Originally posted by dadipentak Thanks for the reference! Haven't read it but that would probably be a great way to pass the time while I wait for my shoulder to heal.
It is a non-fiction work, describing life on steamboats during the period when he trained to be a steamboat pilot. The river was completely wild then -- no dams anywhere -- meaning that lovations of sandbars were and other kinds of hazards could move from day to day. Good pilots needed to know how to read the water, day and night, and at major stops, like St. Louis, pilots going upstream would trade information with ones who had just come downstream. It's a book rich with description of the water, the shorelines, and full of colorful stories about boats, captains, crew, passengers, etc., and the life in that place and time.