The Great Blondin, First Tightrope Walker to Cross Niagara Falls

Jean Francois Gravelot (The Great Blondin) Amazed Crowds with Tightrope Feats

Lying on the border of Ontario, Canada, and New York State, the Falls attract millions of visitors each year. An island in the Niagara River splits the water flow into two parts just before the falls. The smaller flow plunges over the American Falls; the larger goes over Horseshoe Falls. At 180 feet, the American Falls is about 5 feet taller than Horseshoe Falls. However, Horseshoe Falls is about twice as wide as the American Falls. Niagara Falls formed about 10,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age. 

The first of many tightrope walkers to cross the Falls was Jean Francois Gravelot, a French aerialist, who called himself "The Great Blondin, because of his fair hair. He was born February 28, 1824 in St. Omer, Pas de Calais in Northern France. Blondin had been walking the tightrope since the age of five. He was orphaned at age nine and on his own. He became a famous tightrope performer and practiced each new feat until he could perform it with his eyes closed. In 1951, at the age of twenty-seven, he joined the Ravel troupe of French equestrian and acrobatic performers on their tour of North American. By this time there were no acrobatic performances at which he did not excel. About Niagara Falls, Blondin, said, “To cross the roaring waters became the ambition of my life.”