The Coolidge examiner., 1934-01-19


min and every lick he made in the
woods let in a whole acre of sunlight He could
out-run, out-jump, Out-shoOt Out-brag, out-drink
and Outright, "rough-an- tumble no holts barred,
airy man on both sides of the river from Pitts
burgh to New Orleans an back agin to St.
LOuiee." Whoop Also Cock "a -doodle-dOo! And,
likewise what a man!
lie was Mike Fink, one OF Americas super
men, who differs from such myth-heroes as Paul
Bunyan. the lumberjack; Pecos Bill the cow
boy: and John Henry, the negro stake driver In
that there actually was such person as Mike
Fink even though in the favorite frontier pastime
OF telling tall stories he has become half-leg
endary halfreaL He the apotheosis of
type OF frontiersmen who fourished In the days
when the keelbOats piled the Ohio and the Mis-
sissippi rivers and such he is the subject OF
recent biography by Walter Blair and Frank
lin j. Meine, published recently by Henry Holt
and company
Long before the first railroads were built west
OF the Alleghenies and before there were any
national roads, these two rivers were the only
routes to market for the pioneer farmer The
principal market New Orleans and the
quickest way to get there was by keelboat
typically American craft designed for partlcu-
lar American need. 1t was a slender pointed
boat. drawing only 20 to 30 inches of water and
so ii was able to navigate the shallow waters OF
the Hooking, the Scloto, the Muskingum the
Miami and the Wabash. 1t could be easily
steered as 1t lOated down these streams into
the Ohio, then into the Mississippi and so on
to New Orleans. Such a trip, of course was not
without its dangers. The steersman had to know
the channel, as well as the later steamboat cap
tains had to know ii, to avoid being hung up on
a sandbar. Then, too, he had to watch out for
planters" (big trees still standing upright In
the midst OF the swirlng waters), "sawyers"
(huge branches which bobbed up and down In
the currents. partly hidden, partly revealed) and
snags OF all kinds. Added to these dangers were
those OF white outlaws in their famous strong
hold OF Cave-inROck and rowing Indians every
where along the banks OF the two rivers.
The return trip from New Orleans had It's
hardships and its dangers, too The keelboats
had to lie warped" "cordeed," "bushwhacked"
pOed and sailed against the strong current all
the way TO Pittsburgh. To handle such boats
required mea OF brawn men with "the strength
OF OK. the courage of a lion, a hide of all
gator toughness TO shed rain. snow, bullets and
Indian arrows and an interior OF castiron to
digest diet consisting mostly of salt pork and
whisky"
More than that the keelboatman had to be a
handy man with his fists for he was constantly
thrown into contact with tough men and mis- fel-
low keelboatmen were just about the toughest
with others equally tough would make a modern
prize fight seem like the spanking you give
bad child. mo natural weapon was barred; fists
flew at faces. feet kicked wherever they could
find a target; knees bucked at unprotected
crotches teeth sank wherever there flesh :
fingers clutched at throats and thumbs seemed
to gOuge out eyes from their sockets Noses
were battered. teeth splintered and blood plenti-
fully shed when boatmen squared Off and shot
fists at one another"
From all of which it is clearly apparent that
the man who rose to leadership among them had
to be quite some" and such was Mike Fink
bully boy OF the Ohio and king OF the Mississippi
keebOatmen.
But Mike Fink's historical Importance Is more
than the fact that he the typical keelboat-
man. For the keelboat a comparatively
brief one and that craft eclipsed by the
steamboat just as II was reaching its heights
of usefulness. Mike lived on three distinct from
tiers and his career all three contributed to
the mass Of legends which cling about his name
and helped make him American myth hero.
He was born on the Pennsylvania border
shortly before the Revolution and grew up in
the crude settlement which clustered around Fort
Pitt He was just about as tough youngster
as he later became tough man. He could out
wrestle, out-swim, out-run and out-swear all the
other boys OF the settlement. At the age of thr-
teen he took his first Indian scalp and he seems
to have taken a delight In killing the "red Mig
gers" as the Indians were known among the
ruthless frontiersmen around Fort Pitt
At the age OF fifteen he was the champion
rifle shot and after a while, when the frontiers
men engaged in their favorite pastme of hold
ing shooting matches, Mike and his favorite
rifle, "Or Bang-An," were excluded. For the
exclusion. asserted a contemporary, Mike claimed
and obtained ID. the hide and talOw (of the
beef they shooting for) for his forbearance
His usual practice to sell his . quarter
TO the tavern or dram shop keeper for whisky
with which he treated everybody present. par
taking largely himself"
So the first period in Mike Fink's life was that
of crack shot, champion hunter and Indian scout
the Pennsylvania frontier. Then came the
rush OF settlers beyond the Aleghenes after
the Revolution and this region became "toC
crowded" for him. The keelboat on the Ohio
began and opened up an opportunity for Mikes
energies. He won right to place on a keel
boat by beating up champion keeboat fighter
who had challenged him after the fashion OF
the tmes-and this at the age of seventeen oil
eighteen.
OF a dOwn-river trip. this paragraph from
Blair and AIeine's book gives a typical picture