Dear Cha, Wel, Dor, Sue:

For years, Pat and I have looked forward to a trip on one of the Mississippi Queen River boats, having boarded one for a brief visit when it was docked at Natchez, Mississippi, several years ago. Its elegance and general ambience appealed to us and the novelty of paddling on America's greatest river we thought would be exciting and informative.

As we looked over the various segments of the trips that were offered, we elected to go from Little Rock, Arkansas, to Cincinnati, Ohio. In so doing, we would traverse the Arkansas River to its mouth on the Mississippi and then up the Mississippi as far as the Ohio River and then would go upstream on the Ohio River to Cincinnati. We thought this would provide us with a good idea of what these three rivers offered in the way of commercial traffic and tourism. Having selected this segment, we were obliged to sail on the Delta Queen, or as it is called, the "Legendary Delta Queen". This is the oldest and the smallest of the Queen boats and lacked some of the amenities that were provided subsequently on the Mississippi Queen and on the American Queen, which are twice as large as the original boat. Since neither Pat nor I also had been to the state of Arkansas, we thought it would be well to visit the home of the President of our United States and to get some idea of the economy and the historical background of the state of Arkansas.

Flying to Little Rock seemed to pose no problem and we were scheduled to leave Hartford on Delta Airlines at 9:50 A.M. The sun was shining and the sky was clear but unfortunately, at the airport, we learned that our flight was canceled and that it was due to lack of "operational equipment". Apparently, the flight from Cincinnati to Hartford had been canceled for one reason or another and therefore, there was no plane in Hartford to return us to Cincinnati. We were then rerouted and the best they could do was to take us first to Kennedy in New York, where we had a three hour wait, and then fly us on to Atlanta, where we had a four hour wait, and then subsequently on to Little Rock, Arkansas. We arrived there about nine hours after our original schedule of arrival and wiped out all opportunity to take a city tour of Little Rock that afternoon. Our misfortunes in this regard continued as on our flight home, we missed our Delta flight from Cincinnati to Hartford apparently due to the fact that the Delta Queen arrived in Cincinnati four hours later than scheduled. The Ohio River was high, the current was swift, and the down-river traffic was heavy and all of this led up to this unexpected and unforeseen delay in our arrival.

A few facts about Arkansas might be of interest to you. To begin with, it was discovered by Hernando deSoto, the Spanish conquistador, in 1541, and was later visited by Marquette and Joliet, the Frenchmen, in 1673. LaSalle, another Frenchman, took possession of this area in 1682 on behalf of the French government. The first town was called Arkansas Post and was established by DeTonti in 1686. In 1803, the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory, which included Arkansas, from France for 15 million dollars. In 1819, the Arkansas Territory was organized and Arkansas was admitted to the Union as a state in 1836. The name Arkansas is the name of a former Indian tribe. Unfortunately, as I said, time did not permit us to see a great deal of Little Rock and actually, we didn't even get to see its magnificent capitol, which in its overall appearance greatly resembled our national capitol in Washington, DC. We did, however, see the Old State House, which is on the riverfront and adjacent to the Excelsior Hotel, at which we stayed, and this is a very beautiful antebellum structure which currently is being rehabilitated.

Arkansas is 27th in size among the states and has over 500,000 acres of lakes and almost 10,000 miles of streams. It is called the "Natural State". it is equally divided between the lowlands in the east and the highlands in the west and its highest elevation is 2,753 feet. The Arkansas River flows southeast and almost bisects the state. Petroleum, natural gas, and bromine are the top three minerals produced and Arkansas also leads all the other states in the production of bauxite. It is still primarily an agricultural state, raising corn, cotton, cottonseed, hay, oats, rice, sorghum, soybeans and wheat crops, and fruits and nuts such as apples, grapes, peaches, and pears. Tomatoes and strawberries are raised as truck crops. The following are also produced: cattle and calves, milk, hogs and pigs, commercial broilers, eggs, turkeys, and catfish. Tourism is significant and the scenic beauty of the "Natural State" appeals to travelers from all over the country. Five natural parks are among its greatest assets and Hot Springs and Eureka Springs are popular resorts.

A few additional facts about Arkansas may be also interesting. The Arkansas state tree is the short-leaf or yellow pine which may grow to be 100 feet tall. The state flower is the apple blossom. The state bird is the mocking bird. The state insect is the honeybee. The state gem is the diamond. The state musical interest is the fiddle. The state beverage is milk. The state fruit and vegetable is the vine-ripe pink tomato. The tomato is botanically a fruit and it is used as a vegetable.

We boarded the Delta Queen in North Little Rock, as there was construction at the wharf in Little Rock proper and also because the river was unusually high and the boat could only dock at an improved site. At the onset of our cruise, we were reminded that Mark Twain's "Life on the Mississippi" would be a good way to acquire some background knowledge of the river and its history. As you will recall, he was born in Missouri and as a young man, aspired to be a river boat captain, the pinnacle of all boys' aspirations at that time. He succeeded and worked for two years at it. His accounts of life along the river are unsurpassed and every fact is discussed in great detail. Based on his experiences, he created the two well-known novels, "Tom Sawyer" and "Huckleberry Finn''. Edna Ferber's novel of "Life Along the Mississippi" became the basis of the musical "Show Boat". I purchased the paperback account of "Life Along the Mississippi" and read extracts of it during our cruise.

One of the fascinations of the trip, so far as I was concerned, was to be the river traffic that we would see on all the rivers. Actually, there was very little that we saw along the Arkansas River and actually less than I expected on the mid-portion of the Mississippi, but our curiosity regarding it was ratified on the Ohio River. At this point, it is interesting to note that there are no locks on the Mississippi but there are on all of its tributaries. Today, the locks are standardized and are either 600 foot chambers or more frequently, the 1200 foot chambers.

