Father Mississippi by Lyle Saxon The Century Co. New York London
INTRODUCTION This book is not a history of the Mississippi River in
the strict sense of the word, although I have outlined the dis
covery, the exploration, and the settlement of the valley. A great
many learned men have written weighty tomes dealing with the
various phases of the Mississippi, but this volume is like a
scrap-book in which I have collected mens thoughts, my own
thoughts, and the thoughts and experiences of other men. These
incidents seem to me informative, or amusing, or terrible, or
tragic, or fantastic but they are all a part of the living pageant
which moved down the great river through the changing years. Here
you will find jottings from old diaries written by men and women
who came down the river a century or more ago. In every instance
where it was possible I have let these men and women speak for
themselves. So here you will meet La Salle, Father Hennepin, Henri
de Tonty, and the rest, and you will read their narratives,
uncolored by comments of mine you will read the hitherto
unpublished memoir of a woman pioneer who came down the river in 1
8 to you will read the journal of a flatboatman of 1817 you will
meet heroes and gamblers, heroines and murderesses men and women
who lived beside the Mississippi and whose adventures gave color to
the times in which they lived Only twice do I speak directly to you
in the beginning and in the end of this volume. At first, I try to
let you see into the life of a Louisiana plantation as I remembered
VI INTRODUCTION it at the end, because I wanted to try to picture
for you the horror of the floods of 1927. Many people have given me
assistance. The publications ofthe Louisiana, Mississippi, and
Kentucky historical so cieties have been of great help and I wish
particularly to thank Mr. Henry P. Dart, editor of the Louisiana
Historical Society Quarterly, for permission to use the diary of J.
G, Flugels, and the records of the case of Molly Glass, the mur
deress. Other references will be found in the bibliography at the
end of the volume. I wish to thank Mrs. Cammie Garrett Henry of
Melrose plantation for the use of her library and for permission to
read scrap-books pertaining to the Mississippi which she has been
compiling for thirty years. I wish to thank Miss Gwen Bristow of
the staff of The New Orleans Times-Picayune for her work in
compiling data from current newspaj ers and magazines. And I am
most grateful to Miss Mercedes Garig of the Louisiana State
University for suggestions and assistance in collecting source
material. But, perhaps most of all, I want to thank members of the
United States Coast Guard Service, officers and sailors alike, who
took me with them into the flooded areas in May and June, 1927. The
three episodes, Down on the Levee, Acadians in the Flood, and And
the Waters Receded have been printed in The Century Magazine, and 1
wish to thank the editor of The Century for permission to reprint
them here, L. S. CONTENTS Part One PLANTATION CHAJPTSR FAGS I A
CHILD LOOKS AT THE RIVER . 3 II PLANTATION LIFE AND A WEDDING . 6
III RIVER Music 19 IV AUNTS AND UNCLES 24 - V. TjTK, JkLuL, ..
BOAT. 34 VI CREVASSE 44 Part Two IN THE BEGINNING VTI BEFORE THE
WHITE MEN CAME 61 VIII THE NAME MISSISSIPPI 68 TX DISCOVERY 71 X
EXPIRATION 83 XI IBKRVILLE ANI BIENVILLE .... 102 XII NEW ORLEANS
107 XIII A CAT LOOKS AT A KING 114 Part Three I HEARTHE TREAD OF
THE PIONEERS XIV IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY . . . 125 XV MOLLY
GLASS, THE MURDERESS . . . 142 TO Vlli CONTENTS CHAPTER XVI A WOMAN
PIONEER 159 XVII A VOYAGE DOWN THE RIVER IN 1817 . 176 Part Four
LEVEES AND STEAMBOATS XVIII, OLD STEAMBOAT DAYS 209 XIX COMMERCE ON
THE MISSISSIPPI . . . 235 XX LEVEES 253 Part Five THE 1927 FLOOD
XXI THE RISING RIVER 279 XXII THE FLOOD SWEEPS ON 290 XXIII EPISODE
DOWN THE LEVEE, . . . 301 XXIV WHAT HAPPENED AT NEW ORLEANS . 314
XXV DYNAMITE 330 XXVI REFUGEES 341 XXVII EPISODE ACADIANS IN THE
FLOOD ...
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