From the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal:
This year, like so many other years before it, Maid of the Mist Corp. helped mark the unofficial start of spring in Western New York and Southern Ontario by lowering its fleet of boats into the lower Niagara River on Friday.
The company has been preparing for tourism seasons much the same way since launching its first steamboat back in 1846.
And while some argue that’s too long for any one company to have a virtual lock on one of the region’s premiere tourist attractions, representatives say the Maid of the Mist’s lengthy record of success and safety has earned it the right to continue to serve as the one and only operator of boat tours beneath mighty Niagara Falls.