Muskoka Memories First Edition; 1940's Memorial Tribute to Niagara Falls's William "Red" Hill

One of Muskoka's Rarest First Editions circa 1904; It is story based on actual experiences in the Lake Joseph and Lake Rosseau area of west Muskoka (It is available at our shop)

Late 1940's Memorial Tribute to William "Red" Hill

THOSE LITTLE GEMS OF PRINT-CANADIANA - NOT BOOKS, BUT JUST AS HISTORIC

"TRUE FACTS OF THE DEATH DEFYING, RAPIDS-SHOOTING, BARREL TRIPS OF WILLIAM "RED" HILL - A CANADIAN LEGEND

     IT LOOKS LIKE WINTER, AND IT FEELS LIKE WINTER, AND I SLIPPED IN OUR DRIVEWAY THIS MORNING, (DOING A CHEAP ADJUSTMENT ON MY SPINE), LIKE I DID DURING THE WINTER, BUT I'M TOLD THAT IT'S ACTUALLY SPRING-TIME. IT TOOK TEN MINUTES TO GET THE CAR'S INTERIOR UP TO COMFORT TEMPERATURE. YUP, IT'S A POSTCARD PERFECT SCENE OUT THERE, BUT IT'S BECOMING MORE OF A "BELIEVE IT OR NOT,' SITUATION, AS THE POOR LILAC BUDS ARE ENCASED IN ICE, AND SO IS MY HEART. HEATING COSTS ARE BEATING US INTO SUBMISSION, AND BIRCH HOLLOW LOOKS LIKE THE KIND OF SNOW-CLAD CABIN, YOU'D EXPECT TO FIND IN A PAINTING OF THE SWISS ALPS. I THINK I HEARD A SHIVERING ROBIN CHIRP, "HEY MAN, WHAT THE HELL?"

     IF THERE WAS AN EASTER PARADE IN MUSKOKA, THIS COMING WEEKEND, IT WOULD BE AUGMENTED BY A FROZEN LANDSCAPE, WITH THREE FOOT BANKS, FROM THE FIVE FOOT ONES WE HAD AT THE END OF THE WINTER. AN EASTER EGG HUNT, OUTDOORS, WOULD NECESSITATE THE CHOCOLATES BEING BURIED IN THE SNOW. I LOVE WHEN FOLKS COME FROM SOUTHERN ONTARIO, AND DROP INTO THE SHOP, WITH A LOOK OF PROTRACTED HORROR ON THEIR FACES, WHEN ASKING US ABOUT OUR RATHER BURDENSOME EXTENDED ICE AGE. WHEN MY FAMILY MOVED TO MUSKOKA, IN THE MID 1960'S, WE ALL LEARNED BY IMMERSION, HOW LONG AND DIFFICULT REGIONAL WINTERS COULD BE IN THIS WONDERFUL, AND ALLURING LAKELAND. I REMEMBER A LOT OF WICKED WINTERS, AS A KID, AND A FEW DURING MY ADULTHOOD. BUT HONESTLY, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO COMPARE THOSE WINTERS TO THIS ONE, BECAUSE OF THE VOLUMN OF SNOW, AND THE CONSISTENCY OF THE COLD TEMPERATURES, OVER AND ABOVE A FEW MINOR THAWS SINCE THE FIRST OF DECEMBER. SO WHILE WE THINK WE'RE PREPARED FOR ANY EVENTUALITY, ONCE PAST HALLOWE'EN, THE WINTER OF 2013-14, WILL BE THE RECORD HOLDER FOR SOME TIME TO COME. METHINKS, ACCORDING TO EARLY FLOODING REPORTS, IT WILL BE A MEMORABLE (IN A BAD WAY) SEASON FOR WATER-RELATED DAMAGES. WHAT WE DON'T NEED RIGHT NOW, IS ANY MORE WATER; AND IN REGARDS TO WATER, AND LOTS OF IT, I HAVE A STORY FOR YOU TODAY, THAT IS WELL DOCUMENTED IN CANADIAN HISTORY. DOES THE NAME "RED" HILL, RING A BELL? NOW THINK ABOUT NIAGARA FALLS, A BARREL, AND AN OPPORTUNITY! 

