Two Tuttle's Four Paws: Surviving Niagara Falls In A Barrel, Red Hill, Dare Devil

WILLIAM "RED" HILL Sr. 1930 (Survived)

William "Red" Hill Sr. was born in Niagara Falls, Ontario in 1888.

On May 30th 1930, a large crowd estimated at twenty-five thousand lined both sides of the Niagara River
from the Horseshoe Falls to Queenston - Lewiston to witness a spectacular feat performed by legendary
river man William "Red" Hill Sr. At the age of 42 years, Hill Sr. was going to fulfil his promise to challenge the
Great Gorge Rapids and the Whirlpool from the docks of the Maid of the Mist .

Hill Sr.'s barrel was of steel construction, six feet long and three feet in diameter. Its interior was only five
feet long because Hill Sr. had built in six inch bulkheads at both ends. This barrel had a fourteen inch by
eighteen inch manhole to allow entry which was covered by a sliding steel cover sealed with rubber
gaskets. There were air holes on the sides of the barrel with were plugged with cork to allow them to be
opened in an emergency. It was weighted by a steel keel welded to its bottom consisting of a one hundred
and fifty pound section of railroad track. The barrel was equipped with a harness system so that Hill Sr.
would lay prone but suspended away from the walls. The barrel weighed 620 pounds and was painted bright
red with gold lettering with "William Red Hill, Master Hero of Niagara inscribed on the sides.

At 1:15 p.m. May 30th 1930, Hill Sr. climbed into the barrel and set off on his journey. Because of the eddies
it took Hill Sr. one hour and forty minutes before the river released his barrel and he was allowed to
continue. His trip through the rapids to the whirlpool took ninety seconds. At the whirlpool, the barrel
became stuck in the vortex. After three and a half hours, Hill Sr. and his friends were able to free the barrel
so Hill Sr. could resume his trip to Queenston - Lewiston. Hill Sr. arrived at the Queenston docks at 6:15
p.m. where he was met by thousands of people including his wife and sons Red Jr., Major and Norman. He
suffered a few minor bruises. He went back to work driving a taxi the next day.

This was Hill Sr.'s second trip through the rapids. His first performance occurred in 1910 using the barrel of
Bobby Leach. Red Hill Sr. made his third trip through the same rapids on Memorial Day 1931, using the
barrel of George Strathakis. Strathakis died in this barrel while attempting to go over the Falls on July 5th
1930. Hill Sr. survived this trip as well but the barrel had sprung a leak and was half full by the time it
reached the Whirlpool. Again the barrel became caught in the vortex. Only through the heroic efforts of his
son William "Red" Hill Jr. who swam out with a rope attached to his waist to tie onto the barrel did Hill Sr.
survive.

The next day Hill Sr. went back to the whirlpool and continued his journey in the barrel to Queenston.

Red Hill Sr. had officially been credited with saving the lives of twenty-eight persons from drowning. He
received more lifesaving awards from the Canadian Government than any man before or since.

Red Hill Sr. was the foremost expert in the knowledge of the rivers treacherous tides, undertows, whirlpool
and eddies. He had grown up near the gorge and it was his playground. During his lifetime, Red Hill Sr.
recovered the bodies of one hundred and seventy-seven persons who had died from accidents or suicides.

Hill Sr. was a mighty swimmer, once having swam from the foot of the American Falls through the boiling
cauldron to the Canadian shore in a record time of eleven minutes. He won his first Canadian Government
lifesaving medal at the age of nine years.

In February 1912, a spectacular tragedy known as the "Ice Bridge Disaster" turned the spotlight on Hill Sr. in
a large way. Shifting winds sent thousands of tons of ice from Lake Erie over the Falls into the gorge below
creating a massive ice jam as thick as a hundred feet. Prior to 1912 both American and Canadian
Governments tolerated persons crossing over the ice bridge or building shacks.

Near noon on Sunday February 4th 1912, in below zero temperatures, the ice bridge began to shake and
groan. Red Hill Sr. was sitting in one of the shacks with several of his friends. Hill Sr. sensed that the ice
was breaking up and made a dash to the Canadian shore. A short distance away he saw a small group of
tourists who appeared frozen by fear. Hill Sr. went back to them and ushered them to shore with the
exception of four people. An ice flow broke loose carrying a pair of newly weds, Mr. & Mrs. Ellwood Stanton
of Toronto and an eighteen year old would be rescuer Burrell Peacock of Cleveland. All three persons died
as the ice flow on which they were riding reached the Great Gorge Rapids.

