William John Petersen (1901–1989)

Fairly decent book composed of a number of narrative tales from the start of the use of steamboats on the Ohio and Mississippi to a later focus on voyages on the river upsteam of St Louis. The chapters are somewhat unrelated at times, going from a biography of a famous captain to a famous 1854 sightseeing excursion. Written about eighty years ago the style and word usage may be a little off-putting to a modern reader, but there are many interesting stories and facts.

good comparison with Iowa elections

yet to read thoroughly--but interesting article called " Boys, Keep away from Muslin" p 637 has a number of editorials from Iowa newspapers concerning --romance, to marry or not, etc. "

since I'm from Decorah , our great granparents farm was donated to Vesterheim, and I worked for 5 years at Luther College and have been a volunteer for Vesterheim-- this early article about the formation of the museum is a must for my personal library.