Chapter I: Front Matter

House-boat life--Decadence of steamboat traffic--Wheeling,
and Wheeling Creek. 50

Chapter VI.

The Big Grave--Washington and Round Bottom--A
lazy man's paradise--Captina Creek--George Rogers
Clark at Fish Creek--Southern types. 64

Chapter VII.

In Dixie--Oil and natural gas, at Witten's Bottom--The
Long Reach--Photographing crackers--Visitors in camp. 77

Chapter VIII.

Life ashore and afloat--Marietta, "the Plymouth Rock
of the West"--The Little Kanawha--The story of
Blennerhassett's Island. 87

Chapter IX.

Poor whites--First library in the West--An hour at
Hockingport--A hermit fisher. 99

Chapter X.

Cliff-dwellers, on Long Bottom--Pomeroy Bend--Letart's
Island, and Rapids--Game, in the early day--Rainy
weather--In a "cracker" home. 109

Chapter XI.

Battle of Point Pleasant--The story of
Gallipolis--Rosebud--Huntington--The genesis of a
houseboater. 125

Chapter XII.

In a fog--The Big Sandy--Rainy weather--Operatic
gypsies--An ancient tavern. 139

Chapter XIII.

The Scioto, and the Shawanese--A night at
Rome--Limestone--Keels, flats, and boatmen of the
olden time. 150

Chapter XIV.

Produce-boats--A dead town--On the Great Bend--Grant's
birthplace--The Little Miami--The genesis
of Cincinnati. 168

Chapter XV.

The story of North Bend--The "shakes"--Driftwood--Rabbit
hash--A side-trip to Big Bone Lick. 182

Chapter XVI.

New Switzerland--An old-time river pilot--Houseboat
life on the lower reaches--A philosopher in
rags--Wooded solitudes--Arrival at Louisville. 202

Chapter XVII.

Storied Louisville--Red Indians and white--A night on
Sand Island--New Albany--Riverside hermits--The
river falling--A deserted village--An ideal camp. 218

Chapter XVIII.

Village life--A traveling photographer--On a country
road--Studies in color--Again among colliers--In
sweet content--A ferry romance. 233

Chapter XIX.

Fishermen's tales--Skiff nomenclature--Green
River--Evansville--Henderson--Audubon and
Rafinesque--Floating shops--The Wabash. 251

Chapter XX.

Shawneetown--Farm-houses on stilts--Cave-in-Rock--Island
nights. 267

Chapter XXI.

The Cumberland and the Tennessee--Stately solitudes--Old
Fort Massac--Dead towns in Egypt--The
last camp--Cairo. 280

_Appendix A._--Historical outline of Ohio Valley
settlement. 296

_Appendix B._--Selected list of Journals of previous
travelers down the Ohio. 320

Index. 329