I read in a old Buffalo Courair that a incline railroad was used to lift cargo from ships parked in the Niagara River up the cliff 150 feet up to ground leval…Which would also make it more like the forst elevater…
Now if I recall horse or mual powered tramways were always being used in one form or another since Romans Days…and Possibly since King Soloman…The idea of PEOPLE riding them was only in the early 1800s…