These stories are the experiences of a harbor towboat pilot in Saint Paul on the Upper Mississippi River. They contain descriptions of this unique barge port which includes the navigable section of the Minnesota River and the only gorge on the Mississippi which lies between Saint Paul and Minneapolis. Much has been written about the river south of Minnesota but this may be the only testament to life on commercial vessels working at the very head of navigation. The adventures are comical and hair-raising, the characters are true river-rats and the local boats are just as quirky as the men who work on them.

In 1975 at the tender age of 17 a very wet behind the ears Bob Deck left high school to learn the art of being a deckhand on Mississippi River towboats with the goal of becoming a "harbor pilot." The men who trained him were colorful and unique characters. Men like "Steamboat" Bill Ruport a grizzled River Rat at the ripe old age of 24who learned Bob how to handle the lines (what rivermen call ropes) and "lay riggin" (wire barges together) into "tows" (rafts of barges to be pushed downriver from St. Paul to St. Louis). Bob learned that rivermen have a whole different nautical vocabulary. Later decking under the iron-fisted Captain Crash provided danger and humor to a young man's coming of age. If you have ever driven across a bridge over the river and wondered what life on those Mississippi riverboats is like then this is one view that is enlightening and entertaining.

For anyone who has ever fallen under the spell of the Mississippi, it is hard not be a little jealous of Bob Deck. A deckhand as a teenager and a Harbor Captain by the tender age of 22, Deck worked the big river during the 1970's and 1980's, a boom time for the Twin Cities barge business. Like Mark Twain and George Merrick before him Deck paints a vivid and nostalgic portrait of a working life on the river. And for budding river rats, he also provides practical tips on how best to guide barges through certain tricky stretches of water in St. Paul. -Mike Mosedale, reporter and river lover Ride on the Mississippi River with Captain Bob and share in his adventures as he navigates through floods, weather and curious passengers aboard tugboats and sternwheelers at the head of commercial navigation for the Western Rivers. Meet the pilots and deckhands that make their lives and living on the Mighty Mississippi. See the river through the eyes of a man who grew up on riverboats.