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“Barge traffic on the Mississippi River represents the most efficient, most cost-effective, most environmentally sound means of transporting commodity goods from this region of the country to market”. #economy#Mississippi

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“I live by the sea, but the body of water I have the most feeling about is the Mississippi River, where I used to row and skate, ride on the ferry in childhood, watch the logs or just dream”. #childhood#Mississippi

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“Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get”. This quote can refer to the multiple weather challenges that Huck and Jim encounter on their travels down the Mississippi River. These challenges made the journey more challenging than it would have originally been.

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Compared to the dream-like quality of Fur Traders Descending the Missouri (1845), Bingham’s Raftsmen Playing Cards (1847) has a more light-hearted atmosphere. The painting portrays riverboat life as peaceful and fun, emphasizing the companionship between workers.
#companionship #jovial

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Clayton Browne lists the requirements to becoming a Riverboat Pilot today.  This includes having a three year apprenticeship (with 18 months working on the deck or as the quartermaster), and contacting the USCG National Maritime Center for an exam to be qualified for a first-class pilot’s license.
#apprenticeship #USCG

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by Clayton Browne

The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is responsible for maintaining the safety and public accessibility of U.S. waterways. This includes promulgating the standards and licenses for the crews of all river and maritime vehicles, including pilots. While there are many additional specific subrequirements including a written exam, the basic qualification to become a riverboat pilot is a three-year apprenticeship on a similar boat with at least one year of experience on the waterways where you plan to work.

Step 1

Determine the type and size of riverboat that you want to pilot. It is very important to make up your mind ahead of time; all riverboat pilot licenses are based on apprenticeships and experience with types and sizes of boats, and experience on a smaller boat will not count toward the experience requirements on a larger boat.

Step 2

Join the crew of the type of riverboat you chose as a third mate. During your three-year apprenticeship you will need to work for at least 18 months on the deck of the boat or as a quartermaster. You are also required to have at least one year's experience working on the waterways where you will be piloting.

Step 3

Contact the USCG National Maritime Center (NMC) when you have completed your apprenticeship and are ready to schedule your written exam for a first-class pilot's license.

Step 4

Take and pass your written exam. You will thereby earn your first-class pilot's license and are ready to work as a riverboat captain.

Tips

It is possible to become an "acting as" boat pilot if you meet the requirements of the the local USCG Officer In Charge of Marine Inspection for round-trip experience on that local waterway.

Note that you must have a Certificate of Registration from the Director of Great Lakes Pilotage to serve as a boat pilot on the Great Lakes.

About the Author

Clayton Browne has been writing professionally since 1994. He has written and edited everything from science fiction to semiconductor patents to dissertations in linguistics, having worked for Holt, Rinehart & Winston, Steck-Vaughn and The Psychological Corp. Browne has a Master of Science in linguistic anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Copyright © Leaf Group Ltd., all rights reserved.

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The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is responsible for maintaining the safety and public accessibility of U.S. waterways. This includes promulgating the standards and licenses for the crews of all river and maritime vehicles, including pilots. While there are many additional specific subrequirements including a ...

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Yangtze River: Over Two Million Years of History

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Yangtze River: Over Two Million Years of History

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The Yangtze River’s importance has been recognized since ancient times, where Chinese tribes fought for access to the waterway.  Since then, travel on the river has improved (before, the river was difficult to navigate boats through-trade even had to stop completely between June and September since winds weren’t strong enough) with the development of engines stopping the use of trackers, who had to drag the boat through the river.
#evolution of transportation

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Yangtze River History and Culture - China Highlights

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Yangtze River has a history of over 2,500 years, whose culture is rich and colorful, highlighted by ethnic minority culture.

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Lenny Rudow explains why knowing how to navigate on a boat is crucial for any boat owner to know, as well as how to do it.

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See more articles

Whether you own a sailboat or a motorboat, a yacht or a dinghy, you need to know how to navigate it.

Learning how to navigate a boat is one of the most important things any boat owner must learn. Essentially, nautical navigation is no more than knowing how to get from Point A to Point B. But the process can be a whole lot more challenging than simply pointing the bow in the right direction.

Everyone, of course, is more or less familiar with some form of navigation. It's what you do every time you travel, whether you're jogging through a park or driving into town. But on the water, navigation takes on a new level of complexity. First off, there are no roads to follow. Secondly, visibility may be restricted by fog, rain, haze, and darkness. And thirdly, paths that appear to be safe to the naked eye may in fact be filled with hards such as shallow zones, underwater obstructions, piers or pilings, commercial fishing gear, and more. So, how will you navigate through these treacherous waters? We'll take a close look at two methods: traditional navigation and electronic navigation.

