Rivière des Grands Canoes

Mike Fink - A Keelboat River Legend

Mike Fink

Bob Dyer)

Well, my daddy was a bear in the Allegheny Mountains
And my mother was a 'gator in the Ohio
I was born full-growed at the forks of the river
And I cut my teeth on a catfish bone

  Oh, my name is Mike Fink, I'm a keelboat poler
  I'm a Salt River roarer and I eat live coals
  I'm a half-alligator and I ride tornaders
  And I can out-feather, out-jump, out-hop, out-skip
  Throw down and lick any man on the river

Well I poled the Ohio and I poler the Mississippi
And I poled the Missouri when she's choked with snags
I poled on the wilds and the salts of the Kentucky
And I never met a man that I couldn't out-brag

Well, Betsy is my shooting iron, she shoots like thunder
And she flashes like the lightening and she kicks like a mule
I can clip an Indian scalp, knock it cleaner than a whistle
I can knock a tin can off the head of a fool

Well, Carpenter's a name that I guess you heard tell of
I taught that critter everything that he knowed
But he done me dirt on the Yellowstone River
And I crossed his eyes with a musket ball

Well, some say I died on the Yellowstone River
Or was shot by a man by the name of Talbot
But if you want to know the truth about what really happened
You're gonna have to come knocking on the Devil's door

What good is a river legend if we don't have songs about that legend? "Mike Fink" which was written by Bob Dyer, (now deceased) is a classic in itself. Here is a link to the song, sung by Michael Cochran, done as a tribute to Bob, after his death....

Listen to Song 

In 1822, Fink joined William Ashley’s expedition up the Missouri River from St. Louis, Missouri and somewhere along the line, his shooting skills became deadly. In his “not so” practical joking manner, one of Fink’s favorite games was to shoot a mug of brew from the top of some fellow’s head. However, one night in 1823, when the Ashley group had stopped somewhere near the mouth of the Yellowstone River, his shooting skills would fail him. Having had much too much to drink, he missed and killed the guy who was wearing the mug on his head. In no time, the dead man’s friends retaliated by killing Fink.

Learn More