Includes indexes.

ch. 1. Mississippi River: River history, review of early explorers, and development of the Upper Mississippi River -- ch. 2. Paddlewheel steamboats: history of early paddlewheel steamboats on the Mississippi River 1810-1885 -- ch. 3. Railroad bridges: Rock Island R.R. Bridge, Winona and St. Peter R.R. Bridge, Eads R.R. and Highway Bridge -- ch. 4. Great paddlewheel steamboat race of 1870: race from New Orleans to St. Louis between the "Natchez" and the "Robert E. Lee" -- ch. 5. Log rafts on the Upper Mississippi River: first log raft on the Upper Mississippi River, rafting across Lake St. Croix and Lake Pepin, first paddlewheel steamboat to tow log rafts on the Mississippi River, Chippewa log boom -- ch. 6. Upper Mississippi River paddlewheel steamboats 1823 to 1940 -- ch. 7. Today's paddlewheel steamboats: str. "Delta Queen", str. "Mississippi Queen", str. "Belle of Louisville", str. "Julia Belle Swain", str. "Natchez" -- ch. 8. Wing dams on the Upper Mississippi River: purpose of wing dams and how they were built -- ch. 9. Lock and dams on the Upper Mississippi River: the changes made by army engineers, how a double lockage is done -- ch. 10. Mississippi River navigation aids: river charts, coast guard light list, day boards (channel markers), buoys -- ch. 11. River pilot stories by Captain Ron: fact-fiction-legend -- ch. 12. River towns of the Upper Mississippi River: cities and towns from St. Louis, Missouri, to Minneapolis, Minnesota.