Traditional Navigation

Just a few short decades ago we didn't have electronics like GPS and chartplotters. And going back for thousands of years, mariners have been studying how to safely get across rivers, bays, and oceans. No matter where you're navigating or what type of boat you're on, the number-one tool you use while navigating is your own eyes. Beyond that, standard navigation tools include:

A compass and/or hand bearing compass: A compass tells you which direction your boat is heading in, north, south, east, or west, as measured in degrees relative to magnetic north. There are 360 degrees representing a full circle, with 0 degrees to the north, 180 degrees to the south, 90 degrees to the east, and 270 degrees to the west. A hand-bearing compass can be utilized to quickly take multiple "bearings" (the direction of a course, or the direction to an item or place) of multiple visible landmarks.

Charts: Charts are nautical maps. NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association) produces charts of navigable US waterways, as well as many international charts. You can buy NOAA charts or view them online for free.

Parallel Rules: These are a set of two rulers which are attached by swiveling arms. The arms allow you to open and close the rulers, "walking" them across a chart, while maintaining the same angle.

Dividers: This tool (also sometimes called "compass dividers") is used to measure distance on a chart. You can separate its two points more or less, to represent a nautical mile or a number of miles.

An erasable pencil: A pencil is needed for navigation via chart so you can mark down important items like speed, location, and bearings.

A wristwatch or stopwatch: In order to perform one of the most basic forms of navigation-ded reckoning (or "deduced reckoning"), which we'll talk more about in a moment-you need to keep track of time.

Some calculations can be made more easily with items like a nautical slide rule or a protractor, but the above list covers the absolute necessities for basic nautical navigation.

So, just how do you use these tools while getting from Point A to Point B? Here are some of the basic things you'll need to do to navigate your boat:

Locate your position

Create a route with bearings

Determine a reciprocal course

Plot your position with Ded Reckoning

Locating Your Position: Sometimes you can simply look at your surroundings, glance at the chart, and you'll know where you are. Say for example that you're next to a big red buoy with the number five on it, and when you look on the chart you see the red number five buoy front and center. Position acquired. But locating your position may be easier said than done, especially in unfamiliar waters. One of the most basic (and best) ways to accomplish this feat is triangulation. In order to triangulate your position you'll need to identify three visible landmarks or aids to navigation that are clearly marked on your chart, and are relatively far apart from each other (the farther, the more accurate your calculation will be). Lighthouses, points of land, water or radio towers, and navigational markers are prime examples.

First, use your hand-bearing compass to "shoot" a bearing to the first landmark (or, if you only have the compass mounted at your helm, point the entire boat directly at it to acquire the bearing). Line up your parallel rules on the chart's compass rose (the illustrated circle marked with degrees) to match the degree of the bearing you shot. Note that there are two circles of degrees on the rose, one (the outer ring) representing true north and the other (the inner ring) representing magnetic north. Use the inner magnetic ring, because your compass points to magnetic north, not true north. Then, walk the rules across the chart by holding down one side and moving the other towards your landmark, one after the other. When an edge of your parallel rule intersects with the landmark, use your pencil to trace a line down the rule's edge.

Now, repeat the process with the other two landmarks. If the three lines you've drawn intersect, you now know exactly where you are on the chart. If they come close and create a triangle, you're somewhere inside that triangle. You can get a more exact location by adding more landmarks and bearings, or by taking more accurate bearings.

Watch our Basic Boat Navigation: How to Triangulate Your Position Video.

Create a Route with Bearings: Whether you're planning a trip or you're already on the water, you'll need to know how to create a route. And unless you're lucky enough to be going in a straight line with no obstructions in the way or channels to follow, that route will require multiple different bearings. Fortunately, this is an extremely easy process. Simply lay your parallel rules at your starting point, line the edge along the path you want to cruise, and draw a straight line on your chart. Then walk the rules until the edge intersects with the center of the compass rose, to get the bearing that corresponds with the line. Jot down the bearing next to the line, and you've created the first leg of your journey. Lay the parallel rules along the next leg, and repeat the process. And so on, until you create the final leg that intersects with your destination. When you cruise along each leg, you'll know by glancing at the chart what bearing your compass should show.

Watch our Basic Boat Navigation: Creating a Route with Bearings to Navigate By Video.

Determine a Reciprocal Course: This is one of the simpler navigation tasks, but it's also quite important. If you don't know your reciprocal (reverse) course, you can't go back the way you came. Since your compass has 360 degrees, the reciprocal of whatever course you're on will always be 180 degrees away. If the initial course is less than 180 degrees, add 180 to get the reciprocal. If it's more than 180 degrees, subtract 180 to get the reciprocal.