     I HAVE BEEN WRITING A LOT RECENTLY, ABOUT EPHEMERA, INCLUDING OLD BOOKS, DOCUMENTS, JOURNALS, ART AND VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPHS. BUT I HAVEN'T WRITTEN MUCH AT ALL, ABOUT ONE OF MY FAVORITE COLLECTABLE ITEMS; BEING THE "BOOKLET." THESE ARE THE UNSUNG RELICS OF PRINT HERITAGE THAT GET VERY LITTLE ATTENTION, EXCEPT FROM ANTIQUE SPECULATORS, WHO APPRECIATE THAT REGIONAL COLLECTORS WILL PAY BIG BUCKS TO OWN SPECIFIC MINI-HISTORIES, THAT WERE OFTEN PRODUCED IN LIMITED NUMBERS. IF THEY WERE BOOKLETS PRODUCED FOR MUSEUMS AND HISTORIC SITES, THE EARLIEST ONES ARE THE BETTER INVESTMENT, AS YOU MAY HAVE NOTICED, PUBLISHED WITH YESTERDAY'S BLOG. I WAS FORTUNATE ON THE WEEKEND, ON A HUNTING AND GATHERING TRIP TO ORILLIA, TO HAVE FOUND THIS 1950 GUIDEBOOK, TO THE MARTYR'S SHRINE, AND FORT STE. MARIE IN MIDLAND. WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO THE HISTORIAN, MORE SO THAN THE COLLECTOR, IS THAT "ST. MARIE AMONG THE HURONS," AS IT IS KNOWN TODAY, WAS THEN, IN THE "EXCAVATION" PERIOD, KNOWN AS "FORT STE. MARIE." I HAVE HAD DOCUMENTS FROM MUCH EARLIER THAN THIS, BUT HAVING THIS BOOKLET, PROVIDES CERTAIN INFORMATION, UNAVAILABLE IN OTHER MORE RECENT VISITOR BROCHURES. AS I AM AS FAMILIAR WITH ST. MARIE, AS MUCH AS MY OWN BACKYARD, (I COULD EASILY LIVE THERE AS A MODERN DAY JESUIT) THIS HAS ALWAYS BEEN A STORY-LINE I'VE CHASED, AS AN HISTORIAN. JUST A SHORT WHILE AGO, I PRESENTED AN OVERVIEW OF THE MISSION OF STE. ELIZABETH, A TEMPORARY JESUIT ENCAMPMENT / MISSION TO THE ALGONQUINS, FROM THE MID 1600'S, THAT HAD BEEN LOCATED SOMEWHERE BETWEEN WASHAGO, AND SEVERN BRIDGE, AT THE MOST SOUTHERLY END OF THE DISTRICT OF MUSKOKA.