On August 8th 1918, a scow engaged in dredging had broken loose of its mooring above the upper rapids
and drifted out of control towards the Horseshoe Falls. Gustave Luffberg and Frank Harris, both dredging
employees were on board the scow. Frantically, they opened the two holes in the bottom of the scow
dropping its load. As a result the scow became caught on reef rocks only several hundred feet from the
brink of the Falls. A rescue boat could not be utilized to rescue the two men . The United States Coast
Guard however were called from Youngstown, New York to assist. When they arrived they mounted their
gun on the roof of the Toronto Power House. The first shot to the scow with a rope was successful. A line
was strung from the power house to the scow. A breeches buoy followed the line but became snarled half
way across.

With night approaching, Red Hill Sr. went out hand over hand along the rope as his body was tugged by the
current of the rapids. Red Hill Sr. reached the tangled breech buoy and was unable to untangle it in order to
allow the rescue of the crew of the scow without any loss of life.

Hill Sr. spent the waning years of his life showing off his barrel and selling pictures of himself in a souvenir
store. On May 14th 1942, William Red Hill Sr. at the age of 54 years, died of a heart attack at the Niagara Falls
Hospital.

WILLIAM "RED" HILL Jr. 1945 (Died)

William "Red" Hill Jr. had to fill the shoes of his father in order to carry on the dramatic multi-headlined
legend that his very name demanded that he uphold. There is no doubt that he tried. Red Hill Jr. had helped
out on most of his fathers twenty-eight rescues. He helped his father in the recovery of 117 of 177 corpse
recovered.

On his own Red Hill Jr. pulled another 28 dead bodies from the river.

Red Hill Jr. twice made the strenuous and dangerous swim from the base of the American Falls to the
Canadian shore, but he failed to equal his fathers time of eleven minutes.

In order to match his father, Hill Jr. twice conquered the Great Gorge Rapids and Whirlpool in a barrel.

Red Hill Jr. made his first trip on July 8th 1945. A crowd of two hundred thousand had lined the banks of the
Niagara River to watch this spectacle. In order to thwart the police the exact time and starting point were
not given advance notice. Hill Jr. would be using a six feet long, 720 pound all steel barrel. In order to
create a diversion of his own he announced at 2:00 p.m. he would launch at the Maid of the Mist dock while
knowing full well that the police would be there to stop him. The decoy strategy worked perfectly. The
bright red barrel had already been lowered down into the gorge just upstream of the rapids during the
predawn hours.

Shortly after 2:00 p.m., Red Hill Jr. climbed into the barrel and set out on his journey. It was immediately
caught in the forty-two mile per hour current and drawn into the rapids. Just before reaching the actual
rapids, the barrel was struck by a cross wave and tossed twenty feet into the air and somersaulting twice
before landing back into the churning water. As the barrel hit the Whirlpool it was caught by the vortex. Red
Hill's brothers Major and Norman rowed out and brought the barrel to shore. Hill Jr. complained of dizziness
but climbed back into his barrel to complete his journey to Queenston.

After completing the two and a half hour trip, Hill Jr. and his mother went to Fairview Cemetery to lay a
wreath on his fathers grave. Later that evening, Hill Jr.'s mother suffered a heart attack.

Red Hill Jr. made his second trip through the rapids on September 6th 1948. This time Hill Jr. used a barrel
weighing approximately one thousand pounds. This trip started the same as the first when the barrel was
tossed approximately forty feet in the air by a wave. Within five minutes the barrel entered the Whirlpool
where it spun out of control for more than an hour. From time to time the strong vortex of the Whirlpool
actually pulled the huge barrel under the water surface. Again his brother saved Hill Jr. by pulling the barrel
to shore. Hill Jr. was badly bruised. Hill Jr. bailed out water from the barrel for an hour before he climbed
back into it to continue his journey to Queenston. Hill Jr. arrived at the Queenston dock after his four and a
half hour ordeal.

Red Hill Jr. acquired fame but the fortune eluded him. A month after his second ride, a bailiff seized all of
his goods and chattels for sale at a public auction in order to satisfy three creditors. All three barrels the
Hill family had were taken away as well and sold for twenty-nine hundred dollars.

On the last Saturday of July 1949, Major Hill decided it was time to restore the legends financial status.
Major Hill age 38 years, challenged the Great Gorge Rapids in a 625 pound torpedo shaped steel barrel. The
barrel took such an awful pounding that Major Hill had to be hauled up the gorge in a basket and
hospitalized. Major Hill's journey was a failure in terms of media coverage and financial.