Ded Reckoning: This is a method of navigating from a known position to another position, using the information available to you, to deduce your approximate location. You need to know your speed, compass course, and the amount of time you travel, and record them all on your chart at every course change. If possible, you should include estimates of the effects of wind and current.

Here are the basic equations you'll need to know:

Speed x Time = Distance

Distance / Speed = Time

Distance / Time = Speed

WARNING: Never mix up MPH and nautical miles per hour, or knots. Mathematically you can use either when making these calculations-but not both. Since nautical charts measure distance in nautical miles (which equal 1.15 "statute," or regular miles) it's always best to stick with knots and nautical miles (NM) when navigating a boat with traditional means.

Let's say your boat cruises at 20 knots, to keep the math simple. And let's say you know you're at position X at high noon, when a light fog rolls in. You can still see well enough to continue on your cruise at 20 knots, but visibility is limited to a couple of miles and your familiar landmarks are now out of sight. On your chart, you create a route home that calls for a five NM leg on a bearing of 200 degrees, and a second 10 NM leg on a bearing of 250 degrees. Divide five (distance) by 20 (speed) to get 0.25, which tells you that you'll need to cruise for a quarter of an hour at 200 degrees. You use your watch or stopwatch to keep track of time, and at 12:15, stop the boat. Now record the time and your estimated position. Then turn to 250 degrees, draw your next course line, and again record your speed and bearing. Now you'll need to divide 10 by 20, and you'll know that you should reach your destination in half an hour.

Some people may find it easier to calculate how many minutes it takes to travel a nautical mile at your given speed and use that figure to navigate. That 20-knot cruise will take you one NM every three minutes, for example (60 divided by 20), so you can make the same calculations knowing that it will take you 15 minutes (three times five), or a quarter of an hour, to go five NM.

Ded reckoning can also be used to track your position as you travel an undetermined route in conditions of reduced visibility. Let's say you're heading on a compass course of 180 degrees when you leave the harbor. When your watch or stopwatch says 15 minutes have passed, you change course to 220 degrees. Record your bearing, speed, and time of course change. 15 minutes later, you can make a fairly good guess at your position-and keep track of your position as you cruise and make additional course or speed changes.

Ded reckoning is not, of course, an exact method. The ability of a helmsman to hold a steady course, wind and seas, and currents will all have an effect on how closely ded reckoning does or does not reflect your exact position at any given time. Cumulatively over long distances, little errors add up to become significant.

Watch our Basic Navigation: How to Navigate by Ded Reckoning video.

Once you have all these skills down-pat, you can get pretty much anywhere with your compass and basic navigational tools.

WARNING: all compasses are subject to magnetic interference, called "deviation". Before any accurate navigation can take place, refer to the installation guide that came with your compass and "compensate" it (set it to account for deviation). If you don't have an installation guide handy, Google can help.

Electronic Navigation

Every mariner should understand basic traditional navigation, because you never know when your electronics will fail you. But truth be told, the vast majority of today's boaters will almost always do their navigation on an LCD screen. The good news? Electronic navigation is far, far easier than using traditional methods. There's bad news, too: those electronics can cost big bucks. When considering navigational marine electronics, you'll need to choose among the following:

AIS - Automatic Identification Systems are transmitters and/or receivers that identify most commercial ships and boats. They're important for navigation because they can expose unseen dangers that lie along your course line, such as tugs and barges that are around the next bend of the river. Even if you don't have an AIS system, when you're within cell range you can access much of the information provided by AIS using an app like Shipfinder on your cell phone.

Chartplotter - For the vast majority of us, this is the most important electronic nav unit. It provides you with a digital chart that can be used for everything from plotting a course to getting a fix on your current location.

Fishfinder/depthsounder - Although depth soundings are on the digital charts used by chartplotters, they aren't always accurate. Plus, depth can change with the tides or a lake or river's changing water levels. So a depth sounder becomes invaluable when navigating through waters that may not provide sufficient draft for your boat.

MFDs - Multifunction displays are informational hubs that sit at your helm, and can integrate all of the electronic units listed here onto one LCD screen.

Radar - Radar broadcasts pulses which are reflected by solid items that may be beyond visual range, like distant ships or land. Essentially, radar gives you electronic eyes that can see for dozens of miles beyond the visible horizon.

Most boaters don't need all of these units. On most inland lakes, for example, radar and AIS aren't exactly necessities. So, how will you know which unit(s) are appropriate for the type of boating you do? We thoroughly addressed this question, in Marine Electronics: What do You Really Need.