     IN THE PAST WEEK ALONE, I'VE BEEN ABLE TO SECURE A NUMBER OF SIMILARLY RARE BOOKLETS, INCLUDING ONE OF THE MOST FASCINATING I'VE EVER OWNED; REGARDING THE U-BOAT TORPEDO SINKING, OF THE NEWFOUNDLAND PASSENGER SHIP, S.S. CARIBOO, IN 1942. THE BOOKLET IS BADLY DAMAGED BUT IN VERY SHORT SUPPLY. IT WAS WRITTEN AND PUBLISHED AS A MEMORIAL, TO THOSE LOST ON BOARD, IN THE YEAR 1945. IT IS SUCH AN HONEST, FOLKISH, COMPELLING PIECE OF CANADIAN WAR TIME HISTORY; SIMPLY PRODUCED, BUT SUCH A FITTING EDITORIAL TRIBUTE TO THOSE INNOCENTS LOST AS COLLATERAL DAMAGE, OF THE EXTENDED WAR IN EUROPE. IT WAS THE FIRST SIGNIFICANT REALITY, THAT GERMANY HAD PLACED ITS U-BOATS IN THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER, (MOUTH OF THE ST. LAWRENCE), WHERE THIS DREADFUL INCIDENT HAD OCCURRED. WE COULD ONLY FIND ONE OTHER COPY OF THIS BOOK, AND IT BELONGED TO AN EAST COAST MUSEUM COLLECTION. SO I HOPE YOU WILL JOIN ME TOMORROW, FOR A SEVERAL BLOG FEATURE, ON THIS MARINE TRAGEDY OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR, WHICH HAPPENED IN CANADIAN WATERS. THE BOOKLET MAKES YOU FEEL AS IF IT HAS JUST HAPPENED, AND YOU HAVE BEEN INVITED INTO ONE OF THE HOMES, BELONGING TO A FAMILY THAT HAD SOMEONE ON BOARD; ONE WHO WAS NOT COMING BACK. KEEP IN MIND, THAT IT WAS FIRST BELIEVED THAT A TIME BOMB MAY HAVE BEEN PLANTED ON THE S.S. CARIBOO, AT PORT, AND SET TO EXPLODE AFTER IT HAD SET SAIL. CANADIANS AND AMERICANS DIDN'T WANT TO BELIEVE THAT THE REACH OF THE GERMAN NAVY, HAD MADE IT ALL THE WAY TO THIS CONTINENT. EVEN WHEN THIS BOOK WAS WRITTEN, THREE YEARS AFTER THE BOAT'S SINKING, THERE WERE STILL CRITICS WHO DENIED THAT IT HAD BEEN A U-BOAT TORPEDO, WHICH HAD CAUSED THE SUDDEN EXPLOSION. TODAY IT IS KNOWN, WITHOUT DOUBT, IT HAD BEEN A TORPEDO, THAT CLAIMED THE LIVES OF THOSE ABOARD. MORE ON THIS BOOKLET IN AN UPCOMING BLOG, WHICH I EXPECT WILL BE PUBLISHED ON GOOD FRIDAY.

    ANOTHER OF MY BOOKLET FINDS THIS PAST WEEKEND, WAS ALSO FASCINATING, PARTLY DUE TO THE FACT MY PARENTS USED TO TAKE ME TO NIAGARA FALLS FREQUENTLY, WHEN I WAS A KID; IT WAS A MUCH SHORTER DRIVE FROM BURLINGTON, THAN WHEN WE MOVED FURTHER NORTH TO MUSKOKA, IN 1966. LOOKING BACK THROUGH THE FAMILY ALBUMS, MY MOTHER ORGANIZED SO PRECISELY, AS A CHRONICLE OF OUR ADVENTURES, THERE ARE ALL KINDS OF PHOTOGRAPHS OF ME WITH NIAGARA FALLS IN THE BACKGROUND. IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY, MY FATHER LIKED TO TAKE US FOR PICNICS AND SUMMER BARBECUES TO FORT ERIE, AND A LITTLE BURG KNOWN AS CHIPPEWA; AND A LITTLE WATERFRONT PARK IN THAT VICINITY. SO AS ANYONE WHO HAS VISITED NIAGARA HAS BEEN EXPOSED, THERE ARE LOTS OF EXHIBITS TO BE VIEWED, OF THOSE LEGENDARY DEATH DEFYING FOLKS, INCLUDING THE RECENT CROSSING OF THE FALLS, BY HIGH WIRE WALKER, NIK WALLENDA. THE BOOKLET I FOUND, IN A CLUTTERED SECOND HAND SHOP, IS ENTITLED (AND IT'S A LONG ONE), "TRUE FACTS OF THE DEATH DEFYING RAPIDS-SHOOTING BARREL TRIPS - AND THE STORY OF THE HILL FAMILY, NIAGARA'S MOST DARING HEROES, WILLIAM 'RED' HILL," AS WRITTEN IN THE LATE 1940'S, BY HIS SON, ALSO NAMED WILLIAM 'RED' HILL. THE ORIGINAL NEWSTAND PRICE OF THE MEMORIAL BOOKLET, WAS A QUARTER, AND FOR ME, IN 2014, IT WAS EXACTLY THE SAME. OF COURSE IT IS WORTH QUITE A BIT MORE, IN COLLECTABLE TERMS, SO I FEEL I DID PRETTY WELL ON THE PURCHASE PRICE.

