The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1934-01-18

his bow, and played dance tunes and one of the
boatmen banged his feet on the cover of the boat.
aWkWardly jiggng. One red-shirted, bewhsk-
cred fellow trailed hook over the stern A
little group of boatmen played with deck of
greasy cards Mike watched the menacing river"
And OF the up-ryer trip, this picture along
the shore the boatmen might MISUNDERSTANDING
the boat along By grasping overhanging bushes
and trees and pulling. On the river side Of the
boat the oars were used as an aid And now
they came to a sandbar over which there was
swift current. The men took to their poles and
began a struggling march along the running
boards. Their bodies shook. their chests heaved,
as they pressed each ounce OF strength Into the
timbers; poles bent, the captain urged his men
on, now coaxing, now swearing prodigiouslys
Then a pole snapped and Mike had to do for a
time the work of two for wavering meant dis
aster."
Then the Ohio and the Mississippi became
too crowded" for Mike Fink The keelboat era
on those two rivers was coming to an end and
with 1t the end of Mikes career on THIS Sronter
His next was on the Missouri river where he
piled a keelboat for a short time Then he be-
came member of General Ashley's famous fur
trading expedition and embarked upon the third
and last phase of his career on his third from
tier that of the Upper Missouri and the Vel
lowstone.
Meanwhile the legends had begun to cluster
about him. Some Of the more familiar ones had
to do with his feats of Workmanship There
was the time he shot the scalp-lock OFF an Indian
standing on the bank of the river considerable
distance away. Another time he noticed some
pigs roofing around settlers cabin on the bank
of the river. They were fifty yards away. HE
raised his rifle to his shoulder. pulled the trig-
ger. On shore pig squeaed and ran. Its tail
had been chopped off close to Its rump And
that said Nike want no accident To prove
1t. standing on the deck of the dancing boat as
II sped upstream, he fired eight more shots, and
each time the gun spat bewildered pig lost
its curly tail. Pretty good said keller. Just
a DETAIL said Mike"
Then there was the time when he was sitting
on the levee with some of his cronies when he
noticed. more than 100 yards away, negro sit
ting on the bank above the levee THIS black
man was a town character, noted for the size
OF his feet. So Mike shot at him and shaved off
portion OF his heel, so, "he can wear genteel
boot" Later he sent "a handful of silver to the
darby to extract the pain"
Do you remember Emerson Hough's Covered
Wagon" and the two frontiersmen who we're ac-
customed to shoot lineup OF whisky Off each
others heads proof OF their friendship and
confidence In each others craftsmanship? Long
before the Covered Wagon days, Mike Fink was
doing that stunt and, shall see later II Is
an essential part Of the Mike Fink saga
But not all of the legends about Mike Fink
had to do with his shootln' ability One story
tells how he fought and killed bear with his
naked hands. Another tells of his capture OF a
moose with the same weapons. Then there is
the story OF how he wiped out the nest OF out
laws at Caven-Rock after they had attacked his
keeboat. His drinking bouts In the dives OF
Natchez- Under the Hill and New Orleans and St
Louis and the playful habit he and his cronies
had OF taking town apart" form the basis
for other wild yarns of his varied activities
So the tales of Mike Fink could be multiplied
endessly. Some OF them may have had some
basis of truth, but the majority OF them ore