Chartplotters

Let's take a closer look at this little magical box of tricks in specific. It allows you to perform those key navigational tasks we identified earlier-locating your position, creating routes and bearings, and determining reciprocal courses. And it makes ded reckoning obsolete, since you always know where you are at a glance. Its digital maps, called "chartography" in nautical parlance, can be more or less detailed depending on quality and cost. Most are based on the data originally gathered by NOAA and/or by private services, and can be updated or geographically expanded either by adding a chart data card or by using a WiFi link. Many of the latest units can even be updated in real time using the data gathered by your depth sounder and GPS. To learn more about the latest in marine chartography, read Chart Transplant. And to see how a chartography update works, watch Boating Tips: Chartography and Software Updates for Chartplotters.

Locating your position on a chartplotter is as easy as looking for the boat icon on the LCD screen. It will be clearly visible on the digital map, with the exact latitude and longitude identified via the unit's GPS receiver, and displayed somewhere on-screen. It's as simple as that.

To create a route on a chartplotter, move the cursor to the position you want to go to, and press a button to create a waypoint. In the case of many touch-screen units, instead of pressing a button you'll merely tap the screen. Press a "go to" button, and your bearing to that waypoint will be displayed. Turning the waypoint into a route is as easy as making more waypoints, or in some cases, pressing a "route" button so the unit automatically joins multiple waypoints together into a route. In most cases, your chartplotter will offer a steering screen that displays a digital compass or numerically displays your bearing, course, and other important information like time to destination, speed, and course error.

Determining a reciprocal course with a chartplotter is as simple as highlighting the waypoint you need to return to, and pressing that "go to" button once more.

It will, of course, take a bit of practice to learn which buttons to press when, and how your chartplotter model in specific works. But we can help shorten the learning curve-watch our How-To Special: Basic Chartplotter Navigation video to see how it's done before you try using the chartplotter at your helm.

What about all those other electronic navigational aids? We've got you covered there, too. Check out these articles and videos, to learn the basics for each:

Once you've got the basics under your belt, view these more advanced articles and videos which will help a navigational novice step up his or her game:

Is this a lot of information to absorb? You bet. Will getting used to both traditional and electronic navigation techniques require some practice and real-world experience? Absolutely. But armed with all of this knowledge, your basic navigational tools, and your electronics, you should have no problem navigating your boat from Point A to Point B-even in fog, rain, and darkness.

Editor's Note: This article was originally published August 2016 and updated in July 2017.

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See more articles Whether you own a sailboat or a motorboat, a yacht or a dinghy, you need to know how to navigate it. Learning how to navigate a boat is one of the most important things any boat owner must learn.

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Fur Traders Descending the Missouri (1845)

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Fur Traders Descending the Missouri (1845)

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George Caleb Bingham’s Fur Traders Descending the Missouri (1845), depicts the Missouri River and riverboating life as calm, pleasant, and dream-like. Some suggest that the painting’s solemn mood is meant to represent the disappearance of the American frontier and America’s move to industrialization and civilization.
#what is that black thing #seriously, what is that

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When Huck and Jim are traveling on their raft, they come across a steamboat heading upstream. To them the steamboat looks monsterous compared to the raft that they have been floating along on. On page 95 Huck describes the boat’s size and how it looks to him as it comes closer: “ ‘She was a big one, and she was coming in a hurry, too, looking like a black cloud with rows of glow-worms around it;... ,with a long row of wide-open furnace doors shining like red-hot teeth, and her monsterous bows and guards hanging right over us”. #big boats are scary

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Rhine River: Importance for Several Civilizations

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Rhine River: Importance for Several Civilizations

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The Rhine River flows through six countries, leading to its importance for several civilizations, including: becoming a major shipping area for the Holy Roman Empire and its use as a border for Germany in WWII.  As a result, the river has become a source for folklore, music, and literature.
#castles along the Rhine #source of inspiration

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Find facts, maps, and information about The Rhine River. The Rhine River flows through 6 countries and serves as a link between Southern and Northern Europe.

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Similar to the Mississippi, the Nile was used for transportation of goods early on.  However, due to the lack of wood, finding material for boats was difficult. Additionally, riverboats were used in the navy as the Royal Fleet, supervised by the Chief of the Royal Ships.
#importance of the Nile for Egypt’s power

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River Boat Pilot Training, Experiences, and Life

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River Boat Pilot Training, Experiences, and Life

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Oren Russell discusses the requirements to become a pilot, the salary he received, challenges of the job (such as being away from family and the dangers), and the overall connection he had to the Mississippi.
#being a riverboat pilot in the 1920s, 1940s #Delta Queen Captain

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Oren Russell Mississippi River Boat Pilot

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The life of Captain Oren Russell, tow boat and later Delta Queen captain on the Mississippi River, is explored.

