Mississippi River Mayhem

Mississippi River Mayhem PDF Author: Dean Klinkenberg
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1493060732
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
In his memoir, Life on the Mississippi, Mark Twain personified the river as “Sudden Death and General Desolation! Sired by a hurricane, dam’d by an earthquake, half-brother to the cholera, nearly related to the small-pox on the mother’s side! Look at me! I take nineteen alligators and a bar’l of whiskey for breakfast when I’m in robust health, and a bushel of rattlesnakes and a dead body when I’m ailing!” Twain’s 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 river’s 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 all—from the brave steamboat captains who went down with their ships, to the illegal moonshiners and pirates who pillaged the river’s 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 centuries—from steamboat explosions, to Yellow Fever epidemics, floods, and Prohibition piracy. Enjoy this journey into the darkest deeds of the Mississippi River.

Mississippi River Mayhem

Mississippi River Mayhem PDF Author: Dean Klinkenberg
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1493060732
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 257

Get Book

Book Description
In his memoir, Life on the Mississippi, Mark Twain personified the river as “Sudden Death and General Desolation! Sired by a hurricane, dam’d by an earthquake, half-brother to the cholera, nearly related to the small-pox on the mother’s side! Look at me! I take nineteen alligators and a bar’l of whiskey for breakfast when I’m in robust health, and a bushel of rattlesnakes and a dead body when I’m ailing!” Twain’s 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 river’s 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 all—from the brave steamboat captains who went down with their ships, to the illegal moonshiners and pirates who pillaged the river’s 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 centuries—from steamboat explosions, to Yellow Fever epidemics, floods, and Prohibition piracy. Enjoy this journey into the darkest deeds of the Mississippi River.

The Mayhem Mysteries - Chronicle Five: Mayhem on the Mississippi

The Mayhem Mysteries - Chronicle Five: Mayhem on the Mississippi PDF Author: Nathan Rush
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 0557657334
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 52

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Book Description
This is the story of a young man's riverboat journey to find his missing father.Set in 1890, Johnny enlists the help of an absent-minded skipper, an amnesia-suffering first mate, a tall hillbilly hunter, an uppity couple and a grumpy muted cook to help him reach New Orleans and hopefully find the father he has been without for 15 years.This is part five of The "Mayhem Mysteries Series".

Lansing to LeClaire Travel Guide

Lansing to LeClaire Travel Guide PDF Author: Dean Klinkenberg
Publisher: Dean Klinkenberg
ISBN: 9780971690448
Category : Mississippi River
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description


The End of the River

The End of the River PDF Author: Simon Winchester
Publisher: Scribd, Inc.
ISBN: 109440442X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 57

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Book Description
When it comes to climate-change-inspired threats, it is rising sea levels we hear most about. But if the oceans are, as Herman Melville put it, “the tide-beating heart of the earth,” rivers are its circulatory system. In the United States, there is no river more storied, symbolic, and vital than the Mississippi, and none, to use Mark Twain’s word, more lawless. The struggle to control it has been going on nearly as long as there has been human civilization on its banks, and the attendant drama and dangers have been memorialized by many writers, among them Twain and, in his seminal 1987 New Yorker account, John McPhee. Now Simon Winchester, the consummate, critically acclaimed storyteller and bestselling author of Atlantic and The Professor and the Madman, turns his eye to what could well be the height of the battle, one increasingly doomed by man’s interference. The most fateful instance of this interference was accomplished by an inventor and steamboat captain, Henry Miller Shreve, in the nineteenth century. In vivid detail, Winchester re-creates the smashing and digging and the great man- and steam power that Shreve wielded to clear the river of snags and logjams and, in order to shorten the passage to New Orleans, carve an entirely new channel for it. What no one foresaw was that his celebrated shortcut, Shreve’s Cut, would form a sloping chute to an adjacent river, the Atchafalaya, and, aided by gravity and shifting weather patterns, increasingly tempt the waters of the Mississippi in its direction. Resisting this trend with ever more ingenious methods (and ever more expense) began just after, first with a system of levees, then with added spillways, and, finally, with the conception and construction of a floodgate system, the Old River Control Structure, still in place today. And the stakes are high: If—many say when—the Atchafalaya captures the Mississippi’s stream, it will be the end of life as it’s currently known in the American South. The great cities of Louisiana—New Orleans and Baton Rouge—would be rendered fetid swamps; entire sections of the American infrastructure, from pipelines to electricity and water supply, would collapse. Homes would be displaced and livelihoods, if not lives, would be lost. Deftly combining the hydrological and the historical, Winchester tours the challenges that upped the ante on the Mississippi River Commission’s duty to protect the watershed and its inhabitants: the upheavals that came in the form of the Great Flood of 1927, one of the most destructive natural disasters of all time, displacing more people than almost any event in American history, and the record-breaking inundations of 1937 and 1973. He pays tribute to the Army Corps of Engineers, for their Herculean efforts to keep the river on its current track, and to one civilian, Albert Einstein’s son Hans Albert Einstein, a hydraulic engineer and one of the main architects of the mighty control structure that continues to divide the Mississippi from the Atchafalaya. But how long can it hold in a time when extremes of weather are the norm, when storms come faster and more furiously, sending sediment-loaded water pounding against the floodgates—events that not only pit man against nature but, given that we cannot always agree which causes and correctives to pursue, man against man? In this elegant synthesis of past and present, the exigencies of the natural world and the human, Winchester offers an engrossing cautionary tale that readers cannot afford to ignore. It is a call to arms that asks whether accepting defeat—letting nature take its course—may be the only way to win.

