River Of Conflict, River Of Dreams Three Hundred Years On The Upper Mississippi

From the days the Indians traveled in birch bark canoes to today's cargo shipped in mammoth barges, the Upper Mississippi River has been at the center of regional life and history. The Mississippi was the highway into America's frontier. Immigrants followed the river northward, displacing the Dakota and the Ojibwe peoples. Because the river was there fur traders and Galena's lead miners were able to move their goods to market; passenger steamboats, those romantic floating palaces, connected the river towns; lumbermen made fortunes floating pine logs to the south; and Minneapolis became the flour milling capital of the world. Each river community, from the Twin Cities to those located four hundred miles to the south, owed its economic existence to the Upper Mississippi River. The river's importance ended with the coming of the railroads. The affection communities had for the river turned to indifference and finally to disregard. The steamboat era ended and wing dams and locks constricted the river. Frustrated, the river flooded. Growing cities poured their refuse and sewage into the river. Removed from the center of commercial life the river became a liability, an obstacle to be ignored. Conflict concerning the river, and how to best use it, still continues. Environmentalists and developers have divergent views. Among the institutions suggesting a new interpretation of the river is the Riverfront Corporation of St. Paul. Encouraged by the Corporation's Board of Directors and its Executive Director, Patrick Seeb, communities of the Upper Mississippi are establishing new relationships with the river and are working with each other, united by the great river that runs through them all. This is the story that Biloine W. Young tells.Young, Biloine Whiting is the author of 'River Of Conflict, River Of Dreams Three Hundred Years On The Upper Mississippi', published 2004 under ISBN 9781880654309 and ISBN 188065430X.