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“But after a while the steamboats so increased in number and in speed that they were able to absorb the entire commerce; and then keelboating died a permanent death. The keelboatman became a deck hand, or a mate, or a pilot on the steamer; and when steamer-berths were not open to him, he took a berth on a Pittsburgh coal-flat, or on a pine-raft constructed in the forests up toward the sources of the Mississippi.” (Chapter 3)
— —
The effect of the steamboat completely changed the lives of those involved in commerce because it destroyed the idea of small boats. The smaller boats took so much time to get a mass of goods back and forth whereas the steamboat was huge and could carry almost all or all of the goods needed.

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Navigational Tools (19 and 20th centuries)

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Navigational Tools (19 and 20th centuries)

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Foundations for advancing navigation had been laid by 1800; more developments made these advances practical for mariners, including most of Maine's sailing ship captains who went to sea in the nineteenth century.

Deep sea navigators benefited as , publications and instruments became available and affordable to the average captain. Surveys and became more accurate, and oceanographic and weather data was collected and put into an accessible form. Those sailing to familiar ports on a regular basis or those fishing off the coast of Maine had learned most of the needed landmarks, courses, and depths, but they also benefited from accurate charts and government-installed .

Dead Reckoning Tools

Mechanical logs Patent log Mechanical log, taffrail log

Colloquial term for any mechanical log or speed measuring device. These were all patented by their inventors. , first invented around the middle of the 17th century, became practical and reliable around the mid-1800s. These mechanical logs measured distance traveled, like an odometer. An was turned by water flow; a mechanical counter recorded these impeller turns, converting them to . Some logs, including of the 1860s, had the dials on the same part that had the impeller. The log had to be recovered and released for every log entry. , where the impeller turned a stiff rope attached to a geared readout mounted on the taffrail of the ship, did not have to be hauled. The patent logs of the 19th century improved the quality of entries, thus improving navigation both at sea and along coasts.

Taking advantage of the same concepts of the patent logs, but far less common were mechanical . One type used impellers to measure depth by counting the rotations the impeller made as it was dropped. Another type measured depth using seawater pressure. It used a glass tube, open on one end. As the air-filled tube was dropped the increasing water pressure pushed an indicator, compressing the air, further into the tube. When raised the indicator did not move out and the depth was read.

Publications for the Mariner

After the Napoleonic Wars and the , major nations sent a flurry of exploring expeditions around the world. These expeditions brought back data on weather, oceanography, and coasts. They formed the foundation for much of the information that navigators continue to use.

Commercial publishers had been producing charts and sailing directions since the early 19th century. But it was not until the mid 19th century that chart publication became largely governmental and even then, commercial publishers continued to print charts.

In Britain, the Admiralty began publishing its own charts. From 1829 to 1855, its famous hydrographer, , led the Hydrographic Office, and made the Admiralty chart the world-wide standard. Commercial publishers used Admiralty and other information to publish blueback charts for merchant ships, used by British and American captains alike.

The United States Coast Survey was formed in 1807 by Thomas Jefferson to chart American coasts. The Coast Survey's founder was a careful surveyor, but it was not until his successor, Alexander Dallas Bache Bache, Alexander Dallas Alexander Dallas Bache

1806-1867. Graduated from West Point in 1825. Appointed second superintendent of the United States Coast Survey in 1843. Became first president of the National Academy of Sciences , that many charts were published for government and commercial use.

Bache, great-grandson of Benjamin Franklin, led the U.S. Coast Survey from 1843 to 1865.

In the late 1870s and 1880s the Coast Survey began to publish detailed charts of the Maine coast. Before then, captains learned the coast by eye and used less-detailed privately-published coastal charts.

Edmund M. Blunt Blunt, Edmund M. Blunt Edmund M. Blunt

1770-1862. Publisher of nautical books and charts based in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Began publishing The American Coast Pilot in 1796 under the nominal authorship of a Captain Lawrence Furlong. Became publisher of Bowditch's New American Practical Navigator.
Read More , and later his two sons, Edmund and George W., published the two most important pre-Civil War American navigational texts: 1802 The New American Practical Navigator and The American Coast Pilot (pictured above). The Practical Navigator included basic instruction on navigation and tables to help solve problems. Searsport's captains honored Bowditch by naming a cemetery for him. Blunt's The American Coast Pilot, published from 1796 to 1867 provided sailing directions for the East Coast. It was replaced by the U.S. Coast Survey's sailing directions, first published in 1878. Much of this work was prepared by Lieutenant .

