When Ausable Chasm opened to the public in 1870, access was limited to only a few places, including Table Rock, which was reached from the rim by a long steep staircase. In 1873, Philadelphia entrepreneurs who had acquired land along the chasm’s west side created a 1-mile walking trail to Table Rock along the west riverbank and wall, using natural stone terraces connected by walkways, bridges, and stairs. At Table Rock, a guided boat ride carried guests through the chasm’s lower half, and of the 2600 people who toured the chasm in 1873, more than 1500 took the boat ride under the care of E. Ricketson and his sons. In 1875, a second tour operation organized by citizens of Keeseville and Ausable Chasm opened a trail along the river’s east bank and offered a short boat tour from Devil’s Oven to Table Rock. After legal battles, the rival companies merged in 1877, and the trail to Table Rock was reworked into a single footpath through the chasm’s depths that began below this site and served visitors through 1996, while the Devil’s Oven-to-Table Rock boat tour was eliminated. The boat ride from Table Rock to the chasm’s end continued and became a signature attraction, praised in 1874 by visitor Clifford MacCalla as the concluding and crowning feature of Ausable Chasm and one of the marvels of picturesque America. As the Adirondacks emerged after the Civil War as a summer resort area, Ausable Chasm became a popular stop for late nineteenth-century pleasure travelers, and after 1900 it grew into one of New York’s premier family-friendly destinations, with the Famous Boat Ride becoming not just a tour but a tradition.