The disappearances and lost lives in and around the Niagara Falls only continue to show us what Mother Nature is capable of. And yet even still, with all of the warning signs there, humans continued in their attempts to manipulate its natural power and beauty for the advancement of society (and financial gain).
But nothing was shaping out to be as easy as those in charge initially expected. The more they wanted this “makeover,” the more resistance they were met with.
The second person to attempt the barrel stunt at Niagara Falls was Bobby Leach, 10 years after Annie Taylor’s run. Unfortunately, he wound up busting out both of his kneecaps during the trip over. He did survive, however, only to slip on an orange peel and die of gangrene a few years later.
The attempts continued sporadically over the decades, right into the 1980’s, when Karel Soucek survived the stunt. However, he tried to recreate it a few years later during a thrill show at the Houston Astrodome, when the barrel missed the water tank and killed him upon impact.
And, with what we know about what happened to the unfortunate souls like Soucek, and others who didn’t survive the plunge, there are others still that completely vanished without a trace. Even in more recent years, when search and safety measures have improved, there are still circumstances in which these people disappear.
Take for instance 1990, when a stuntman from the U.S took on the falls in nothing but a red kayak – which coincidentally, was the only thing that they found after his run. The man was never heard from again.
As authorities progressed with the plans for the American Falls, more questions started being raised as to how effective this entire method was even going to be. Some were worried about the differences in how much water would actually be coming over the falls.
After all, the plans were to make it look “more voluminous,” but at the same time, the gallons per second would be greatly reduced. Since this was the first time in history anything like this was being done (to this extent, anyways,) it was very much a learning curb for everyone involved.
Even as they solidified all of the how’s and why’s behind the scenes, there was still one major monument for workers to climb. Somehow, they had to make all of these extreme changes by working in one of the most dangerous areas possible. This wasn’t just any other day at the office, it was a near 200-ft face of rock.
This wouldn’t be an easy feat by any means, and you can imagine the stress that engineers were feeling. Eventually, however, they would find their footing (literally,) and jump start the project.