     IT ISN'T JUST THE STORY ABOUT ONE MEMBER OF THE HILLS, BUT OF THE HILL FAMILY, WHO HAD CONTRIBUTED A GREAT DEAL TO THE HERITAGE OF NIAGARA FALLS IN SO MANY WAYS. THEIR WELL DOCUMENTED ACTS OF COURAGE, EXTENDED FAR BEYOND TRAVERSING THE RAPIDS OF THE NIAGARA RIVER, IN A SPECIALLY DESIGNED BARREL. THEY ARE CREDITED WITH SAVING THE LIVES OF MANY PEOPLE WHO FACED IMMINENT DROWNING, AFTER FALLING INTO THE WATER, OR TUMBLING DOWN THE CLIFFSIDES INTO THE GORGE. ADDITIONALLY, A GREAT QUANTITY OF WILDLIFE, FROM GEESE TO DEER, WERE RESCUED FROM THE ICE BRIDGE, WHEN IT BEGAN TO MELT AWAY AND COLLAPSE, EACH SPRING TIME; WHICH COULD TAKE THESE ANIMALS, WITHOUT KNOWING IT, OVER THE RAPIDS, WHERE THEY WOULD BE THRUST INTO THE WATERS, AND DASHED UPON THE ROCKS, MOST LIKELY KILLING THEM. THIS IS THE STORY CONTAINED IN THE WONDERFUL LITTLE BOOKLET THAT HAD BEEN OFFERED-UP AS A TRIBUTE, SHORTLY AFTER RED HILL SENIOR'S DEATH IN THE EARLY 1940'S. I FEEL FORTUNATE TO HAVE SAVED THIS LITTLE GEM, OF REGIONAL CANADIANA, TO OFFER TO READERS OF THIS BLOG. HERE'S HOW THE STORY COMMENCES:

     "(CAPTION OF AN INSIDE COVER PAGE PHOTOGRAPH) ON HIS WAY THROUGH THE NIAGARA GLEN, ONE OF THE TOUGHEST AND MOST TURBULENT STRETCHES OF THE SEVEN MILE COURSE. 'RED' IN HIS BARREL, IS BEING TOSSED LIKE POPPING CORN ON A HOT GRIDDLE. HIS SPEED WAS AROUND FORTY MILES PER HOUR. HIS FATHER, RED HILL, SENIOR, HAD MADE THE SAME JOURNEY IN 1910, 1930, AND 1931, THE LAST TIME IN THE SAME BARREL."

     IN THE OPENING TRIBUTE TO HIS FATHER, WILLIAM HILL,JR., WRITES: "MY INSPIRATION ALL THROUGH LIFE HAS BEEN MY FATHER. HE TAUGHT ME HOW TO FACE DANGEROUS SITUATIONS, AND THE MEANING OF COURAGE. EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT THE NIAGARA RIVER, HE SHOWED ME. DAD LOVED THE NIAGARA, THAT TURBULENT, TREACHEROUS, RACING STREAM OF WATER, AND WAS NEVER HAPPY AWAY FROM IT. HE INSTILLED IN ME AND ALL MY BROTHERS, THE SAME LOVE FOR THE RIVER. FATHER SERVED HIS FELLOWMEN IN THE GREATEST WAY ANY MAN COULD; RISKING HIS LIFE MANY TIMES THAT OTHERS MIGHT LIVE. HE WAS FEARLESS, YET GENTLE, KIND AND UNSELFISH, AND HELPED MANY A NEEDY PERSON. HE EXEMPLIFIED HIS GENTLE NATURE MOST, WHEN HE BRAVED GREAT DANGER TO SAVE WILD BIRDS FROM DEATH, ON THE GRINDING ICE BRIDGE. ALTHOUGH HE HAS PASSED AWAY, THE 'MEMORY OF THIS BRAVE MAN, MY REVERED FATHER, WILL NEVER GROW DIM. HIS VALUABLE LESSONS OF COURAGE, DARING, UNSELFISHNESS AND SERVICE HAVE BEEN DEEPLY INSTILLED IN ME, AND MY BROTHERS. WE ARE PROUD TO HAVE HAD SUCH A FATHER."

