Waterfalls are among the prettiest and most exciting of Nature’s creations. The sight of water freefalling through the air and crashing to earth in a cloud of spray and a thundering roar is truly one of life’s finer experiences. Plus, most waterfalls are located in rugged, spectacular country, and there are always beautiful rainbows to be seen at waterfall sites.

Birth & Death of a Waterfall

How waterfalls are formed is no mystery. They’re created whenever streams or rivers flow over the edges of steep landforms. Countless tiny waterfalls fueled by melting snow cascade down mountains around the world. (Maybe you’ve heard of a mountain range in the Pacific Northwest known as the Cascades!.) Some of the largest waterfalls are created when rivers flow over the edges of plateaus—high flatlands. The highest waterfall in the world, Venezuela’s Angel Falls, crashes down from a tepui, one of many spectacular isolated plateaus that are scattered through the rainforests of northern South America.

Some rivers develop waterfalls after earthquakes change the valleys beneath them. So, a waterfall on a once peaceful river might mark an earthquake fault.

Some of the most spectacular waterfalls were created by “hanging valleys” carved by glaciers. Imagine a V-shaped river valley taken over by an enormous glacier which grinds the rock beneath into a broad, deep U-shaped valley. After the glacier melts, the tributaries that once entered the main river directly now flow into a steep-walled valley that sends them tumbling down towards the river far below. Such waterfalls are common in the Alps, Norway, and in glaciated mountains in western North America. The third highest waterfall in the world—California’s 2,425-foot Yosemite Falls—tumbles out of a hanging valley.

Waterfalls don’t last forever. The ground beneath is constantly being pounded by the water flowing over it. In many cases, the water eats directly through the rock it flows over, gradually eroding a shallower course as waterfalls turn into rapids and rapids gradually become calmer.

If the bedrock a river flows over is especially hard, the waterfall undercuts it when it hits the ground, forming a basin sometimes called a plunge pool. It is here that weaker rocks are eroded, affecting the rocks above. Eventually, the rocks above come tumbling down, creating a new waterfall slightly upstream from the former waterfall. Over many years, a waterfall can migrate many miles upstream.

The famous Niagara Falls has migrated about seven miles from its original location since it was created at the end of the Ice Age, a mere 10,000 years ago. If you want to see it, you’d better hurry, as it may disappear in about 25,000 years!

Superfalls

The world’s highest waterfall was discovered by American pilot Jimmy Angel in 1935, while he was prospecting for gold in southeastern Venezuela. He was flying his small plane up a narrow canyon when he beheld a plume of water hurtling 3,212 feet off a tepui into the tropical lowlands below.

South Africa’s Tugela Falls is nearly as high, with a total drop of 3,110 feet. (Some sources list it as 2,800 feet, which would still make it the second highest.) Yet not many people have heard of Tugela Falls, because it isn’t the highest waterfall.

In fact, aside from Angel Falls, few people have ever heard of any of the other highest waterfalls. That’s because most high waterfalls occur in remote mountains where few people see them. Plus, they are usually created by small rivers. After all, many rivers are born in mountains; they have to flow for a ways, taking in more water from tributaries, before they become truly big.

But what if a river like the Amazon, the Nile, or the Mississippi flowed over a cliff? One such superfall is Khone Falls, on the Mekong River in Laos. It drops just 72 feet, yet it has an average movement of 400,000 cubic feet of water per second.

Far more famous is a waterfall created by Africa’s Nile River. Uganda’s Murchison Falls National Park has been created there. But the biggest single sheet of falling water in the world is another African giant, Victoria Falls. Created by the mighty Zambezi River in Zimbabwe, this awesome giant creates a deafening roar as a wall of water about a mile wide crashes nearly 400 feet toward the ground below.

The story of Victoria Falls’ discovery is also well known. The first European to see it was David Livingstone (of Stanley and Livingstone fame), who named it for Queen Victoria.

The most spectacular waterfall maker in the world is South America’s Rio Parana. One of its tributaries creates Iguaçu Falls, on the border of Brazil and Argentina. The river is divided by many rocky and wooded islands into a series of about 275 cataracts, which plunge 269 feet over a cliff more than two miles wide. The average movement of about 60,000 cubic feet per second increases to more than 400,000 in times of flood. In 1986 Iguaçu Falls were declared a Natural Heritage of Mankind by Unesco.

You’ve probably never even heard of the largest waterfall on Earth. Located downstream on the Parana itself, Guaira Falls boasted 7½ times the average discharge of Iguaçu. Sadly, it was erased by the construction of Itaipu dam, completed in 1982.

