The Maid of the Mist opened in 1846 to provide ferry service across the Niagara River between the US and Canada. When the first suspension bridge opened just two years later, service was drastically affected, and the owners began making sightseeing trips upriver to the base of Horseshoe Falls. A local 19th century writer called it "a sensation that is equaled no where else, the most wonderful water-trip in the world.�
