On the morning of August 18, 1985, Steven Trotter became the youngest person to go over Niagara Falls.
He was just 22 years old.
His device? Not exactly cutting-edge.
It was made from two plastic pickle barrels, lined with foam, wrapped in inner tubes, and covered with a tarp. More improvised than engineered. But somehow, it worked.
Trotter survived the plunge with only minor bruises.
“It was like an elevator with no cable,” he later said.
Like many before him, he hoped to turn the stunt into publicity and profit. Instead, he was arrested by Niagara Parks Police; though the attention did land him appearances, including a spot on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.
Ten years later, Trotter came back.
On June 18, 1995, he returned to Niagara Falls... this time with Lori Martin, a 29-year-old from Atlanta.
Steven became the second person to sucsessfully make it over Niagara Falls twice, but... Together, they became the first and only male-female pair to go over the Falls.
Their barrel was far more advanced, built from welded hot water tanks and reinforced with fiberglass, foam, and Kevlar. It weighed about 900 pounds and carried enough oxygen to last over an hour.
After going over the Falls, the barrel didn’t drift away.
It became lodged in a rock crevice on the Canadian side.
Members of the Niagara Parks Police and Niagara Falls Fire Department climbed over a guardrail and took on the risky task of reaching the barrel and securing a line.
They opened the hatch.
Out came Lori Martin.
Then Steven Trotter.
Both alive. Both relatively unharmed.
Both were arrested.
Martin was released after three days and fined $2,500 under the Niagara Parks Act.
Trotter remained in jail for nearly two weeks and was fined $5,000, along with additional costs for hospital expenses.
The barrel remained stuck for nine days before being removed by crane.
Eventually, he reclaimed the barrel, after paying the full cost of its recovery.
Painted on its side were the words:
“Take the Real Plunge.”
The story of Steven Trotter is one of persistence.
Not just one attempt, but two.
Standing at Niagara Falls, it’s hard to imagine going over once.
Coming back ten years later… and doing it again, this time with someone else, is something else entirely.
It’s one of the few stories that connects the earlier era of daredevils with the modern one.
There’s a difference between hearing these stories… and standing where they happened.
See the brink of Niagara Falls, look down into the river below, and understand just how powerful the water really is.
On our Niagara Falls tours, you’ll experience the sights, the history, and the real stories that most visitors never hear.
Best Niagara Falls tour in Canada for 20 years.
