Fastest boats on the Mississippi in the old days were "The Robert E. Lee," "The Natchez" and "The J. M. White".  The latter could rip along at 22.5 miles an hour.  One of the most famous of the river's many showboats, long identified with life in the South, was "The Hollywood".  Most famous song ever written about the Mississippi is "Ol' Man River."

     Powerful modern tugboats now plying the river's muddy waters symbolize the part it played in winning a modern war:  "The Tunis," "The Wake Island," "The Kiska," "The Corregidor," The Attu," "The Buna," "The Milne Bay," "The Tulagi," "The Midway Island," "The Guadalcanal," "The Casablanca."

     The islands in the Mississippi's mouth that rise and, then, as suddenly, disappear are called "mud lumps."

     Now making one of history's greatest comebacks, breaking tonnage records every mouth and bidding fair to become greater than ever as a highway of internal commerce, Ol' Man River simultaneously flows in four different directions at New Orleans.  Just check any map to see how this neat little trick is done.

---1948

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