First known picture of Niagara Falls was taken in 1840 by British tourist

Here’s the first known picture of Niagara Falls and it wasn’t taken by a Canadian.

Granted, the picture was taken in 1840 – 182 years ago – and Canada didn’t exist as a country until 1867.

It was, in fact, taken by British businessman Hugh Lee Pattinson using an arduous process known as daguerreotype, which involved a 20 minute exposure to fix the scene on the silver-coated copper plate inside his camera.

Pattinson would then wrap the plate in warm mercury fumes, slowly drawing the image to the surface. History was made that day (no one knows what day it was) as it was the first photograph taken of the Falls ever.

Since the process took so long, many have speculated that Pattinson himself in the man in the lower left of the photo.

Back in the 1920s, his family gave it to Newcastle University in England, Pattinson’s alma mater. However, it got lost over time and wasn’t discovered until 1997 when a staffer found a dust-covered box in the archives marked “Daguerreotypes.”

In 2010, the Niagara Parks Commission has reproduced and enlarged one of the 182 year old pictures, which it plans to prominently display near the entrance to the Maid Of The Mist boat tour as part of the Commission’s 125th Anniversary celebration. It plans to display the rest of Pattinson’s images on its web site.

Below is the original picture – watermarks, age spots and all – while the photo up top is the same image cleaned up by someone on Reddit.

(Photo: Robinson Library Special Collections, Newcastle University)