Troutbirder II

Troutbirder II
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Saturday, March 28, 2020

Old Man River, A Book and Me


In Old Man River, Paul Schneider tells the story of the river at the center of America’s rich history—the Mississippi. Some fifteen thousand years ago, the majestic river provided Paleolithic humans with the routes by which early man began to explore the continent’s interior. Since then, the river has been the site of historical significance, from the arrival of Spanish and French explorers in the 16th century to the Civil War. George Washington fought his first battle near the river, and Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman both came to President Lincoln’s attention after their spectacular victories on the lower Mississippi.
In the 19th century, home-grown folk heroes such as Daniel Boone and the half-alligator, half-horse, Mike Fink, were creatures of the river. Mark Twain and Herman Melville led their characters down its stream in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Confidence-Man. A conduit of real-life American prowess, the Mississippi is also a river of stories and myth.

As a boy I played and fished along the Mississippi River as it wandered through St. Paul below our home on the Bluffs above the river. Later, I even took my fiancée on a date, a canoe outing near Pigs Eye downstream.  I was  bow and arrow fishing for carp (how romantic and she even married me). Later,  when we moved downstream to teach and raise a family, I still took a boat out into the backwaters. As for the nation,  the Big River has been an important thread running through Americas history and my life as well.  Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed this fascinating retrospective of the Mississippi and its history… Old Man River...... she keeps on rollin, she don't no nothing...in song as well.:)
Addendum:  The really cool thing about the Mississippi as it winds its way between Minnesota and Wisconsin is you never know what your going to catch.  One this day,  I caught Mrs. T. who agreed to come along to read a book and work on her tan. And incidentally Minnesota's State Fish the delicious walleyed pike....:),to the far north in Minnesota is Lake Itasca and the origin of the Father of Waters, and much further to the north and east likely in Quebec, according to blogging friend AC of the Ac Is on is another MISSISSIPPI RIVER how neat!


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@Barrie Summy
Hang in there. And please be safe, healthy and germaphobic. Cheers! Barrie Barrie Summy Author, www.barriesummy.com

25 comments:

  1. Thanks for the review of the book. And not to mention your own personal history as well. Very interesting catches you made, TB. :-)

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  2. troutbirder - The book sounds interesting, but I like better the anecdote about fishing, dating & romance. (Of course sbe married you. You showed you could feed her!)

    BTW, the picture of you & your family is great. Happy Holidays!

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  3. I tend to forget that the Mississippi is not just a southern river.
    Dave had the same thought I did about your wife marrying you. You proved you could provide for the dinner table. Rather an important attribute to consider in a mate.
    I'll check out that book.

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  4. Last of the red hot fishermen for sure! :)

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  5. WI has the muskie, wouldn't you know? A trophy fish.

    Since NC is on the ocean, we have a saltwater and freshwater state fish. The fresh water is our own brook trout. The red drum is our saltwater. And both are delicious, like your walleye pike.

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  6. This is definitely not to be confused with the Mississippi River that is a tributary of the Ottawa River and runs through Carleton Place and the northern part of Lanark County.

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  7. Yes, you caught your future wife a fish for dinner. To my notion, the walleye is the only fish worth eating (except for maybe a trout!)

    Cheers,

    Jo

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  8. Do you know I;ve never had a walleyed pike? Wow, I probably have missed one of life's gourmet natural foods. Nice review, TB. Merry Christmas! I am off to Colonial Williamsburg for Christmas, taking my Meacham's bio of Jefferson to read!

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  9. Thanks for the book review. I love your picture on the Header. Your son is a dead ringer for you.

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  10. In a short time, Liz and I will be heading out on our mostly annual eagle watching trip along the Mississippi River from Dubuque to Quad Cities. One year we only saw one bald eagle, but usually we see at least 40-60. Beautiful stretch of river through there.

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  11. Hope you are staying safe down there in the banana belt of Minnesota. I see the Corona Virus is got a good grip in your area. Stay safe my friend:)

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  12. Another good book to read. Thanks. Stay safe.

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  13. you boomers are shutting down the entire economy because you're afraid of a flu. Seriously, can you boomers kill yourselves? You are the most selfish generation to ever exist. You don't give a shit about climate change, why should we young people give a shit if you get sick and die of some virus? I HOPE the virus gets much stronger and kills you all.

    Do you boomers realize how universally hated you are? There is not one single demographic that does not hate you- white people, black people, asians, mexicans, indians, chinese, millennials, GenX, GenZ. Something tells me that you boomers are not going to have a very comfortable or easy retirement, especially once you end up in the retirement homes.

    Can you baby boomers hurry up and fucking drop dead? Enjoy your retirement homes cause we younger people will not take care of you even if we wanted to, due to the shitty economy you boomers created. Do you boomers realize that the younger generation is simply waiting for you to fucking drop dead?

    You are all going to end up in retirement homes and we all know that the elderly gets treated pretty badly in retirement homes. Well, that's what you get for ruining your own children's lives. Even if your children WANTED to take care of you, they couldn't, due to you boomers destroying the economy. So I hope you enjoy the retirement homes, boomer scum!

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    Replies
    1. Do you have nothing positive to do than surf the internet and threaten people with nasty comments? Try to find a more healthy alternative and stay off the web for a while for your mental health.

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    2. Same asshole who has been posting this same thing, I think he just copies and pastes it from his mom's basement.

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  14. An old high shcool boyfriend of mine built a raft and took it down the Mississippi when he was in college. He just published his story "River Fever" which chronicles his trip with his friends in the 1970's. He is now a well-known historian and I recommend his books about the West and particularly about the Mormon Church's atrocities like "Blood of the Prohets: Brigham Young and the Mountain Meadows Massacre" https://www.amazon.com/Will-Bagley/e/B001JSBNHG%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

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  15. Walleye, along with lake perch, are my favorite freshwater fish by far. Much more tasty than trout. Take care, Ray.

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  16. That’s a nice fish! It’s neat that you have spent your whole life on the Mighty Mississipp!

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  17. Me, again! We used to chant “M - I - crooked letter crooked letter - I - crooked letter crooked letter - I - humpback humpback I “ to spell Mississippi and feel so clever when we were kids. :-)

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  18. Sounds like an interesting book, Ray. But George Washington? Isn't that a misprint? I thought his first battle was at Fort Necessity in Pennsylvania at the start of the French and Indian War.

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  19. Thank you for the review. I count on your for my history fix. And thank you for sharing details from your life. Stay safe, Ray.

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  20. An ode to the Mississippi. I really enjoyed it. I'm in St. Louis, and it's the big one around here. I haven't actually been on a small boat on it though. They say it's treacherous, down this far. Thanks for the review!

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  21. Looks interesting. When we moved to WI, one of our first excursions was to find the headwaters of the mighty river.

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  22. Carp? And she still married you? I can't even get Liz to eat flounder.

    RoadDog

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  23. Mike Fink, King of the River! I remember the character from Davy Crockett on TV. I guess that really dates me.

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