Dare Devil Nik Wallenda will cross Niagara Falls on Tight Rope.

Nik Wallenda gets the green light to walk across Niagara Falls on a tightrope. (NYT).It will be the first time in decades that someone attempts the dangerous stunt.By Thomas Kaplan.
ALBANY — For months, Canadian officials derided funambulism as no fun at all.
Vowing to preserve the natural splendor of Niagara Falls, they refused to allow Nik Wallenda, a seventh-generation circus performer, permission to cross the gorge on a tightrope.
But on Wednesday, bowing to an intense lobbying push by Mr. Wallenda and funambulism enthusiasts across two countries, the Canadian parks agency that oversees Niagara Falls reversed course and agreed to let the show go on.
The agency, the Niagara Parks Commission, voted unanimously to allow Mr. Wallenda to attempt his tightrope crossing, removing the last major impediment to a performance that Mr. Wallenda, 33, has called his ultimate professional dream.“I can’t explain to you the amount of emotions,” Mr. Wallenda said in a euphoric telephone interview from Niagara Falls, Ontario, where he witnessed the vote.“I had a few tears, but it hasn’t sunk in,” he added. “We were told by not one, not two, but probably 50 people: ‘This is impossible, not going to happen.’ This is to prove that if you pursue your dream and never give up, you can achieve your dream.”Read the full story here.

Following is a chronology from the mid-1800s to 1951, of attempts to go over the Falls in a barrel or some other device, to go through the Class 6 rapids of the Great Gorge, or to walk across on a tightrope. Some of these stunters were successful, others died in their attempt:

ANNIE TAYLOR October 24, 1901 (Survived): Mrs. Annie Taylor, a 63-year-old schoolteacher, decided that a trip over Niagara Falls was her way to fame and fortune. On October 24, 1901, assistants strapped her into a special harness in a barrel.

BOBBY LEACH July 25, 1911 (Survived)
Bobby Leach, an Englishman, successfully made a trip in an all-steel barrel on July 25, 1911, and then spent 23 weeks in hospital recuperating from numerous fractures and other injuries. Fifteen years later on a lecture tour in New Zealand, he slipped on an orange peel, broke his leg and died of complications from the injury.

CHARLES STEPHENS July 11, 1920 (Died)
The next barrel stunter to try the Falls was also an Englishman, Charles Stephens. When his heavy oak barrel hit water after the drop over the Falls on July 11, 1920, Stephens went out the bottom. He was killed and only one arm was recovered.

JEAN LUSSIER July 4, 1928 (Survived)
Jean Lussier, a native of Quebec, designed a six-foot rubber ball composed of 32 inner tubes and a double-wall steel frame. One of the biggest crowds on record saw the stunt on July 4, 1928. The ball took some hard knocks in the rapids but the skip over the Falls was perfect. About one hour after entering his ball, Lussier stepped ashore none the worse for wear. For many years he displayed his ball at Niagara Falls and sold small pieces of the inner tubes for souvenirs at 50 cents a piece.

GEORGE STATHAKIS July 4, 1931 (Died)
On July 4th, 1931, George Stathakis, a Greek chef from Buffalo, went over the Falls in a 2,000-pound contraption of wood and steel. He survived the plunge over the Falls only to die after becoming trapped behind the curtain of water for 22 hours. He had enough oxygen for only three hours.

RED HILL JR. August 6, 1951 (Died)
In the summer of 1951, Red Hill Jr. planned to go over the Falls in a flimsy contrivance he called the “Thing” that consisted of 13 inner tubes held together with fish net and canvas straps. On August 6, Hill and the “Thing” headed into the rapids. It was tossed into the air, upended, thrown from side to side and bounced off rocks. It was starting to disintegrate even before it reached the Falls. When the drop came, the “Thing” disappeared into churning water at the base of the Falls. Seconds later what was left floated into view. The following day, Hill’s battered body was taken from the river.
Read the full history of Niagara Falls Stunts here.