The Wonderful Leaps of Sam Patch by Anonymous

[n.b. This is the Niagara section only]

sam
Sam Patch Jumping at Niagara Falls
From The Wonderful Leaps of Sam Patch, c1870

Next, to Niagara thousands flock,
To see him jump from Table Rock,
Into these waters, thunder-hurled,
The seventh wonder of the world.
Folks swarmed on bank and giddy ledge,
On dangerous precipice’s edge,
Nay, really, it has been said,
They stood one on the other’s head,
To get a view when gallant Sam,
Came cool (and modest as a clam),
Pausing upon the trembling verge
To list to what might prove his dirge!

The sun was red, the cliffs aglow,
And foaming white the gulf below,
As Sammy turned his fearless eye
From crowded earth to brilliant sky,
And boldly took the fearful leap
Down, down, into the seething deep!

Each breath was held, each eye was strained—
Huzzah! at last the bank he’s gained!
A shake, a gasp, his breath to catch—
“Now! who will laugh at Samuel Patch?”

‘T was there Sam made his greatest dive—
Feet—full one hundred and sixty-five!

Source: The Wonderful Leaps of Sam Patch. Rochester, NY: Len Rosenberg, Rochester Collection. Reproduction of a book originally published by Len Rosenberg in the 1870s.

Platform built at the base of Goat Island for Sam Patch’s Jump in 1829.
From Official Guide Niagara Falls, River. Electric, Historic, Geologic, Hydraulic by Peter A. Porter with illustrations by Charles D Arnold published 1901. Image courtesy of Niagara Falls Public Library

Sam Patch did not jump from Table Rock as mentioned in the poem and as shown in the illustration. in 1829 he constructed a 120 foot high platform at the base of Goat Island and jumped from there, as depicted in the illustration.

Read more about Sam Patch

Sam Patch in The Craftsman:

Two songs composed by Harris Loewen

loewen
Harris Loewen


I just discovered that two Niagara poems that are on the NFPP site have been set to music by Harris Loewen, a retired Brock University professor. For a delightful treat I’ve embedded the recordings to At Niagara Falls by Anson G. Chester and Niagara in 1882 by John Macdonald. The Macdonald poem was named Peaceful Niagara for Loewen’s choral version.

 

The Undertow by Sasha Steensen

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A mountain of snow and Ice almost reaching the crest of the American Falls at Niagara Falls
Undated photo by Gisela Scholz.
Image courtesy of Niagara Falls Public Library

I am shown
a generosity

so muddied
at the muddy bottom

of a question I forget to ask
until it’s fished out

but bloated but
in the manner of a net

a web of causal connections
attached to its corners

gently moving over
the surface of the water

how come the road
couldn’t have stayed followed

by way of hollowed out
logs & paddles

made of pawpaw wood
rather than by the crows

alone to the moment
when the Monongahela

the Allegheny
the Ohio meet

I hate the underside
of an idea

but I like the underside
of grass that grows

underwater
and I’ve seen it from there

blossom
as if the water had suddenly

stopped
and then surged forth

from there
I can see a shoal

of tadpoles
drowning themselves

I hate the idea
of the Ohio

as a magic carpet
into the heart

of the continent
a great gift

of geography
a gleaming highway

carrying a tide
of settlement

and expansion but
I despise

the idea of the three rivers
as my family tree

their canals
tributaries & branches

meeting
& later the Mississippi

by its side
for miles

until along comes my
baby floating

in a basket down
the Colorado

I despise all such
undertows

and the fact that I’ve never
heard steamwhistles

or boatmen’s bugles
I’ve never traveled

aboard The Messenger
The Telegraph

The Gladiator
The Ohio Belle

or The Great Republic
nor have I put my foot

in the Ohio
anymore than you

and the Niagara
I abhor the Niagara

in winter the
difficult beauty

of its frozen falls
and all they’ve

come to represent.

Source: Steensen, Sasha, 2010, “The Undertow,” Academy of American Poet’s Daily Poetry Series,               http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/21952

Also published in: Steensen, Sasha, 2014, House of Deer, Fence Books, 93.

View Sasha Steensen’s website

 

The Path by Myles Calvert

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Morningstar Mill and Decew Falls
Photo by M.J. Thomas, licenced by Wikimedia Commons

The path is worn.
A scar scorched through the forest by an untold number of travelers.

The sky is gray.
What leaves remain on the trees are at rest.

Silent.

Still.

Looking down, a pair of legs are moving forward but no steps are heard.
How long have they been walking?

Looking up, the path, with long snow kissed grass skirting the sides stretches on without end.

To the left an unseen cliff, to the right a spacious field filled with unremarkable flora.

The pace quickens to combat an incessant chill.

How much longer to go?

His legs ache. A glance backwards reveals nothing as the path melts away into black. The further he walks the more darkness gathers behind.

With eyes now forward on the perennial view, he feels a weakening resolve and for the first time, a shortening stride.

Ahead, a soft bend is revealed.

A new breeze arouses the leaves while the mute footsteps become perceptible.

Rounding the bend.

The once impenetrable clouds disperse to reveal a warming sun, a distinct tune from a bird and a flower in bloom.

Entranced by the surprising change he carelessly slows to a saunter while the bend hardens in front of him.

Warm turns to hot turns to blazing.

The song turns to noise turns to a cry.

The grass thickens and encroaches on the path with sharpened blades.

A wince.

As he shields his eyes from the light he kicks towards the intruding growth and launches into a blind run.

The color flushes away and the noise fades to a hum, to a dead calm.

Defeated, he opens his eyes and fixes them back on the straightened path.

Silent.

Still.

Myles Calvert

Source: Myles Calvert, 2023. Written in May, 2021. 

The location of “the path” is heavily influenced by a hiking trail at Decew Falls / Morningstar Mill. As you walk along away from the waterfall there is a cliff on your left and at times an open field to your right.

Those who have walked it before may know it well and recognize the descriptions (although the waterfall is not mentioned in The Path).

Myles Calvert is the owner of  Tenpine Web Development and of Walk Niagara Tours, and can also be found on Facebook.

 

Map of Morningstar Mill / Decew Falls area in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada

Untitled by Anonymous as Reported by X.Y.

x.y.
Niagara Falls From Goat Island, 1857
Print by Currier & Ives. Courtesy of the Library of Congress

Niagara Falls are a wonderful scene,
Regularly calculated to make the mind serene ;
With their mighty dash and tremendous spray,
They roll and they roll, repeatedly every day !”

**********************************************

These Falls have never been congealed completely,
In this, weak men are agreed, neatly!

Source: X. Y. “Poetry of Young America.” The Massachusetts Teacher and Journal of Home and School Education 10, no. 2 (1857): 89–90. http://www.jstor.org/stable/45023974.

The identity of X.Y. is unknown.