     ON THE OPPOSITE PAGE, IS A PORTRAIT OF WILLIAM 'RED' HILL, SR., UNDER THE HEADING, "NIAGARA'S GREATEST HERO." THE COPY READS, "SAVED GIRL FROM BURNING BUILDING, 1896, AT AGE OF NINE. SAVED TWO MEN FROM SCOW ABOVE HORSHOE FALLS. HAD TAKEN 177 BODIES FROM NIAGARA. THE ONLY PERSON IN THE WORLD TO HOLD FOUR LIFE SAVING MEDALS. SAVED TWENTY-EIGHT PERSONS FROM NIAGARA. BORN, OCTOBER 22, 1886. A VETERAN OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR, GASSED ONCE AND WOUNDED THREE TIMES. MADE THREE SUCCESSFUL TRIPS THROUGH RAPIDS AND WHIRLPOOL. KNOWN FAR AND WIDE FOR HIS BRAVERY IN SAVING WILD FOWL FROM THE NIAGARA. DIED MAY 14TH, 1942."

     BENEATH THE HEADING, "THREE RIDES THROUGH THE RAPIDS," HILL'S SON WRITES OF HIS FATHER, THAT "FEW PEOPLE KNOW THAT THE LATE WILLIAM 'RED' HILL, MADE THREE DARING TRIPS THROUGH THE WHIRLPOOL RAPIDS, THE ONLY MAN EVER TO ATTEMPT THE DANGEROUS FEAT THREE TIMES. THE FIRST TRIP WAS UNANNOUNCED AND WAS WITNESSED BY ONLY A FEW FRIENDS AND SOME FISHERMEN, BUT THE OTHER TWO, NEARLY A QUARTER CENTURY LATER, DREW RECORD CROWDS TO THE BANKS OF THE NIAGARA RIVER. ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25TH, 1910, 'BOBBY' LEACH'S BARREL WAS RIDING ON THE BOSOM OF THE WHIRLPOOL. A FRIEND DARED 'RED' HILL TO ENTER THE BARREL AND MAKE THE TRIP THROUGH THE ROARING LOWER RAPIDS TO QUEENSTON. RED (HILL) TOOK THAT DARE. THE BARREL WAS SET ADRIFT NEAR THOMPSON'S POINT, AND IT SWIRLED ABOUT IN AN EDDY FOR SOME TIME. FINALLY THE MAIN CURRENT CAUGHT THE BARREL, AND SWEPT THE CASK, WITH ITS HUMAN FREIGHT, THROUGH THE 'NASTIEST BIT OF WATER BETWEEN LAKE ERIE AND LAKE ONTARIO.' THE ADVENTURES IDENTIFIED HIM AS ONE OF THE FUTURE DAREDEVILS OF THE LOCALITY."

     "TRIP NUMBER 2: FOR TWENTY YEARS NO ONE DARED TO SHOOT THE RAPIDS OF THE LOWER NIAGARA, UNTIL EARLY IN 1930. RED HILL HAD THE URGE TO MAKE THE WILD VOYAGE AGAIN. FOR THIS PURPOSE, RED HAD A BARREL MADE OF STEEL. IT WEIGHED SIX HUNDRED AND TWENTY POUNDS, WASSIX FEET LONG, AND HAD SIX INCH BULKHEADS AT EITHER END. IT WAS THREE FEET IN DIAMETER AND HAD A MANHOLE FOURTEEN BY EIGHTEEN INCHES. THE MANHOLE HAD A SLIDING DOOR OF STEEL PROTECTED BY A RUBBER GASKET. S ON THE BOTTOM WAS ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY POUNDS OF RAILROAD STEEL, TO ACT AS A KEEL. WHEN IN THE BARREL, HILL WAS PRONE ON A SPECIAL HAMMOCK WITH BROAD STRAPS OVER HIS SHOULDERS."

