Maid of the Mist float

Maid of the Mist Float Photograph – L2000.D.123.005

At the 60th anniversary of Canadian Confederation in 1927, this float was constructed to represent the then common legend of the Maid of the Mist. It was made by the Niagara Wire Weaving Company and was titled “The Spirit of Niagara.” The fanciful story of beautiful maiden Lelawala about to be sacrificed by floating over the falls in a white bark canoe, was a total fabrication meant to cater to common stereotypes of Indigenous peoples. As the story goes, her father, Chief Eagle Eye, grief-struck, steered his canoe to follow her plunge of death. The bark canoe is similar to one shown in this exhibition.

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