There's a plaque along the river walk in New Orleans that states:

"In 1903 a man named Snite walked the entire length of the Mississippi on pontoon boots."

Does anyone know anything more about this?
Thanks,
Bob

Is it possible that you mean "Fink" instead of "Snite"?

Michael Fink was a boat man on the Mississippi river and he was the subject of many tall tales. I find nothing about "Snite" but I believe you may have just remembered the name wrong. This was in the time of Davy Crockett and other legendary Americans of tall tales...

Here's a link:

Michael Fink

It would make sense that someone would make a plaque for him with an absurd claim such as having walked the length of the Mississippi, but nonetheless it isn't true... just kind of fun.

I just got the e-mail below from the St. Louis Public Library.

Hello,
We checked the books in the Stacks on the history of the Mississippi River and found one mention of Snite and his feat:

From the book: "Tales of the Mississippi", by Ray Samuel, Leonard V. Huber and Warren C. Ogden, Pelican Publishing Co, 1981

"Or what impelled a man named Snite to WALK down the river's length in February, 1907? Walk he did, on special buoyant, pontoon-like shoes, to carve himself a special niche in the river's history." page 66

Other feats are mentioned: "a 21-year-old crippled girl has swum across it and back without stopping, at a point where said river is as wide as the Great River is at New Orleans. Yet one Isabel Bentel, crippled, performed the feat starting at the New Orleans side, on Sept. 1, 1930."

There was no other mention of Mr. Snite or any other information, in this source. There may have been articles in the newspapers along the river, including St. Louis. This library does have the microfilmed newspapers which you can search, if you are in the area. The Microfilm Department cannot search an entire month for you, though there is a state historical library that will lend the microfilmed newspapers to other libraries on interlibrary loan.

You may also wish to contact the Mercantile Library at UM St. Louis that has the morgue to the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. If you get the exact date of the articles, we can make copies for you and mail those for a slight charge: $ .25 per page and $1.00 for postage and mailing in the US.

The Globe-Democrat ended publication in the 1980s. The morgue of the Globe-Democrat is owned by the St. Louis Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri-



St. Louis Mercantile Library

Thomas Jefferson Library
University of Missouri-St. Louis

8001 Natural Bridge,

St. Louis, MO 63121;

Note: I have removed e-mail addresses and phone numbers from the message. Goodlife, if you want to contact the St. Louis Mercantile Library or the St. Loius Public Library, please contact me via e-mail (My address is in my profile.) and I will send you the necessary information.

My mother is the crippled girl who swam the MIssissippi in the 30's.. She also swam down river from Donaldsonville to New Orleans in 1933 f0r a distance of 89 miles but I know of noone that walked the river. Aggie

Thanks for the additional information Aggie, and welcome to AnserPool.