     WILLIAM HILL, JR., CONTINUES, "THOUSANDS OF MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN, LINED BOTH BANKS OF THE NIAGARA RIVER ON MAY 31ST, 1930, TO SEE RED SHOOT THE RAPIDS. HE STARTED PROMPTLY AT 1:15 P.M., AS SCHEDULED, FROM THE MAID OF THE MIST LANDING. BUT FOR NEARLY AN HOUR HE STRUGGLED AGAINST THE CURRENTS THAT THREATENED TO CARRY HIM TO SHORE ON THE DIFFICULT TRIP DOWN THE RIVER TO THE FIRST SET OF WHIRLPOOL RAPIDS. AT TIMES, RED OPENED THE MANHOLE COVER AND USED A PADDLE TO EXTRICATE HIMSELF FROM THE GRIP OF THE CURRENT HOLDING THE BARREL NEAR SHORE. SUDDENLY, A MESSAGE FLASHED ALONG THE LINE. 'HE IS CLEAR OF THE EDDIES, OUT IN THE RIVER, AND ON HIS WAY DOWN.' EXCITEMENT ROSE TO THE FEVER POINT, AMONG THE CROWD NEAR THE RAPIDS AND WHIRLPOOL. THE BARREL PRESENTED A THRILLING SIGHT AS IT WAS CAUGHT BY THE GIANT WAVES, TOSSED HIGH IN THE AIR AND DISAPPEARED FROM VIEW. MANY TIMES IN WAS HURLED FAR OUT OF THE WATER BEFORE REACHING THE WHIRLPOOL. AT THE 'POOL', RED JR. (AUTHOR OF THE TEXT) WAS ON HAND AND TOWED HIS FATHER AND BARREL WITH A ROWBOAT TO THOMPSON'S POINT, WHERE IT WAS SET FREE FOR THE NEXT SET OF RAPIDS. EVERYONE BELIEVED IT WOULD BE CLEAR SAILING WITH THE GOALD TO BE REACHED IN A FEW MINUTES. BUT THEY HAD NOT RECKONED WITH THE RIVER, FOR IT WAS NOT UNTIL NEARLY THREE HOURS LATER THAT HILL AND THE BARREL REACHED QUEENSTON. RED BAILED STRENUOUSLY MANY TIMES TO FREE HIS BARREL FROM THE GRIP OF THE EDDIES BY THE GLEN BEFORE THE STEEL CASK FINALLY WAS CAUGHT BY THE CURRENT AND SWEPT THROUGH THE RAPIDS."

     HIS SON WRITES ABOUT THE THIRD TRIP HIS FATHER TOOK OVER THE STEAMING RAPIDS, NOTING, "UNDAUNTED BY HIS HARROWING EXPERIENCE IN THE RIVER EDDIES, THE YEAR BEFORE, HILL ANNOUNCED EARLY IN 1931 THAT HE WOULD REPEAT THE RAPIDS-SHOOTING FEAT, AND IN THE WOODEN BARREL OF THE ILL-FATED GREEK CHEF, GEORGE STATHAKIS, WHO HAD LOST HIS LIFE IN THE HEAVY WOOD CASK GOING OVER THE FALLS THE PREVIOUS SUMMER. SEVERAL PEOPLE HAD TOLD RED THAT THE BARREL WAS 'JINXED,' AND SOME EVEN DARED HIM TO MAKE THE RAPIDS TRIP IN THAT BARREL. HILL, ALWAYS FEARLESS, ACCEPTED THAT DARE ON SATURDAY, MAY 30TH, 1931. FROM THE FIRST IT SEEMED AS IF THE BARREL REALLY WAS JINXED. AN IMMENSE CROWD OF MORE THAN 150,000 PEOPLE WAS STRETCHED ALONG THE TOP OF BOTH BANKS OF THE RIVER, FROM THE START OF THE COURSE, AT THE MAID OF THE MIST LANDING, TO QUEENSTON AND LEWISTON. SEVERAL TIMES IT WAS FEARED THE TRIP WOULD END IN FAILURE, BECAUSE THE BARREL SEEMED TO ACT UP AND DRIFTED TO SHORE ALL THE WAY DOWN TO THE FIRST SET OF RAPIDS. BUT FINALLY THE BARREL SHOT THROUGH THE BOILING RAPIDS TO THE WHIRLPOOL AND HERE DISASTER NEARLY DID HAPPEN.

