Mostly Mississippi
Subtitle: a very damp adventure
By: Harold Speakman ; with a number of drawings by Russell Lindsay Speakman and the author.
Edition: 1st University of Minnesota Press ed.
Series: Fesler-Lampert Minnesota heritage book series
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
Published: 2004
Place of publication: Minneapolis
Language: eng
Number of pages: 360
Subjects: Speakman, Harold, 1888- -- Travel -- Mississippi River; Speakman, Harold, 1888- -- Travel -- Mississippi River Valley; Canoes and canoeing -- Mississippi River; Mississippi River -- Description and travel; Mississippi River Valley -- Description and travel; Mississippi River Valley -- History, Local
Description: "In 1925, Harold Speakman and his new wife, Frances "Russell"" Lindsay Speakman, journeyed down the entire Mississippi River, from the headwaters in Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, on a twenty-foot houseboat."

"A classic American travel narrative that captures the soul of the river, Mostly Mississippi features lyrical descriptions of encounters with archetypal characters, landscapes, and experiences. The Speakmans meet lumberjacks in northern Minnesota and Mormons at Nauvoo, Illinois, as well as roustabouts, hoboes, farmers, drifters, Southern grandees, Native Americans, collegians thirsting for the real world, and convicts. They also meet William Alexander Percy, the "Poet of the Delta"; Laura Frazer, the inspiration for Mark Twain's Becky Thatcher; and the prototypical "lady from Dubuque" as described by the New Yorker."

"Illustrated by Harold Speakman's paintings and sketches and Russell Speakman's delightful drawings, Mostly Mississippi captures the deepening emotional bond of a newly married couple embarked on a grand adventure."--Jacket.
Notes: "First published by Dodd, Mead and Company, Inc. in 1927"--T.p. verso.