Maid of the Mist

The Maid of the Mist is a boat tour of Niagara Falls, New York, US. (The actual boats used are also named Maid of the Mist, followed by a different Roman numeral in each case.) The boat starts off at a calm part of the Niagara River, near the Rainbow Bridge, and takes its passengers past the American and Bridal Veil Falls, then into the dense mist of spray inside the curve of the Horseshoe Falls, also known as the Canadian Falls. The tour is available starting from the American side of the river, returning to the U.S. landing.

The operation is operated by Maid of the Mist Corp. of Niagara Falls, New York. Maid of the Mist has been owned by the Glynn family of Lewiston, New York, since 1971.

The original Maid of the Mist was built at a landing near Niagara Falls on the American side of the border. The boat was christened in 1846, but interestingly, not for sightseeing. The two-stage barge-like steamer was designed primarily as a link for a proposed ferry service between New York City and York (Toronto, Canada). It was a 72-foot-long side-wheeler with an 18-foot beam which was powered by steam produced from a wood- and coal-fired boiler. It was designed to carry a stagecoach and four horses without unhitching the horses.

The ferry did well until 1848, when the opening of a suspension bridge between the United States and Canada cut into the ferry traffic. It was then that the owners decided to make the journey a sightseeing trip, plotting a journey closer to the Falls.

Economic conditions deteriorated in 1860 and adversely affected the tourist trade. With the prospect of the Civil War in the U.S., Maid of the Mist owner W.O. Buchanan decided to sell the craft at auction. A Montreal firm agreed to purchase the boat, but on one condition: the boat had to be delivered to its new owner 12 miles downriver, through two treacherous rapids, into Lake Ontario for its trip up the St. Lawrence River to Montreal.

On June 6, 1861, beginning at 3 p.m., Maid of the Mist Captain Joel R. Robinson, engineer James Jones and mechanic James McIntyre left the moorings on the U.S. side of the river. Captain Robinson safely steered the little vessel downstream, under the suspension bridge, through route on the Canadian side of the rapids and whirlpool, past the lower rapids at Foster's Flats and into the quiet waters of the lower Niagara River to Queenston. Miraculously, the journey was executed without mishap.

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