Maid of the Mist

Ferry at the Falls handbill, Niagara Falls, U.S.A., May 1851

Ferry services crossing the Niagara River began as early as 1818.  Small rowboats would carry people, luggage, and cargo across the river.   The service expanded in 1846 when the Niagara Falls Ferry Association received a charter from the State of New York that allowed it to operate a ferry service across the Niagara River.  That same year a steamship was launched that provided passage between the carriage roads on either side of the river.  It was known as the Maid of the Mist.  The service did not prove to be as popular as expected and business further declined in 1848 when the international suspension bridge over the Niagara River opened.  In order to survive, the ferry was used for sightseeing trips, departing from the American side of the river and travelling to the base of the Horseshoe Falls.  

An 1851 handbill advertising a ferry service from Niagara Falls, New York, assures patrons that the ferry is entirely safe, noting that the service has been in use for more than 40 years, sometimes using canoes, and not a single life has been lost in the crossing.    The journey includes a stop on the Canadian shore at Table Rock, where tourists can enjoy the view for a half hour before boarding the ferry for the return trip to the American shore, or a carriage may be taken from Table Rock to the suspension bridge.

Maid of the Mist, Niagara Falls, U.S.A., 1901

Maid of the Mist handbill, 1851

The original Maid of the Mist was launched in 1846 but was replaced by a larger and more comfortable vessel in 1854.  It operated for several years until it was sold to a Montreal Company.  In 1884, a new Maid of the Mist came into service when R.F. Carter and Frank LeBlond formed the Maid of the Mist Steamboat Company.    It operated from the Canadian shore but was so popular that a second boat was launched from the American shore in 1892.  The Maid of the Mist continues to operate today from the American side of the river.  

An 1851 handbill advertising the Maid of the Mist notes that the boat "...will ply during the season between the Suspension Bridge, Bellevue, and Niagara Falls, for the accommodation of Visitors and Travelers, who may wish a near and grand view of the Great Cataract.  This boat passes nearly two miles through the Gulf of Niagara, with the banks more than two hundred feet high on either hand.  From the deck of this Boat, all the great points of attraction are seen in a single trip."