3. Sam Patch was America’s first daredevil entertainer
Sam Patch began his career as a daredevil performing jumps from ever increasing heights as a child laborer in Rhode Island. Later, as a young man in Paterson, New Jersey, Patch supplemented his income by making jumps from bridges, the tall masts of anchored ships, the tallest buildings he could find in those pre-skyscraper days, and finally over waterfalls into the cascades beneath them. In 1827 he jumped from above Passaic Falls, a drop of over 70 feet, to such acclaim that he repeated the feat twice more, attracting large crowds and collecting substantial receipts. In 1829 America’s most famous falls, at Niagara, beckoned and Sam successfully jumped from a platform erected above them. It was so successful that he repeated the leap in October.
Just three weeks later Sam attempted to jump the even higher falls of the Genesee River near Rochester, which though successful drew a smaller than desired crowd. Sam decided to repeat the performance from a higher platform, creating a leap of 125 feet, on November 13, 1829, a Friday. His landing in the water beneath the falls was awkward; not his usual feet-first entry, and led to speculation that he slipped, departing on the drop prematurely. His frozen body was extracted from the Genesee the following spring. Such was his fame that President Andrew Jackson named one of his jumping horses Sam Patch in his honor. In the late 20th century a Rochester brewery released a porter named in honor of Sam Patch.