River traffic is remarkably efficient and especially downstream, when the speed of the current may average as much as 5 miles an hour. In the early days before propulsion barges were built, it was customary for cargo to be floated down the river and after it had arrived in New Orleans, the barges would be broken up and the wood sold. Later, with the development of powerful tugboats, at first using steam and later diesel-powered, they were able to move cargo up and down the river quite satisfactorily. Today, the barges are also standardized and each is 185 feet long and 35 feet wide. They can be linked together and pushed by tugboats ranging in power from 2000 horsepower to as much as 10,500 horsepower. The record load of barges is 72 (empty) and this was eight abreast and nine long! The record for full barges is 67. Though the tugboats are called towboats, they do not tow anything but rather, they "push" the barges. The chief cargo downstream is grain and huge grain elevators and their huge conveyors are scattered along the rivers. Downstream traffic has the right of way at all times. Coast Guard and government vessels, or mailboats, also have preferred rights of way. While railroad cars are vastly more efficient than trucks, the river barges are vastly more efficient than the railroad cars in matters of mass transportation.

It is interesting that many of the passengers had taken several trips on this boat and in fact, there was one couple who had taken 13 trips and another who had taken 11 trips! In so doing, they had traveled, in segments to be sure, virtually the entire complex of the Mississippi River. They obviously enjoy the leisure and lifestyle of this form of travel. They are obviously not disenchanted by the repetitious daytime routines and they wear pins that distinguish them from neophytes such as Pat and myself, who were making our first trip. They know the crew and feel at home with them. It is interesting that if they take five trips, they get a 10% discount on the cost of a trip and if they've taken as many as 10 trips, they may receive a 15 % discount, so that there are inducements to return and see more of the river.

Perhaps one of the most interesting features about traveling on the Delta Queen was the daily lecture by the River Lorean, who spent a half to an hour each morning telling us something of the history of the river and particularly of the sites that we would be seeing as we traversed particular sections of the river. She would comment on its geographical features and record stories of events that happened at certain periods of time in the small hamlets that we passed by each day. Of great interest was her stories of the great paddle wheel steamer races and perhaps the most notable of all was the historic race between the R. E. Lee and the Natchez. Each year, there is a race between the "Delta Queen" and the "Belle of Memphis" and this is raced upriver from St. Louis to St. Paul, Minnesota. Actually, it is not a race throughout the entire distance but just short of St. Paul, the boats gather together and then race for the last four or five miles to create the excitement of a real race. Many people specifically return to be on the Delta Queen at that time so that they can participate and cheer the crew on in order to retain their "gold antlers". Apparently, the antler on the bridge of the boat is the signature of the fastest boat.

Entertainment aboard the Delta Queen was excellent and featured a five member jazz orchestra. There was a talented pianist, a fine base viol player, a creative drummer, a clarinetist and saxophonist, and a superb leader who was excellent with the trombone. In addition, there was a master of ceremonies called "Bob" who played the banjo, and lastly, a truly remarkable interlocutor and guitarist who had endless stories to tell and songs to sing. Surprisingly, he was able to sing any song backwards. This group played every evening after dinner in the dining room and also played in the late afternoon during the cocktail hour. Our River Lorean was also an excellent concert pianist and she entertained us on a couple of occasions with some classical renditions.

In conclusion, let me say our trip from Little Rock, Arkansas to Cincinnati, Ohio was marred by inclement weather and this consisted of rain virtually every day and considerable mist and fog. The weather was unusually breezy and cool and there was very little sitting outside of our room in a deck chair watching the scenes as the boat traveled a maximum of 6 miles an hour upstream. The weather made it difficult to see the shore line, although there was so much sameness that even if the weather had been clear, I am not so sure that it would have been particularly enlightening. The major highlights were when we met the Mississippi River and were leaving the Arkansas and later, when we left the Mississippi and ventured up the Ohio River. The latter took place at Cairo, Illinois. One of the saving graces for me was the fact that I brought my Walkman radio with me and I was enabled to keep in contact with reality and know what was happening in the real world. It is surprising that there were no announcements about what was happening on shore and there was no publication of any newspaper. Occasionally, when the boat would dock, as it did on two occasions, the first being in Memphis, Tennessee, and the second in Henderson, Kentucky, everyone made a beeline for a newspaper office and they bought up whatever was available immediately. Another disappointing feature of the trip was that we were only allowed 4 hours ashore in Memphis, approximately 3 hours in Henderson, Kentucky, and about 3 hours in Louisville, Kentucky. In Louisville, there was an organized tour to Graceland, the former residence of Elvis Presley. Most of the people elected, however, to use some local transportation which had been provided and visit the Peabody Hotel with its ducks, and later, spent a couple of hours in "Mud City". This has an excellent museum that is related to the history of the Mississippi River and also has a model of the entire Mississippi River itself. This is certainly worth visiting and gives one an overview of this entire area. While in Memphis, we also visited Beale Street, which was the home of the "Blues Music". Of great interest to me was the fact that while we were on the Ohio River, I was literally unable to get any music on my FM radio other than country music. It seems that every station from FM 88 to FM 106 carried only country singers. In some respects, I felt sorry for anyone growing up in this area for I wondered if they would ever have heard Mozart or Beethoven.

Finally, Pat and I are glad that we took this trip but as Pat said, she would not elect to ever do it again unless we traveled on one of the two larger boats and visited the segment from Pittsburgh downstream to Cincinnati. This would carry us through some interesting parts of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and eastern Ohio.

With love,

Dad

7/9/97

CEJ/nb