Sam Patch was born in 1799, and as a young boy he worked in a cotton mill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The mill was powered by water from a dam and Sam would often entertain the other workers by leaping off the dam into the water. Sam soon became known for jumping from heights to entertain people.

Image via Wikipedia

In his early 20’s, Sam was working at a mill in Paterson, New Jersey that was powered by water from the Great Falls of the Passaic River.

Image via Wikipedia (Great Falls of the Passaic River)

On September 30, 1827, Sam jumped over the 70 foot falls to the delight of the large crowd that gathered to watch. On August 11, 1828, Sam made a 90 foot jump from the mast of a sloop in Hoboken Harbor, New Jersey. He was gaining notoriety for his leaps and the newspapers started dubbing him “The New Jersey Jumper” and the “Yankee Jumper”. 

On October 7, 1829, Sam Patch became the first person to ever jump off Niagara Falls and live.

Sam jumped from about 75 feet, which was partly down from the full height of the falls. He was reportedly disappointed at the size of the crowd which gathered to watch so he decided to jump again from the full height of 125 feet, ten days later. The stunt was widely advertised and the main attraction at an event designed to draw visitors to the falls. A ladder was extended below Goat Island opposite the Cave of the Winds and at 4 pm Sam climbed out onto the ladder and jumped over the Niagara Falls.

Source

A boat was circling below to pick him up but he did not appear. The crowd of over 10,000 people collectively held its breath but then someone caught sight of Sam crawling out of the water by the shore and the crowd roared.

Sam Patch became something of a celebrity and his slogan, “Some things can be done as well as others,” became a popular expression across the nation.

On November 6, 1829, Sam performed a stunt at the High Falls in Rochester, New York.

Source

He crawled out to a rock ledge in the middle of the falls accompanied by his pet bear cub. He then threw the cub over the 96 foot high falls. As soon as Sam saw the bear cub swimming safely to shore he leaped over the falls. Sam survived but was disappointed at how little money was raised by the stunt so he decided to jump again on Friday the 13th of November 1829. For the second attempt Sam had a 25 foot ladder constructed so his total jump height was 121 feet.

Image via Wikipedia (Advertisment, the Last Jump part meant for the year)

A crowd of some 8,000 people (Rochester’s total population was around 9,000 at the time) watched Sam as he either slipped and fell (accounts are he came right from a saloon to make the jump) or jumped off the platform. Speculation was immediate that something was wrong because Sam was not in the same feet first position he maintained on his prior leap of November 6. He landed awkwardly in the water with a loud impact and did not emerge. Speculation in the crowd was the he might have hidden in a cave below the falls to watch the crowd’s reaction but that was wishful thinking. Sam never emerged and even though there were reports from around the country of Sam Patch sightings it was the last jump Sam Patch ever made.

On St. Patrick’s Day (March 17) 1830, near Charlotte, New York not far from where the river empties into Lake Ontario, farmer Silas Hudson found Sam Patch’s corpse frozen in the river ice. And that was the end of America’s first daredevil.  

Sam Patch’s body was buried in the Charlotte Cemetery and a wooden board reading “Sam Patch – Such is Fame” was placed over the grave.

(School children eventually raised funds for a proper headstone)

Sam Patch had become a legendary figure and the first modern celebrity though, and both Nathanial Hawthorne and Hermann Melville placed a Sam Patch character in their works and Andrew Jackson named his favorite horse Sam Patch.  “What the Sam Patch!” became a common way of swearing for many years after.