September 21 2005

Text By Catherine Jamieson

Twain referred to it as the "majestic, magnificent Mississippi," and it winds across more than 2,000 miles of the American heartland, from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way, it draws in the currents of dozens of other rivers, tolerates hundreds of bridges and barges and even a few stalwart paddlewheels. It is, possibly, the most romanticized of all North American waterways. Who has not heard of the mighty Mississip?

Twain spoke truly when he said that "the face of the water became a wonderful book ... (with) a new story to tell every day" and one wonders whether we'd have a Tom Sawyer in our popular culture were it not for the muse that lived in Twain's river. Would any other river have done? Caught here in a time and place of misty, pastoral serenity it is alike to its cousin the iceberg whose inconspicuous visible portion belies its incredible mass and power. Yes, the river they call the "Old Man" tells a different tale at every turn.