Niagara Falls

North America’s most famous waterfall is located near the midpoint of the Niagara River, which flows from Lake Erie into Lake Ontario. On one side of an island in the river is the long, straight line of American Falls; on the other, the graceful crescent of Horseshoe Falls. The twin falls drop about 180 feet, together forming the famous Niagara Falls.

Etienne Brule, the first European to see Lakes Ontario, Erie Huron and Superior, may also have been the first to see Niagara Falls, in 1615. Of course, it was buried deep in the wilderness 400 years ago. Today, Niagara Falls is famous mainly because it is located near one of the world’s biggest population centers.

Of course, it is an amazing sight, even if it doesn’t compare to some of the giants in foreign lands. The American Falls cascade 70-110 feet, while the Canadian Horseshoe Falls plunges 170 feet into the Maid of the Mist Pool. More than six million cubic feet (160,000 cubic meters) of water go over the falls every minute during peak flow.

Niagara has become especially known as an attraction for lovers. It is also popular with daredevils, a number of whom found fame—or death—in attempting to survive one of the quickest river trips around, a fall of less than five seconds over Niagara Falls. The wooden barrel might even be considered the official waterfall vehicle!

Waterfalls & People

If it sounds like waterfalls are loved only for their scenic beauty or by lovers and daredevils, guess again. Waterfalls have long been used as a source of energy.

In fact, American history was shaped by a series of waterfalls and rapids located along the “Fall Line,“ located between the Appalachians and the Atlantic Coast. Fall lines aren’t uncommon in such environments, where softer coastal rocks erode faster than harder upland rocks. Rivers flowing across harder upland rocks flow faster, sometimes forming waterfalls, when they reach the “line” where softer rocks have been lowered by erosion.

In colonial times, flume- and water-wheel-powered industries sprang up along the fall line. They were followed by a string of commercial and industrial cities in 19th century, just as a string of port cities had earlier sprung up along the coast. These fall line cities include Lowell, Massachusetts; Pawtucket, Rhode Island; Troy, New York; Trenton, New Jersey; Baltimore, Maryland; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Georgetown (now part of Washington, D.C.); Richmond, Virginia; Raleigh, North Carolina; Columbia, South Carolina and Augusta, Georgia.

The Mississippi Valley also features a fall line, marked by such cities as Louisville, Kentucky, and Minneapolis, Minnesota. In fact, the Falls of St. Anthony is shown on Minnesota’s state seal. It has been called “the waterfall that built Minneapolis” because of its role in the development of lumbering, flour milling, and hydroelectric power in Minnesota’s largest city.

If you guessed there would be tons of record waterfalls in the Himalayas and the Andes, join the crowd—so did I! Yet, even though Asia is the largest continent, there is just one waterfall high enough to make this list. North America makes a fair showing with half a dozen superfalls. Yet Canada, the United States and Mexico combined are beat by tiny Norway, with a whopping eight! With France and Switzerland boasting one superfall apiece, Europe easily beats the other continents with a total of ten waterfalls for the record books. Even tiny, arid Australia has three times as many superfalls as Asia!

There are waterfalls that aren’t as high as those listed, but are much wider—and it isn’t hard to figure out why. Look at the names of the rivers that create the waterfalls in the chart. You probably haven’t heard of any of them before. That’s because most high waterfalls occur high in the mountains where big rivers are rare. After all, many rivers are born in mountains and have to flow for a ways, taking in more water from tributaries, before they become truly big.

The Great Blondin completed a death-defying tightrope walk over the Niagara River in 1860. The people listed below took the plunge.

Annie Taylor, October 24, 1901 (Survived)
Annie Taylor was the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Even more amazing, she lived to tell about it!

Her assistants strapped the Bay City, Michigan, school teacher into a special harness in a wooden barrel., which was then towed into the mainstream of the river and cut loose.

Mrs. Taylor was sure she hit the rocks, yet her barrel was fished out of the water near the Canadian Shore just 17 minutes after her plunge. She came out dazed, triumphant and famous, though she died with no money in Niagara Falls, New York, twenty years later.

Though she said she was 43 years old when she made her famous plunge, she was reportedly 63. Daredevils thinking about doing similar stunts should heed Taylor’s words after she came out from her barrel: “No one ought ever to do that again.”

Bobby Leach, July 25, 1911 (Survived)
Riding the falls in a rounded steel barrel, this native of Cornwall, England survived a plunge only to spend six months in the hospital recovering from his injuries. He later died after he slipped on an orange peel in New Zealand, sustaining injuries that led to an amputated leg and a fatal case of gangrene poisoning.

Charles Stephens, July 11, 1920 (Died)
All that remained of this Bristol, England barber’s stunt were a few white staves from his barrel and his tattooed right arm. The rest of his body apparently remained attached to an anvil used as ballast for the barrel.

