Mike Fink was born at Fort Pitt in present-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and served as an Indian scout in his teenage years.

[3] It was said that he could drink a gallon of whisky and still shoot the tail off a pig at 90 paces, and Fink himself proclaimed on every possible occasion that he could "out-run, out-hop, out-jump, throw-down, drag out, and lick any man in the country".

[1] The redoubtable but semi-mythical Mike Fink, joker, fighter, and king of the boatmen, voiced the sentiments of his class when he bellowed his boast: Im a Salt River Roarer!

I can out-run, out-jump, out-shoot, out-brag, out-drink, an' out fight, rough-an'-tumble, no holts barred, ary man on both sides the river from Pittsburg to New Orleans an' back again to St. Louiee.

Hauled into court, he pointed out to a judge that his victim would never have been able to wear a fashionable boot if a good Samaritan, namely himself, had not intervened on the man's behalf.

Mike Fink signed up as one of Ashley's Hundred and formed a part of the band that built Fort Henry.

This was about 1815.In the management of his business Mike Fink was a rigid disciplinarian; woe to the man who shirked his responsibilities or did not carry his own weight – literally.

[9][10] The recorded exploits of Mike Fink featured mostly in American broadside ballads, dime novels, and other subliterary texts from before the Civil War era.

After the Civil War, the character began to be neglected; the mood of Americans disinclined them to admire a bumptious and violent folk hero.

Elements of the Fink legend were present in Walt Disney's rendition, but the character was played mostly for laughs as a foil for the infallible Crockett.

Similar to Disney's portrayal of Fink, Ball's title character is good natured and helpful despite his sometimes hooligan and contrary temperament.

In Orson Scott Card's The Tales of Alvin Maker, an alternate version of Mike Fink appears in every novel after the first.

Unlike other significant characters, he has no magical knack, but, prior to meeting Alvin, he was made invincible by means of a tattoo given to him at birth (similar to Achilles).

As in his other books, Kellogg's account of Fink incorporates tall tales with vivid illustrations – highlighting the main character's positive side.

On the Ohio River in Cincinnati, OH and Covington, KY, a riverboat restaurant called Mike Fink's was a popular attraction for over 40 years.