Physically, Blondin was a small man, distinguished by blue eyes and the blond hair that had given him his nickname. It was a place made to order for Blondin. There were restaurants and drinking places and Punch-and-Judy shows and two-headed calves and bearded ladies. There were no parks in those days, but the areas on both sides of the Niagara were cluttered with free-enterprising activities. There were plenty of livery stables with carriages of all kinds drawn by shining-coated horses, for it was customary to drive out daily and view the Falls from various vantage points. They sat on the long verandas lacing the river gorge and rocked away the long afternoons, listening to the rumble of the Falls and watching the ever shitting clouds of mist roll up and make rainbows as the waters crashed on the rocks below. They listened to the soft music and danced through the mellow evenings. They registered at luxurious hotels like the Clifton House or the Cataract House, with its huge ballroom and superb crystal chandeliers. Here they spent entire summers in the gentle, stimulating coolness which still is characteristic of the area in the hot months. Whole families with their servants visited Niagara in the new steam cars. Three hundred thousand people -or was it ten thousand?-held their breath as Jean François Gravelet, better known as Blondin, edged out onto the sloping cable.įor people of fashion, wealth, beauty, and culture, northerners and southerners alike, the Falls were already a great attraction a century ago. Little girls clung to the skirts of their nurses and small boys skylarked. Strong men in top hats and stocks were tense, for many had wagered large sums on the outcome. As they watched in fascination, shading their eyes with their parasols, ladies in crinolines nearly swooned. A slightly built Frenchman, dressed in tights and carrying a long balancing pole, was planning to attempt the impossible-he was going to walk across the terrible gorge of the Niagara River about a mile below the Falls on a slender rope cable, 190 feet above the swift and boiling flood. On Thursday, June 30, 1859, the atmosphere at Niagara Falls was charged with excitement.
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