of the Mist Corp. holds one of only two 40-year leases for a state parks concession, a $39 million deal that was renewed in 2002 — without public bidding — and runs through 2043.
But the recent renewal process for a lease on the Canadian side became mired in controversy after a general manager for Ripley Entertainment, which owns several Falls, Ont., attractions, complained that the company had been shut out of the bidding.