Mississippi River Mayhem

In his memoir, Life on the Mississippi, Mark Twain personified the river as Sudden Death and General Desolation! Sired by a hurricane, damd by an earthquake, half-brother to the cholera, nearly related to the small-pox on the mothers side! Look at me! I take nineteen alligators and a barl of whiskey for breakfast when Im in robust health, and a bushel of rattlesnakes and a dead body when Im ailing! Twains time as a steamboat pilot showed him the true character of The Great River, with its unpredictable moods and hidden secrets. Still a vital route for U.S. shipping, the Mississippi River has given life to riverside communities, manufacturing industries, fishing, tourism, and other livelihoods. But the Mighty Mississippi has also claimed countless lives as tribute to its muddy waters. Climate and environmental conditions made the Mississippi the perfect incubator for diseases like malaria. Natural disasters like tornadoes, floods, and even an earthquake have changed and reshaped the rivers banks over thousands of years. Shipwrecks and steamboat explosions were once common in the difficult-to-navigate waters. But when there was money to be made, there were some willing to risk it allfrom the brave steamboat captains who went down with their ships, to the illegal moonshiners and pirates who pillaged the rivers bounty. In this book, author and Mississippi River historian Dean Klinkenberg explores the many disastrous events to have occurred on and along the river in the nineteenth and twentieth centuriesfrom steamboat explosions, to Yellow Fever epidemics, floods, and Prohibition piracy. Enjoy this journey into the darkest deeds of the Mississippi River.