NSHS
RG2341-337
S
S
NSHS NSHS NSHS
G
RG2 RG2 RG2341
341 341-33
337 337 337
OCTOBER 2017 • NEBRASKAland 13
rounding the bank, [he] stood erect in the water, his body
half out, and taking a bugle which hung from his miniature
vessel, he blew a blast, long and loud. A moment afterwards
he took from the same depository two detonating rockets,
which he sent up from his hands, lighting them from his
cigar ... Cheer after cheer went up, and the enthusiasm was
perfectly unbounded."
Boyton's trip downriver was far from easy. He complained
to the Bee of the Missouri's quicksand, its "blue mud, soft
and sticky like glue," and of shots fired at him by a party of
hunters near Blair. His short stay in Omaha was marred by
the death of a spectator, who after shouting that he could
swim as well as Boyton, jumped into the Missouri and
drowned. Boyton and Creelman eventually covered the more
than 1,600 miles from Glendive to St. Louis in just 64 days.
After his swimming days ended, Boyton found new outlets
for his considerable energies. In 1894 he opened an early
amusement park, Paul Boyton's Water Chutes,
in Chicago, and later, an amusement park at
Coney Island. He died on April 19, 1924, in
Long Island, New York. ■
Visit the Nebraska State Historical Society's
website at nebraskahistory.org.
Above: Omaha's riverfront during the Missouri River
flood of April 1881, six months before Paul Boyton's
swim.