From the 1840s to 1860s Lieutenant Maury was responsible for collecting and publishing wind and current data, using information compiled from thousands of ship's logs. In 1847 the Navy published a North Atlantic wind and current chart, followed by a more general publication of pilot charts showing winds and currents of all oceans. These, along with sailing directions, helped navigators select routes to take advantage of favorable winds and currents. Maury never received due credit because he joined the Confederate Navy during the Civil War.

The nineteenth century also saw developments in that simplified calculation of position.

Instruments for Celestial Navigation

Production were the most important instrument for celestial navigation, but there was also steady improvement in altitude measuring instruments.

and were steadily reduced in size and had features added. Most were made in England. The octant or with its wooden frame went out of fashion and production by about 1850, superseded by the sextant which could be more easily used to measure . Sextant makers focused on using metal frames to support the longer arc. These started to be made in quantity shortly into the 19th century and by mid-19th century these were the standard instrument.

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Navigation in the 19th to 20th Centuries

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Foundations for advancing navigation had been laid by 1800; more developments made these advances practical for mariners, including most of Maine's sailing ship captains who went to sea in the nineteenth century. Deep sea navigators benefited as , publications and instruments became available and affordable to the average captain.

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As Huck and Jim are resting at a bend in the river, Huck describes the landscape seen on each bank of the river. He also gives the reader a small view of how the traffic was on the river between the boats. “ We had mountains on the Missouri shore and heavy timber on the Illinois side, and the channel was down the Missouri shore at that place, so we warn’t afraid of anybody running across us. We laid there all day and watched the rafts and steamboats spin down the Missouri shore, and upbound steamboats fight the big river in the middle”(chapter 12 pg. 64). Huck’s description of the river offers the view of the different landscapes on the two riverbanks and how the river traffic was on the Mississippi River. #Nature

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Wage of the average crew member on a riverboat

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Wage of the average crew member on a riverboat

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This article shows the average monthly pay per different crew members. The comparison to recent wages is tremendous. The average annual wage for a maritime pilot in 2012 is $73,760. The pay of a pilot annually (taken from the monthly wage of $150 times 12 months) is $1,800.

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Information about what riverboat crew members were paid.

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The Impact of Steamboats on Mississippi River Culture

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The Impact of Steamboats on Mississippi River Culture

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In this passage from Twain’s Life on the Mississippi, Twain considers the cultural impact of steamboats. He believes that the beauty and poetry of the river has faded with the industrialization of riverboat life.
#steamboats are pretty but evil

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In this excerpt from his autobiographical book "Life on the Mississippi," written in 1883, American novelist, journalist, lecturer and humorist Mark Twain considers what may be lost as well as gained through knowledge and experience. The passage below, "Two Ways of Seeing a River," is Twain's account of learning to be a pilot of a steamboat on the Mississippi River in his earlier years. It delves into the changes in attitude about the river he experienced after becoming a steamboat pilot.

In essence, it reveals the reality versus the myth of the majestic, Mighty Mississippi--revealing danger beneath the mesmerizing beauty that could only be discovered by taking to the river itself.

When you have finished reading Twain's then-and-now comparison, visit our Quiz on "Two Ways of Seeing a River."

Two Ways of Seeing a River
by Mark Twain
¹ Now when I had mastered the language of this water and had come to know every trifling feature that bordered the great river as familiarly as I knew the letters of the alphabet, I had made a valuable acquisition. But I had lost something, too. I had lost something which could never be restored to me while I lived. All the grace, the beauty, the poetry had gone out of the majestic river! I still keep in mind a certain wonderful sunset which I witnessed when steamboating was new to me. A broad expanse of the river was turned to blood; in the middle distance the red hue brightened into gold, through which a solitary log came floating, black and conspicuous; in one place a long, slanting mark lay sparkling upon the water; in another the surface was broken by boiling, tumbling rings, that were as many-tinted as an opal; where the ruddy flush was faintest, was a smooth spot that was covered with graceful circles and radiating lines, ever so delicately traced; the shore on our left was densely wooded, and the sombre shadow that fell from this forest was broken in one place by a long, ruffled trail that shone like silver; and high above the forest wall a clean-stemmed dead tree waved a single leafy bough that glowed like a flame in the unobstructed splendor that was flowing from the sun.

There were graceful curves, reflected images, woody heights, soft distances; and over the whole scene, far and near, the dissolving lights drifted steadily, enriching it, every passing moment, with new marvels of coloring.

² I stood like one bewitched. I drank it in, in a speechless rapture. The world was new to me, and I had never seen anything like this at home.

