Post by Lance Harwell

On June 30, 1859, 34-year-old Jean François Gravelet, better known as French acrobat Monsieur Charles Blondin, was the first to cross Niagara Falls on a tightrope. He always worked without a net, believing that preparing for disaster only made one more likely. A rope 1,300 feet long, two inches in diameter, and made entirely of hemp, would be the sole thing separating him from the rocks and water below. On June 30, about 25,000 thrill-seekers assembled on the American and Canadian sides of the falls. Shortly before 5 p.m., Blondin took his position on the American side, dressed in pink tights bedecked with spangles. He wore fine leather shoes with soft soles and carried a balancing pole 26 feet long and 50 pounds. Slowly, he started to walk. About a third of the way across, Blondin shocked the crowd by sitting down on his cable and calling for the Maid of the Mist, the famed tourist vessel, to anchor momentarily beneath him. He cast down a line and hauled up a bottle of wine. He drank and started off again, breaking into a run after he passed the sagging center. While the band played “Home, Sweet Home,” Blondin reached Canada. After 20 minutes, Blondin began the journey back, this time with a Daguerreotype camera strapped to his back. He advanced 200 feet, affixed his balancing pole to the cable, untied his load, adjusted it in front of him, and snapped a likeness of the crowd along the American side. Then he hoisted the camera back into place and continued on his way. He crossed again on July 4, this time without his balancing pole. Halfway across, he lay down on the cable, flipped himself over, and began walking backward. On the journey back, he wore a sack over his head, depriving himself of sight. On July 15, with President Millard Fillmore in attendance, Blondin walked backward to Canada and returned to the U.S. pushing a wheelbarrow. Two weeks later, he somersaulted and backflipped his way across, occasionally pausing to dangle from the cable by one hand. He crossed at night, a locomotive headlight affixed to either end of the cable. He crossed with his body in shackles, carrying a table and chair, stopping in the middle to try to sit down and prop up his legs. The chair tumbled into the water. Blondin nearly followed but regained his composure. He sat down on the cable and ate a piece of cake, washed down with champagne. In his most famous exploit, he carried a stove and utensils on his back, walked to the center of the cable, started a fire, and cooked an omelet. When it was ready, he lowered the breakfast to passengers on the deck of the Maid of the Mist. By the time he gave his final performance, in 1896, it was estimated that Blondin crossed Niagara Falls 300 times. In nearly 73 years on this earth, he never had life insurance. #ClaimsKrewe