This is the first in an occasional series of pieces extracted from my book How the Irish Won the West.

I am posting unadorned extracts up on Soundcloud (sorry – none of the production values of On This Day I’m afraid) telling the stories of some of the oddbods, pioneers, freaks, and heroes from Ireland who settled in or impacted upon the American West.

This is a tale about the intersection of an Irish 19th century showman, Paul Boyton from Rathangan, Co.Kildare, with the west.

He liked to throw himself into large bodies of water- this is the story of how he survived a long swim down the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers.

Some more information on the career of the Fearless Frogman here