Jean Lussier, July 4, 1928 (Survived)
This creative Canadian challenged the falls in a self-designed six-foot rubber ball lined with rubber tubes filled with oxygen. He took some hard knocks in the upper rapids before his ball skipped perfectly over the Falls.

George Stathakis, July 4,1930 (Died)
It is believed that this Buffalo, New York chef survived his fall in a large wooden barrel. Unfortunately, the barrel was caught behind the falls for almost 18 hours, while Stathakis had only enough oxygen for three hours. The pet turtle he brought along for good luck survived.

William “Red” Hill Jr., August 5,1951 (Died)
Hill referred to his chosen weapon as “a Thing.” Thousands of people watched the flimsy contraption—13 inner tubes held together with fish net and canvas straps—wrecked by a more powerful thing (the waterfall). Hill’s battered body was recovered the next day. Hill's father was a famous Niagara "rivernman" who pulled 177 bodies from the river and braved the Whirlpool Rapids below the falls in his own barrel three times.

William Fitzgerald (AKA Nathan T. Boya), July 15,1961 (Survived)
Boya went to battle in a large dark rubber “ball” weighing over a thousand pounds. He was the first survivor to be charged and convicted under the Niagara Parks act. Most daredevils who followed Boya paid fines for their stunts.

Karel Soucek, July 2,1984 (Survived)
This stuntman from Hamilton, Ontario was the first Canadian citizen to survive a trip over Niagara Falls. Soucek rode in a 2.7m long 1.5m diameter cylindrical barrel with fiberglass moldings at either end. The barrel was insulated with liquid foam. Equipped with a snorkel for breathing and two eye holes, Soucek was prepared for everything but being trapped behind the falls for 45 minutes. Fortunately, he was rescued, sustaining assorted injuries and a $500 fine.

Steven Trotter, August 18, 1985 (Survived—TWICE!)
This 22 year old part-time bartender from Barrington, Rhode Island became the youngest survivor, thanks to a device made of two plastic pickle barrels surrounded by large inner tubes and covered by a tarpaulin.

On June 18,1995 Trotter was back with 29-year-old Lori Martin to attempt the first “co-ed” barrel ride over Niagara Falls. It may have also been the most expensive stunt. Their 12-foot, 900-pound barrel was made from two pieces of hot water heater tanks welded together and coated by Kevlar. Equipped with four oxygen tanks containing enough air to last up to 80 minutes, the barrel reportedly cost $19,000.

The fearless duo survived the fall, but the barrel became lodged in a rock crevice. Trotter and Martin were rescued by members of the Niagara Falls Fire Department and the Niagara Parks Police. For safety reasons, the barrel was retrieved several weeks later.

John “David” Monday, October 5, 1985 (Survived—TWICE!)
The Niagara Falls Police failed Monday’s first attempt to conquer the falls, but he tried it again. The 48-year-old mechanic used a seven-foot long, four-foot diameter steel barrel lined with aluminum separated by foam. Equipped with video and radio equipment, it cost him $16,000 to build.

He was the tenth person to survive Niagara Falls, and he returned to try it again on July 15,1990. His “no frills” 394-pound steel barrel became stranded by low water on the brink of the Falls.

But Monday returned yet again on September 27,1993. Riding in a steel barrel with only two inches of padding and no safety helmet, he became the first person to survive Niagara Falls twice. (Trotter and Martin made their co-ed trip a couple years later.)

Peter Debernardi & Geoffrey Petkovich (Survived)
Peter Debernardi and Geoffrey Petkovich—both of Niagara Falls—were the first team to go over in the same barrel. Positioned head to head in the ten-foot steel barrel, they suffered no major injuries in a relatively uneventful fall.

Jessie W. Sharp, June 5, 1990 (Died)
This unemployed 28-year-old bachelor from Ocoee, Tennessee was either the most brave of Niagara Falls’ challengers or the most stupid. He plunged over the brink of Horseshoe Falls in a kayak! The experienced whitewater kayaker reportedly attempted the stunt in order to advance his career in stunting.

Foolishly, he didn’t wear a helmet (so the camera could record his face). He also shunned a life jacket, believing it might hinder an escape if he were caught underneath the Falls. His body was never recovered.

Robert Overacker, October 1, 1995 (Died)
Apparently not learning anything from past attempts, this 39-year-old Californian zipped over the Canadian Horseshoe Falls on a single jet ski. At the brink, he attempted to discharge a rocket propelled parachute, but it malfunctioned.

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Many other people have crossed Niagara Falls on tightropes or successfully challenged Whirlpool Rapids at the base of the Falls. Many more have committed suicide or died after accidentally falling in the Niagara River. Harriet Beecher Stowe—author of Uncle Tom's Cabin—even thought about suicide while visiting Niagara Falls in 1836.