Signorina Maria Spelterini was the first woman to cross the Niagara River gorge on a tight rope. A 23-year-old Italian beauty, Spelterini performed her stunt on July 8, 1876, using a two inch wire. On July 12, she made another successful crossing, this time wearing peach baskets strapped to her feet. She never did it again.
2018
The frozen photographs of Niagara Falls this week are just stunning. In frigid temperatures the water crashes down into the rocks below and turns solid. The the blocks of ice floes can freeze together, forming a bridge wide enough to connect the United States and Canada.
Until some tragic accidents occurred, children rode sleds there and tourists strolled between the two countries. Entrepreneurs sold food and hot drinks from makeshift concession stands. A “sharp rogue,” as the Niagara Falls Gazette described a man on Feb. 14, 1883, built a shanty of boards in the middle of the massive bridge — right on the line between the two countries, where no laws apply — and sold liquor.
1951
1883
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