A richly detailed history of the early Upper Mississippi as the major highway into America's Midwest frontier for Native Americans and for pioneers. Birchbark canoes, romantic passenger steamboats, log rafts, and grain barges all traveled Mark Twain's river. The commercial life of the Mississippi ended with the coming of the railroad. Dams and locks then constricted the river, bringing floods and dumping refuse and sewage into the water. Ignored and abused, the river was disregarded by communities for over a century. Today the Mississippi River is in the midst of a renaissance. Now, with the water clean enough to swim in, environmentalists and developers use the river thoughtfully. No longer shunning this water lifeline, communities are returning to its banks for housing, recreation and pleasure.