October 24, 1838

Annie Edison Taylor, (October 24, 1838 to April 29, 1921) exemplified the American virtues of Yankee ingenuity and independence. After losing a husband and a son, she consistently sought to earn a living by her wits--- teaching dancing, treating people with magnetic therapy, writing a novel. It was on her birthday, when she was sixty-three years old, October 24, 1901, that she went over Niagara Falls in a barrel. She was the first person to survive such a trip. But nothing she did secured her the financial stability for which she strove.

Here is the barrel story:

[Anne Edison Taylor]... had enjoyed a comfortable living when younger but her fortunes had declined as the years progressed [and she decided to gain fame as the]..., first person [to] go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. So she had one specially made ....from oak and iron, and then padded with a mattress, though things then hit something of a snag when people proved remarkably reluctant to involve themselves in what could be a potential suicide. To set their callow minds at rest, Taylor first put a cat into the barrel and sent it over the Horseshoe Falls, “to test its strength”.... [The cat] did survive, albeit with a bleeding head....

Come the great day and in climbs our plucky heroine,..., for the lid to be screwed down and then a bicycle pump used to compress the air inside, after which a cork was used to plug the hole and the entire thing set adrift south of Goat Island. After a trip of less than twenty minutes, she was picked up safe, though with her head gashed too ....

Sadly, all did not end on a happy note. For one thing, her manager, Frank M. Russell, made off with her barrel and she used up most of her savings hiring private detectives to get it back. .... She ended up working as, amongst other things, a clairvoyant...

Here is a famous picture of this brave and smart lady.  Nobody seems to have noticed that is not a cat, resting on the barrel. It is a kitten. Our heroine though is mature, and is,  if not a role model, an instance of the limits of courage and intelligence.