The Second Greatest Wonder of Niagara: The Whirlpool Rapids and Those Who Dared Them

Niagara’s Other Fury: The Whirlpool Rapids

Everyone knows Niagara Falls. The thunder, the mist, the rainbows—it’s the postcard of a natural wonder. But just downstream, hidden in the shadow of the cliffs, lies something wilder.

The Whirlpool Rapids.

Here the Niagara River, already swollen from its great plunge, is forced into a narrow stone gorge. The water races at nearly thirty miles an hour, hurling up waves higher than houses and spinning whirlpools that can swallow anything caught in their pull. To stand at the gorge’s edge is to feel the ground tremble. The surface looks white and beautiful, but beneath lies violence.

Captain Matthew Webb, the first man to swim the English Channel, called it “the angriest bit of water in the world.”

For more than a century, dreamers and daredevils looked at those waters and thought: I can take it.

Almost all were wrong.

Captain Webb: The First Fatal Attempt

Matthew Webb was already a hero in Britain, but by 1883 he was chasing one last triumph in America. On July 24, he told reporters:

“I don’t intend to have any problem swimming the rapids. I’ll dive and swim under them when I run into trouble—not over them.”

He stripped to his swimsuit and plunged in. For a moment, onlookers saw him fighting bravely. Then he vanished. Days later his body was found with a fractured skull—not drowned, but broken against the rocks.

The “Maid of the Rapids”

By 1901, Niagara’s daredevil tradition was part of local lore. Martha E. Wagenfuhrer of Buffalo set out to be the first woman through the Whirlpool in a barrel.

When her barrel was damaged before launch, the crowd jeered, “Fake!” She went ahead anyway. For more than an hour the barrel rolled and thrashed before rescuers pulled her out—unconscious, barely alive. She survived, but her dream of glory did not.

The name “Maid of the Mist” first belonged to the 1846 steamboat, chosen to capture the poetry of the Falls’ eternal spray and echoing Native stories of a spirit maiden who lived within the mist. By 1901, that name was so famous it had become shorthand for Niagara itself. When Martha E. Wagenfuhrer climbed into her barrel to face the Whirlpool Rapids, reporters seized on the parallel. They called her the “Maid of the Rapids” — a deliberate play on the boat’s name, linking her daredevil stunt to Niagara’s most enduring symbol.

Maud Willard and Her Dog

Later that same year, burlesque performer Maud Willard entered the Whirlpool with a terrier at her side. The barrel spun endlessly. When it was opened, the dog survived. Maud did not.

The grim suspicion: the dog had pressed its nose against the only air hole, suffocating its owner.

William “Red” Hill Sr.

No one knew the Niagara River better than William “Red” Hill Sr. of Niagara Falls, Ontario. A riverman, rescuer, and body-retriever, even he couldn’t resist its lure.

In 1930, he built a steel barrel and floated from the Falls to Queenston without incident. A year later he repeated the stunt in the very barrel that had killed George Stathakis. Hill admitted it wasn’t just bravado:

“My principal reason in making the trip is for the purpose of having exclusive moving pictures made.”

Jim Sarten: Hollywood Meets the Whirlpool

By 1974, Niagara’s daredevils had merged with Hollywood. Stuntman Jim Sarten, strapped with an oxygen tank, rode the rapids on a raft made of oil drums for a film production.

Halfway through, he was knocked unconscious and floated face-down until rescued. He later joked:

“I sort of enjoyed it… I do this all the time and I get water in my lungs all the time.”

He rated the Whirlpool an “eleven” on a scale of ten.

Commercial Rafting Disasters

The daredevil tradition eventually gave way to corporate ambition—and tragedy.

1972 – Niagara White Water Tours

Founded by Carborundum executives George Grider and William Wendell, the company promised five-mile thrill rides from the Maid of the Mist dock to Lewiston. But on just its third run, a 35-foot nylon raft flipped, throwing eight people into the rapids. All were rescued, but more accidents followed—on August 5 and again on August 13, when seven more were dumped into the river. By day’s end, the company folded. No lives were lost, but the river had spoken.

Raft recovery at the Niagara rapids.

1975 – The Grider Disaster

Three years later, Niagara Gorge River Trips, Inc. tried again. Their one-ton raft, the Grider, was billed as “completely safe.” On its first run with 29 passengers, it struck a 20-foot wave and capsized. Twenty-four reached shore. Three drowned.

Survivor George Butterfield said it best:

“The Niagara River is too tough for any raft.”

The Whirlpool Today

The Whirlpool Rapids remain—roaring, restless, hidden just beyond the tourist paths. Walk into the gorge and you’ll feel their pull, the endless churn of water with no sympathy for human ambition.

The daredevils of the past came for fame, money, or the thrill of cheating death. Some lived. Many did not. All of them learned the same lesson: at Niagara, the Falls may be the headline act, but it’s the Whirlpool that tells the truth.

In the 1970s, commercial rafters tempted fate and failed. Today, you can taste the same raw power safely—on a jet boat tour. We’ll take you to Devil’s Hole and the lip of the Whirlpool, spray on your face, heart in your throat, and bring you back grinning.

Because one truth has never changed: Niagara always wins.

⚡ Want to see the Whirlpool safely? Stand at the Gorge lookout, or hike the riverside trails with us. The view alone is enough to churn your stomach—no barrel required.

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