Customer Reviews

Old Times on the Upper Mississippi: Recollections of a Steamboat Pilot from 1854 to 1863 (Fesler-Lampert Minnesota Heritage)

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Thank goodness someone has had the good sense to reprint this classic book about steamboating on the upper Mississippi! George Merrick relates his personal experiences as a steamboat pilot during the heyday of steamboating with stories about the boats, towns, and people of the stretch of river between St. Louis and St. Paul. I grew up in that area, and found his recollections fascinating. I learned a lot about the history of the towns along the river, and about the rich tradition of steamboating. Imagine piloting a 500 ton boat down a winding, wild river in the dead of night with no headlight, moonlight, or navigation aids!! Captain Merrick tells how he did it! A must for anyone who is interested in steamboating or the history of industrial expansion to the West.

A mine of information about the "Golden Era" of Steamboats on the Upper Mississippi River. One of those rare books that does not leave the reader with more unanswered questions than when one started reading. With no wasted words one gets a real feeling of how it was living between 1840 and 1870 as a "Riverman". Along with Charles Edward Russell's "A-Rafting on the Mississip" I would recommend it as a base for anyone doing research on the subject. For true adventure lovers it is exciting reading in it's own right...

There are a number of parallels between the lives of Samuel Clemens (i.e., Mark Twain) and George Merrick. Both grew up in towns along the Mississippi River, both first worked as typesetters, and both became river pilots. And Merrick's writing is nothing to sneeze at, either.

Twain's "Life On the Mississippi" gives us a pretty full picture of steamboating from St. Louis to New Orleans. Merrick's "Old Times on the Upper Mississippi" does the same from St. Louis to the head of navigation at St. Paul, and it does so in a readable and personable style that keeps the reader interested. And there are none of the long, tangential stories like those Twain stuck into his book in order to bring it to the number of pages promised by the book agents who sold it door to door before it was published.

Long out of print (I searched for a decade for my first edition copy), "Old Times on the Upper Mississippi" is once again available. It belongs in the library of any serious student of river history.

This book gives a first hand account of life on the Upper Mississippi particularly the steamboat trade. It is a great resource for those who may have had a relative that was a steamboat captain. If you are trying to find an ancestor this book lists many of the steamboat captains, and what years and ships they served on. The part of the book which tells of the early days of the settlers on the Mississippi in Wisconsin is especially entertaining. The author tells of the native americans who lived on the river, and his interaction with them. He also tells an interesting story of escaping from a pack of wolves where he climbs a tree to escape becoming their dinner. This is when he was a boy. The stories of the storms coming up on the Mississippi, and the ice freezing up the river are very interesting as well. He also tells of the whole process of how one became a steamboat captain and the training it entails. He tells one interesting story where the captain gets angry at him for accurately counting the timber that came on board. Apparentley there were some dishonest captains that would make extra profit by having their staff miscount the timber, and then sell the extra they didn't count up later for profit.

The internet has some steamboat websites that unfortunatley are not comprehensive. They leave out many of the famous steamboat pilots and captains. This book will help fill in many of these gaps. It also lists many of the timetables of how long it took to go from here to there such as St. Paul to St. Louis. If you get this book then you have to get Mark Twain's book Life on the Mississippi the one where he revisits the river and reminices of his times there. It is a classic and very entertaining as well as philosophical. Twain's book is a must read either before of after you read this one! I would get Twain's book first, and then follow up with this one second.

This is the best book on early riverboats and it's written by somebody who was there.

This book is fascinating to read if you are interested in the subject. It is probably one of the most important books available if you want to learn about the men who served on the boats. Descriptions of Captains, Clerks, and Engineers, are comprehensive, as well as the activities of other members of the boat crews. I cannot think of many subjects regarding steamboating that the author did not touch upon.