43°05′11″N 79°04′04″W / 43.0865°N 79.0679°W
The Maid of the Mist is a sightseeing boat tour of Niagara Falls, N.Y., U.S.A., starting and ending on the American side, crossing briefly into Canada during a portion of the trip.
James V. Glynn is chairman and chief executive officer of Maid of the Mist Corp. He joined Maid of the Mist in 1950 as a ticket seller and purchased the company in 1971. During his tenure, Maid of the Mist expanded operations, achieving ten-fold growth.[1][failed verification]
The current fleet, the result of the innovation of Maid of the Mist President Christpher M. Glynn, consists of two vessels, both of which launched in 2020. The James V. Glynn was named in honor of the Maid of the Mist Chairman and CEO James V. Glynn, who in 2020 celebrated 70 years with the company, and the Nikola Tesla, for the man who developed a type of alternating current (AC) motor. Nikola Tesla's patents were licensed by George Westinghouse whose company later won the bid to build the first AC power plant at Niagara Falls.[2] Prior to the current two boats, all prior ships had been named Maid of the Mist, dating back to 1846. The first ships were steam-powered; these were replaced by diesel-powered vessels from 1955 until 2019, and later replaced with the current two boats powered by lithium-ion battery-powered electric motors.
The name, Maid of the Mist, could be a reference to the Iroquois myth of Lelawala.[3]