Prologue -- pt. 1. The river rising -- Gone on the river -- Old Devil River -- The comet's tail -- Like bubbles on a sea -- pt. 2. "Do you live on the river?" -- The desire of an ignorant Westerner -- Bloody island -- The roar of Niagara -- The cosmopolitan tide -- A pile of shavings -- The coasts of dark destruction -- pt. 3. The course of empire -- The mound builders -- A young man of splendid abilities -- The oracles -- pt. 4. Behemoth -- The sky parlor -- The alligator -- pt. 5. The good and the thoughtless -- The last of the floating life -- Epilogue

A chronicle of the Mississippi River in the first half of the nineteenth century--before it was tamed by commerce and technology--draws on first-hand accounts to describe life along the river, natural and man-made disasters, acts of piracy, and cultural celebrations