The Mississippi Steamboat Era in Historic Photographs: Natchez to New Orleans, 1870-1920

Between the Civil War and the turn of the century, the Mississippi River steamboat enjoyed its golden era: the boats were bigger, more elaborate and more efficient than their antebellum predecessors, and for a time they held off the railroad's challenge to their claim of being the predominant mode of transporting Deep South cotton. Here 170 pictures, taken by Natchez photographers Henry C. Norman and his son Earl, capture the period in startling clarity and freshness. There are shots of elegantly appointed dining rooms, workers posing in blackened clothes in front of furnaces, roustabouts unloading cotton and other cargo, passengers chatting leisurely on decks where spittoons were placed every six feet. The photos also capture river-town culturethe wharfs, wharehouses, saloonsand show the mystery of the Mississippi, whose erratic force sooner or later destroyed most of the boats pictured. This is a wonderful document that includes informative essays and captions. (March)