The Old-Time River Rats: Tales of Bygone Days Along the Wild Mississippi by Kenny SalweyMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Salwey writes about a couple of river rat families he knew growing up, back quite a few decades ago, as well as a couple of dogs he had and a couple of family stories from when he was young and living on the hills over the Mississippi. I chose to read this book because I grew up on a hill over the Mississippi a couple of hundred miles downstream from the lands Salwey talks about, but I had noticed the same kinds of folks. I was often called a river rat when visiting other high schools as a fan of our school’s basketball team and I didn’t know what that meant. Ours was one of only two rural school districts to encompass both the Mississippi banks and the Rock River, so there were plenty of river rats in the area. But I lived on the hill. Salwey’s book explains the difference in the people, in part based on the difference in the land and in how the people earned their livings. River rats earned their livings through the river, heavily focused on fish. Hill people were more the typical farmers. Salwey choses some real characters to illustrate river rats, and there are some good anecdotes about them. He also includes good anecdotes about his family and neighboring farmers threshing, or thrashing as he calls it. This must be from before the Second World War. Salwey also includes some stories about memorable dogs he has owned, which fit right in. This is a nice taste of the past, giving these rural folks from upriver of Dubuque and downriver from LaCrosse (sometimes called the Driftless) a voice from a simpler time. I’ve heard similar stories from family from around my part of the River.
View all my reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment