This week in Michigan history: Bay City teacher first person to survive Niagara barrel drop

From the Detroit Free Press: Annie Edson Taylor became the first person to survive a barrel ride over Niagara Falls on Oct. 24, 1901. The 63-year-old Bay City teacher used a self-designed barrel that was 4 1/2 feet high and approximately 3 feet in diameter, with a leather harness and cushions for protection, according to…

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A natural wonder

From the Buffalo News: Nik Wallenda wire-walked into history at Niagara Falls on Friday, but the effects quickly rippled around the world. “As far as feats of derring-do go, they don’t get much more primal or more terrifying,” wrote the Guardian of England. Wallenda hovered over the gorge like a “latter-day Moses,” said the New…

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Kids Draw the News – Nik Wallenda’s Big Night

From the New York Times (including some kids’ drawings): The Kids Draw the News assignment to do a drawing about Nik Wallenda’s plan to cross high above Niagara Falls on a tightrope Friday night drew a bunch of lovely submissions. Some of them are in the slide show above.

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Unclear Future for Mainstay of Niagara Mist

From the New York Times: The Maid of the Mist tour boats have plied the roiling waters of the Niagara Gorge since the 1840s, taking tens of millions of visitors, including the future King Edward VII (1860), Marilyn Monroe (1952) and Mikhail Gorbachev (1983), past the American Falls to the base of the Horseshoe Falls,…

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Nik Wallenda Prepares for His Niagara Falls Stunt

The New York Times has a nice article (including video) of Nik Wallenda practicing: Nik Wallenda climbed up a scaffold, stepped onto the steel cable and slipped the harness of his balancing pole over his head. Then he began to walk — each step a few inches in front of the last, his leather moccasins…

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Focusing on fixing Falls State Park

From the Buffalo News: After years of neglect, one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations has the full attention of New York State. That means $25 million in much-needed improvements to Niagara Falls State Park, the oldest in the nation. It also signals, officials said, a return to the principles of Frederick Law Olmsted…

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Investigating who owned the falls

From the Buffalo News: Once, when Jane A. Porter was visiting Europe in the late 19th century, someone asked her if she had ever seen Niagara Falls. “Seen them?” she allegedly replied. “Why, I own them.” She wasn’t kidding. As an heir to the property bought by her grandfather, Augustus Porter, Jane Porter did indeed…

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Niagara Falls State Park getting upgrades after critical NY Times article

From an Associated Press article seen on Yahoo! News Canada: Niagara Falls State Park, the oldest state park in the U.S., is getting some special attention after its condition was criticized in a recent New York Times article. State parks officials say they’re launching a three-part plan to improve the 126-year-old park along the brink…

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36 Hours in Niagara Falls

From the New York Times: At Niagara Falls, the United States is the poor relation and Canada is king. Nature gave Canada the wide-angle view of the majestic waterfall that straddles the border between the two countries, and the Canadians’ commercial bet on tourism landed most of the visitor comforts on their side of the…

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