But as I have said, a day came when I began to cease from noting the glories and the charms which the moon and the sun and the twilight wrought upon the river's face; another day came when I ceased altogether to note them. Then, if that sunset scene had been repeated, I should have looked upon it without rapture, and should have commented upon it, inwardly, in this fashion: "This sun means that we are going to have wind to-morrow; that floating log means that the river is rising, small thanks to it; that slanting mark on the water refers to a bluff reef which is going to kill somebody's steamboat one of these nights, if it keeps on stretching out like that; those tumbling 'boils' show a dissolving bar and a changing channel there; the lines and circles in the slick water over yonder are a warning that that troublesome place is shoaling up dangerously; that silver streak in the shadow of the forest is the 'break' from a new snag, and he has located himself in the very best place he could have found to fish for steamboats; that tall dead tree, with a single living branch, is not going to last long, and then how is a body ever going to get through this blind place at night without the friendly old landmark?"

³ No, the romance and the beauty were all gone from the river. All the value any feature of it had for me now was the amount of usefulness it could furnish toward compassing the safe piloting of a steamboat. Since those days, I have pitied doctors from my heart. What does the lovely flush in a beauty's cheek mean to a doctor but a "break" that ripples above some deadly disease? Are not all her visible charms sown thick with what are to him the signs and symbols of hidden decay? Does he ever see her beauty at all, or doesn't he simply view her professionally, and comment upon her unwholesome condition all to himself? And doesn't he sometimes wonder whether he has gained most or lost most by learning his trade?

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Humorist Mark Twain's Personal Essay, "Two Ways of Seeing a River"

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In this excerpt from his autobiographical book "Life on the Mississippi," written in 1883, American novelist, journalist, lecturer and humorist Mark Twain considers what may be lost as well as gained through knowledge and experience. The passage below, "Two Ways of Seeing a River," is Twain's account of learning to be a pilot of a steamboat on the Mississippi River in his earlier years.

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As Huck and Jim continue on their journey, they decide to head for a town called Cairo that’s located along the Ohio River. In order to know where to find Cairo they follow the clarity of the river because the water is less muddy by Cairo. They later learned that they passed Cairo because although the water was clear, the muddy water of the Mississippi was mixed in it. “When it was daylight, here was the clear Ohio water in shore, sure enough, and outside was the old regular Muddy! So it was all up with Cairo” (chapter 16 pg.94). Huck and Jim following the cloudiness of the water shows a sense of navigation by their surroundings when they don’t have other navigational tools to use. #untrained navigation

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The Mississippi River has improved in economic development as new methods of transportation have been created, from the canoes of Native Americans, the keelboatmen following the American Revolution, the flatboats of the Civil War, and steamboats in the early 1800’s. In turn, the Mississippi has contributed to American culture, inspiring authors, painters, as well as developing new forms of American music to brew along its shores.
#canoes #keelboatmen #flatboats #inspiring authors painters musicians

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Steamboat Times - Mississippi River System

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A Description of the Mississippi River System

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Explains his life before and during the age of boat piloting along with some of the dangers the pilots encountered. It also explains the steamboat age.

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Joseph LaBarge - Historic Missourians - The State Historical Society of Missouri

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Joseph LaBarge was born on October 1, 1815, to Joseph Marie and Eulalie Hortiz LaBarge in St. Louis, Missouri, the second of seven children. Joseph's parents personified the cultural diversity of early St. Louis. His father, a French Canadian, immigrated to St. Louis in 1808 and worked as a fur trader.

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Part 1 of 10 available on the website

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Rivers of Life: History of Transportation, part 1

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When Huck is conflicted about turning Jim in a skiff with two men approaches him, asking him about Jim and whether he’s black or white. Huck acts nervous and tricks the men into thinking that Jim has small-pox. The pilot’s actions demonstrate that they are kind, but don’t want to get involved:
“‘Poor devil, there’s something in that. We are right down sorry for you, but we-well, hang it, we don’t want small-pox, you see...Don’t be a fool again, and let people guess what is the matter. Now we’re trying to do you a kindness; so you just put twenty miles between us, that’s a good boy...Say-I reckon your father’s poor, and I’m bound to say he’s in pretty hard luck. Here-I’ll put a twenty dollar gold piece on this board, and you get it when it floats by. I feel mighty mean to leave you, but my kingdom! it won’t do to fool with small-pox, don’t you see?’” (Chapter 15, Pages 91-92).
#throwing money at problems #but at least they tried

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Religion and Culture

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A Cultural Gateway (Religion and Culture), 1800-1850

By Peter J. Kastor, PhD, Washington University

No part of North America underwent a more dramatic shift in culture and demography during the first half of the nineteenth century than the Mississippi River Valley. By 1850, most residents of the Valley or their parents had been born elsewhere. That demographic change was the result of local, continental, and transatlantic changes. The new political and diplomatic circumstances drove away many of the Valley's older residents. Meanwhile, other forces would convince people in the United States and Europe that the Mississippi Valley might be an ideal place to seek a new home.