The dream of a fitting memorial to Red Hill Sr. weighed heavily on the shoulders of Red Hill Jr. It was
because of this unfulfilled desire the Hill Jr. began planning to ride over the Horseshoe Falls.

Red Hill Jr. age 38 years, set his date with destiny for August 5th 1951. Because of the lack of funds and
support Hill Jr. had to build a cheap barrel. Hill Jr. constructed what he would refer to as "the Thing", a
contraption consisting of thirteen large heavy duty inner tubes lashed together by three inch wide canvass
webbing. These were then encased in a heavy gauge fish netting. Hill Jr. painted his contraption silver with
the words "The Thing" inscribed all around the tube.

The tube was launched at 1:30 p.m. from Ushers Creek located on the Canadian shoreline approximately
three miles upstream from the Horseshoe Falls. At 3:30 p.m. the tube with Red Hill Jr. inside rode through
the upper rapids to the brink of the Horseshoe falls and over. The vast crowd was silenced. The Thing was
caught under the extreme pressure of the falling water and broken apart.. It was two minutes before parts
of the rubber tubes began to surface. There was no sign of Red Hill Jr. The silence was shattered by Hill
Junior's mother frantically calling out for him. Hill Junior's wife and ten year old daughter joined his mother
for the long vigil while his brothers: Major, Norman & Wesley searched for his body.

The next morning the badly battered body of William Red Hill Jr. was found near the Maid of the Mist dock.
The lower part of his body was badly mangled and his forehead had a large laceration. He was buried the
following Thursday at Fairview Cemetery in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Following the death of Red Hill Jr., there was a public outcry over his needless death. This public
condemnation resulted in then Ontario Premier: Leslie Frost to issue a special order to the directors of the
Niagara Parks Commission to arrest anyone who commits an act of stunting upon the properties of the
Niagara Parks. Since that day, no permission has been granted to allow any stunting within the park.

MAJOR LLOYD HILL 1949 (Survived)

Major Lloyd Hill was following in the foot steps of his famous daredevil family. He was the son of William
"Red" Hill Sr. and the brother of William "Red" Hill Jr. both accomplished daredevils of Niagara.

On July 30th 1949, Major Lloyd Hill using a six hundred and fifty (650) pound barrel successfully navigated
the Whirlpool Rapids. Hill became stranded in the Whirlpool and had to be rescued by the City of Niagara
Falls Fire Department.

Major Hill caused quite a controversy the next day when he climbed back into his barrel and continued his
journey through the Lower Rapid (Devils Hole Rapids) to Queenston. This portion of Hill's journey was
successful.

On August 6th 1950, Major Lloyd Hill navigated the Whirlpool Rapids in a barrel and circled the Whirlpool
twice before floating to the calm waters near shore. Major Hill's barrel was towed to entrance to the Lower
Great Gorge before being released to continue his journey to Queenston.

Hill's journey took two hours and 45 minutes, beating his brothers previous record of five hours.

On July 31st 1954, Major Lloyd Hill made his third successful trip through the Whirlpool Rapids in a barrel.
When Hill arrived at the Whirlpool, he came ashore at Colts Point terminus of the Spanish Aero Car. Here
Ontario Provincial Police were waiting to greet Hill. Major Hill was taken from the scene by the police. Hill
was not charged but the police had interrupted Hill's plan to continue to Queenston.

On July 30th 1956, Major Lloyd Hill again rode through the Whirlpool Rapids in his barrel. Hill was stranded
in the Whirlpool for three hours before floating close enough to shore. Hill jumped out of the barrel and
swam to shore dragging the barrel behind him. The barrel by this time had been partially filled with
seventy-nine gallons of water.

In a subsequent parachute accident, Major Hill severely injured one of his legs that was later amputated.

Major Hill was murdered in 1974 in the City of Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Next time you are in Niagara Falls check out the IMAX theatre .
Experience the death-defying stunts performed by daredevils who challenged the
mighty water's fury, such as the the 63-year-old school teacher who went over the falls
in a barrel and the tightrope walker who hovered over its crests.

Take a Look at the IMAX movie trailer Below...

A Division Of

Headquarters: 842 Broadway Avenue, Welland, Ontario, Canada, L3C 5M8
EmaiL: Wayne & Tina

Telephone: 905 - 734 - 7034

A Definition Of A True Daredevil !

Daredevils can be best summarized as persons who wish to take
conscious risks with their lives with the emphasis on survival.
However, some risks are so great that the chances of survival
based upon a balance of probabilities become so little that they
become suicidal in nature. It may be a thin line of definition but a
line none the less. Now days, the art of being a daredevil has
become so sophisticated that chances of survival are almost
predictable.

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