     "FOR MORE THAN FIVE HOURS THE WOODEN CASK WAS HELD IN THE POWERFUL GRIP OF THE GIANT POOL. IT CIRCLED AND CIRCLED, THEN WAS SUCKED INTO THE VORTEX, DISAPPEARED AND LATER RE-APPEARED AT A DISTANT PART OF THE POOL. AND ALL THE TIME THE BARREL WAS LEAKING. IT SEEMED THAT RED HILL WAS DOOMED! PEOPLE ON THE TOP OF THE BANKS, BEGAN SILENTLY TO PRAY. THEN AS IF IN ANSWER TO THOSE PRAYERS, A BRAVE FIGURE STEPPED INTO THE DANGEROUS PICTURE. RED'S SON AND NAMESAKE, WILLIAM 'RED' HILL, JR., WITH A LONG STOUT ROPE TIED AROUND HIS MIDDLE, PLUNGED INTO THE POOL. THE ROPE WAS HELD ON THE OTHER END BY DR. J.H. DAVIDSON AND AN AIDE. WITH STRONG, POWERFUL STROKES, YOUNG 'RED' BEGAN SWIMMING OUT TO THE MIDDLE OF THE WHIRLPOOL WHERE THE BARREL WAS CAUGHT AND SLOWLY SINKING. BATTLING THE POWERFUL CURRENTS AND PULL OF THE WHIRLPOOL, HE MADE HIS WAY STEADILY TOWARD THE BARREL. SUCH A DEATH-DEFYING FEAT NEVER HAD BEEN ATTEMPTED BEFORE. MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN WATCHING THE SPECTACLE, CHEERED THE COURAGEOUS YOUNG MAN UNTIL THEY WERE HOARSE. MANY PRAYED OUT LOUD, ASKING DIVINE HELP TO GUID HIM SAFELY.

     "FINALLY, AFTER WHAT SEEMED LIKE AN HOUR, HE REACHED THE BARREL, ALMOST EXHAUSTED FROM THE FIERCE STRUGGLE, AND GRASPED THE STEEL RINGS ON THE SIDE. THEN HIS FATHER CLASPED THE HANDS OF HIS SON WITH DEEP AFFECTION, AND EMBRACED HIM. THEN, AFTER THE LINE WAS SECURED TO THE BARREL, FATHER AND SON, RIDING ON THE WOODEN CASK WERE PULLED ASHORE. RED HILL, SENIOR, WAS LOUD IN PRAISE OF HIS SON'S BRAVE ACT. 'HE SAVED MY LIFE,' RED DECLARED WITH QUIET PRIDE. THE TRIP THROUGH THE SECOND SET OF RAPIDS WAS ABANDONED FOR THAT DAY, AND THE BARREL WAS LEFT TIED UP ON THE POOL. BUT EARLY SUNDAY MORNING, RED SENIOR, UNANNOUNCED, WENT BACK TO THE WHIRLPOOL AND RODE THE BARREL THROUGH THE LOWER RAPIDS. THE TRIP HAD BEEN COMPLETED AS RED HAD PROMISES, JINX OR NO JINX!"

     TOMORROW, I'VE GOT TWO MORE GREAT STORIES FROM THE BOOKLET, ONE BEING ENTITLED "TWO LIVES HUNG IN THE BALANCE," REGARDING THE SCOW GROUNDED JUST ABOVE THE FALLS, WITH TWO MEN ABOARD, AND A TALE ABOUT "THES ICE BRIDGE RESCUE AND DISASTER," A NIAGARA FALLS LEGEND IN ITSELF. I LOVE READING THIS TYPE OF HISTORICAL MATERIAL. THANK GOODNESS FOR THESE LITTLE BOOKLETS, THE KEEPER OF SO MANY FOLK TALES IMPORTANT TO OUR NATIONAL HERITAGE.