In 1800, the Mississippi Valley was Indian country. Indians were far and away the most numerous residents, and Indian villages controlled passage down the river. The largest number of white residents were of French ancestry, whether they were fur traders in the upper Mississippi Valley, merchants in the mid Mississippi Valley, or planters and sailors in the lower Mississippi Valley. The daily rules of cultural behavior came from these two groups. The small number of Indians from other parts of North America or the trickle of whites from the United States or Europe had to adjust accordingly. Beyond the particulars of Indian and French culture, however, the Mississippi Valley was first and foremost a frontier. The regional culture reflected a place where people of numerous backgrounds collided and where systems of power were uncertain.

This regional culture was a direct product of broader commercial and diplomatic factors. After all, commerce and culture worked together to shape how people negotiated with each other. Meanwhile, the lack of a clear resolution in the ongoing struggle between the United States, Indians, and Europeans for control of the Mississippi Valley preserved particular frontier circumstances.

An indication of the changes ahead came in 1798, when Daniel Boone, the fabled American frontiersman, left his home in Kentucky to start a new life in Spanish Missouri. The Louisiana Purchase and the settlement of international political disputes in the 1800s and 1810s convinced other Americans to follow. But the real change occurred in the 1820s, when economic problems and soil exhaustion in the East forced thousands of white Americans to seek their fortunes in the West. The Mississippi Valley seemed to offer a promised land of cheap, fertile land, while the river itself promised speedy connections to markets. Most of these first settlers where Anglo-American Protestants from states like Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. They soon outnumbered the old French residents. Meanwhile, as the region became increasingly crowded, white settlers demanded Indian land, precipitating conflicts which culminated in the forced removal of Indians to lands further west. During the 1840s, the Mississippi Valley-and especially the river cities of St. Louis and New Orleans-became the home to immigrants from Ireland and especially from Germany.

By 1850, the Mississippi River was not only a gateway between East and West but also a thoroughfare through the increasingly different cultures of North and South. The Lower Mississippi Valley had become slave country. Not only was the majority of the population in much of the region enslaved, but the culture itself rested on slavery. Meanwhile, a very different culture was emerging in the Upper Mississippi Valley. If planters had concluded that the Lower Mississippi Valley was the land of wealth and power, white settlers further north became convinced that the Mississippi Valley was the land of opportunity and respectability.

It was in these waning years of frontier life, when people were constantly moving through the Mississippi Valley, that the particular regional culture of Mark Twain and George Caleb Bingham took form. But if the culture of the Mississippi Valley reached a national scope as the region ceased to be a frontier, it was that frontier experience that formed the heart of what people read, heard, and saw about the Mississippi. Many of Twain's stories drew humor from the innocent newcomers and longstanding rascals that populated the Transmississippi frontier. Bingham celebrated the world of boatmen and trappers who helped propel the old frontier economy. Along with other writers, painters, and artists of all forms, they attempted to represent a frontier experience that was already becoming part of the Mississippi's history.

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Mark Twain's Mississippi: "A Cultural Gateway (Religion and Culture), 1800-1850" by Peter J. Kastor | NIU Twain

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By Peter J. Kastor, PhD, Washington University No part of North America underwent a more dramatic shift in culture and demography during the first half of the nineteenth century than the Mississippi River Valley. By 1850, most residents of the Valley or their parents had been born elsewhere.

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On the Water - Inland Waterways, 1820-1940: Reading the River

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Steamboat pilots learned from experience, and the nation's western rivers were strict, fickle teachers. Knowing the channel wasn't nearly enough. The required learning included the locations of snags, rocks, sandbars, and landmarks, the depth of the water, and the strength of the current. As soon as they learned these vital facts, some changed.

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When Huck feels bad about leaving the murderers in the sinking Walter Scott he finds a ferry-boat.  Huck tries to ask for help, but the watchman rambles that he loves his career despite the hardships, fearing that Huck will judge him:
"‘Yes,” he says, kind of pretty-well-satisfied like, “‘I’m the captain and owner, and the mate, and the pilot, and watchman, and head deck-hand; and sometimes I’m the freight and passengers. I ain’t as rich as old Jim Hornback, and I can’t be so blame’ generous and good to Tom, Dick and Harry as what he is, and slam around money the way he does, but I’ve told him a many a time ‘t I wouldn’t trade places with him; for, says I, a sailor’s life’s the life for me, and I’m derned if I’d live two mile out o’ town, where there ain’t nothing ever goin’ on, not for all his spondulicks and as much more on top of it. Says I-“ (Chapter 12, Page 73).
#riverboat life is hard but worth it #Huck was asking for help not your life story