Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-07-23

crossed blindfolded. And he crossed on
stills.
Navigating the whirlpool.
While these feats were taking place-or
rhther. during intervals--a new feature was
added 1t has been generally believed that
the lower river is unnavgable. Yet on
June 6, 1861. Captain Joel Robinson of the
Maid of the Mist, in company with two as
sociates, drove his boat downward. Inc
Maid was heavily mortgaged at the time
and Captain Robinson did not see any way
to relief but one. This one he chose. In
stead of turning her in the direction OF
the falls he pointed her to the rapids, and
started. Under full steam she plunged into
the waters, going through the whitecaps
with a rush. she lost her smokestack. Soon
she was in the whirlpool rocking and
humping. But she obeyed her rudder and
Robinson soon had her on her way toward
peaceful waters The feat remained the sol
itary wonder of it's kind for quarter OF
a century.
Captain Matthew Webb, swimmer ia
nous in England left his home in 1888, an
nouncing he would give battle to the cur
rents of the Niagara gorge. He entered a
small boat on July "a, 1885, and started
down the river With nothing on but a
pair OF red trunks he leaped into the river
while vet several hundred feet from the
! rapids. As he passed under the suspension
| bridge ne swan strongly, his own strong
strokes hurting him right into the thickest
OF the waves. For a short time he could
be seen battling with the waves, and then
he disappeared. Four days later his body
was recovered.
| His failure inspired other men to take
the chance. There was in success the
| glory of being able to say one had done
what the famous Captain Webb had been
unable to do. Carlisle d. Graham a Phila-
delphia cooper, therefore shortly announced
that he would make a barrel which would
go through the rapids. His barrel was
weighted at one end so that 1t would float
nearly upright. He made the trip success
fully, being in the barrel thirty-five min
utes, and going down the entire gorge &c
! Lewiston. Later he made another trip, this
time with his head protruding from the
barrel. This trip also was successful, but
he was rendered almost deaf by contact
with the big waves In all he made five
trips, being almost suffocated on his last
/ Era of Boats.
Then came the era of boats destined Il
Itaunt nature and Ike her yield to victory
In a seventeen-foot boat, air-cushioned
Charles A. Percy of Niagara Falls, made
three trips in 1857. On the last trip he los
his boat r. w. Flack OF Syracuse, who
thought he had invented liie-saving boat
tried II out In July. 1888 He fixed harness
about mis- waist, and the boat turning hS
was held prisoner to the waves and rocks
For an hour the boat tossed in the whirl
pool. Percy, who was 10 have had a race
with Flack II this trip was successful, re
covered the fragments OF the boat and
F1ack's body.
w. q. Campbell made an open flat-bot
toned boat in which he started 10 maxi
the trip. 1t capsized, however, before thu
whirlpool was reached and Campbell swan
TO shore His boat was smashed
Ten years later came Peter Nissen o
Chicago, with a covered boat. in which HI
safely made the voyage. II was his inten
ton, he said 10 start boat service through
the rapids. He weighted his boat. with tom
OF iron and went to take soundings nea
the Horseshoe falls. He had many escape
and his soundings amounted 70 nothing
at all but notoriety With a companion h.
made many trips about the river, the gorge
the falls and the whirlpool. Finally cam
the day when his boat was smashed an'
he lost his life.
Barrels came into vogue again in 1901