Murder, Madness, and Mayhem on the Iowa Illinois Frontier

Murder, Madness, and Mayhem on the Iowa Illinois Frontier PDF Author: Nick Vulich
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 0359107133
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
It's not the usual boring history read. It's a fast-paced, easy to read, behind the scenes look at the making of Iowa and Illinois focusing on Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois.

Murder and Mayhem

Murder and Mayhem PDF Author: James Smallwood
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 9781585442805
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
In the states of the former Confederacy, Reconstruction amounted to a second Civil War, one that white southerners were determined to win. An important chapter in that undeclared conflict played out in northeast Texas, in the Corners region where Grayson, Fannin, Hunt, and Collin Counties converged. Part of that violence came to be called the Lee-Peacock Feud, a struggle in which Unionists led by Lewis Peacock and former Confederates led by Bob Lee sought to even old scores, as well as to set the terms of the new South, especially regarding the status of freed slaves. Until recently, the Lee-Peacock violence has been placed squarely within the Lost Cause mythology. This account sets the record straight. For Bob Lee, a Confederate veteran, the new phase of the war began when he refused to release his slaves. When Federal officials came to his farm in July to enforce emancipation, he fought back and finally fled as a fugitive. In the relatively short time left to his life, he claimed personally to have killed at least forty people--civilian and military, Unionists and freedmen. Peacock, a dedicated leader of the Unionist efforts, became his primary target and chief foe. Both men eventually died at the hands of each other's supporters. From previously untapped sources in the National Archives and other records, the authors have tracked down the details of the Corners violence and the larger issues it reflected, adding to the reinterpretation of Reconstruction history and rescuing from myth events that shaped the following century of Southern politics.

Road Tripping the Great River Road

Road Tripping the Great River Road PDF Author: Dean Klinkenberg
Publisher: Dean Klinkenberg
ISBN: 1735242829
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 563

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Book Description
Looking for the ultimate adventure along the Mighty Mississippi? Look no further! The third edition of this comprehensive travel guide (updated in 2024) will take you on a journey through the heart of America, showcasing the rich history, diverse culture, and stunning natural beauty of this iconic waterway. From the bustling cities of the Twin Cities and St. Louis to the peaceful backwaters of the Driftless Area, you'll discover something new and exciting at every turn. Packed with insider tips and local insights, this guide is the perfect companion for your journey down the Mississippi. Explore the quiet spaces and bustling places along the Great River Road, from historic small towns to culturally rich big cities. Find out which hikes come with dramatic views of the Mississippi River and which day cruises offer the best chance to spot wildlife. Get recommendations about which museums are worth your time and where to find good local music. Discover which festivals offer quirky fun, and where to sample regional food specialties such as a juicy lucy, wild rice and walleye, and gooey butter cake. The book includes: · 18 regional tours from northern Minnesota to southern Illinois · Local and regional history · Parks and recreation areas to hike and camp at along the Mississippi River · Tips to save you time and money · How to get on the river (outfitters, cruises) · Where to eat and sleep at locally owned establishments So come along and explore the magic of the Mighty Mississippi! Author Dean Klinkenberg has been exploring the places along the Mississippi River and the Great River Road since 2007. He's found a wealth of underappreciated treasures awaiting visitors. Are you ready to explore one of the best American road trips? Buy Road Tripping Along the Great River Road and start your trip today.

Murder & Mayhem Jefferson City

Murder & Mayhem Jefferson City PDF Author: Ms. Michelle Brooks
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1439678405
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 145

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Book Description
The Dark Side of Jeff City The first century of the wilderness-born Missouri capital was filled with villainous escapes from the state's only prison, resulting in theft, abuse and even murder. The grandest of escape attempts ended with the city's only triple hanging. The capital city had plenty of entrepreneurs willing to sidestep the federal Volstead Act, which attracted Ku Klux Klan activity and culminated in the election of a "law and order" sheriff, whose deputies broke laws to enforce them. Many other tragedies grieved the community, including the South Side murder of a German immigrant by a teen-aged deputy, who had been caught sleeping with the victim's daughter. Author Michelle Brooks has collected a sample of some of the shocking events of Jefferson City's first century.

The Mayhem Mysteries - Chronicle Two: Nonsense in New Orleans

The Mayhem Mysteries - Chronicle Two: Nonsense in New Orleans PDF Author: Nathan Rush
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 0557657326
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 60

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Book Description


Minneapolis Murder & Mayhem

Minneapolis Murder & Mayhem PDF Author: Ron de Beaulieu
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1467146994
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
Minneapolis has a bloody, unacknowledged heritage. On the shore of Lake Harriet, Ojibwe warriors killed a Dakota man, triggering two retaliatory massacres. Ten years later, pioneer settlers roved the land of Minneapolis in gangs for protection from other pioneer gangs. When a lynch mob hanged a violent criminal across the street from Central High School, they left his corpse dangling for hours. Rioting Riversiders toppled a streetcar and attacked the driver. A man murdered a kind stranger because he misunderstood his intentions. Separate industrial disasters shattered the St. Anthony Falls, causing one fatality, and nearly razed the Mill District, killing eighteen more and injuring countless others. Author Ron de Beaulieu uncovers the dark, sinister history beneath the city.