Rivers Of Change

Rating:
Summary: Enhanced with 30 black-and white photographs and 8 maps
Review: Enhanced with 30 black-and white photographs and 8 maps, Rivers Of Change: Trailing The Waterways Of Lewis & Clark by water resources consultant Tom Mullen introduces the reader to an American yesteryear of devastating floods, exploding steamboats, forced migrations, wandering rivers transforming thriving cities into deserted ghost towns, and wild rivers tamed into domesticated canals by dams and dredges. The focus is on a part of the Lewis and Clark route along the Missouri, Yellowstone, and Columbia rivers. This is a history that is enhanced with colorful characters, quirky historical anecdotes, and candid conversations "from off the beaten trail". Highly recommended as an addition to college and community library American History collections, Rivers Of Change will prove to be especially interesting to non-specialist general readers with an interest in environmental water issues -- past and present.

Rating:
Summary: Enhanced with 30 black-and white photographs and 8 maps
Review: Enhanced with 30 black-and white photographs and 8 maps, Rivers Of Change: Trailing The Waterways Of Lewis & Clark by water resources consultant Tom Mullen introduces the reader to an American yesteryear of devastating floods, exploding steamboats, forced migrations, wandering rivers transforming thriving cities into deserted ghost towns, and wild rivers tamed into domesticated canals by dams and dredges. The focus is on a part of the Lewis and Clark route along the Missouri, Yellowstone, and Columbia rivers. This is a history that is enhanced with colorful characters, quirky historical anecdotes, and candid conversations "from off the beaten trail". Highly recommended as an addition to college and community library American History collections, Rivers Of Change will prove to be especially interesting to non-specialist general readers with an interest in environmental water issues -- past and present.

Rating:
Summary: Rivers of Change makes way to Xanadu
Review: This was published as a column on March 18 in the Atchison Daily Globe, Atchison, Kansas, by Marilyn Fontenot.
Marilyn Fontenot is an award winning journalist and investigative reporter for the Globe.
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I'll never forget the day I met Tom Mullen. It was on Memorial Day a couple of years ago when I was assigned to the Missouri River in Atchison, Kansas, to take pictures. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, the trees were green and the view from the river from Veteran's Memorial Park was breathtaking. When I stood by the monument, under that great American flag, watching the Mighty Mo move on down the banks under one of the last remaining truss bridges in the world, I knew I was swirled around historical surroundings and I liked it.
Very proud veterans, who still consider themselves soldiers, came to the river for their annual Memorial Day service not far from the Amelia Earhart Bridge.
After I was done, I took a few more minutes to absorb the atmosphere, while thinking of Kubla Khan, the Alph and that "the sacred river," when I noticed someone else in my Xanadue.
And he just sat there watching the river.
He didn't seem to notice me and it looked like he was studying something - paying close attention to something.
So, I walked up to this stranger and stuck out my hand.
"Hi, I'm Marilyn Fontenot, isn't it a beautiful day?" I said.
"It sure is," he said. "I'm Tom Mullen. Glad to meet you."
He told me he and his truck, Six Pack, were "just passing through," and they had come by way of St. Louis, Mo. He was on his way to Oregon and was working on a book. He was in Atchison to find Dan Bowen, the wildlife biologist at Benedictine College. I was intrigued and asked him plenty of questions and he so graciously answered.
He had places to go, people to meet and things to see, he said.
We spent a lot of time together while he was in Atchison. I introduced him to people in town and he found the ones he was looking for.
We met at Mueller's Locker for mozzarella sticks and shrimp for lunch and Purcell's Landing for beer and burgers for supper - all along the Missouri River.
"Tom, you know the hardest thing for a writer to do is write," I told him when he got discouraged.
"I know, I know," he used to say.
The time flew by and soon he said adios and I said happy trails.
I hadn't heard from him in months then a couple of weeks ago in April I got a package in the mail.
"Rivers of Change: Trailing the Waterways of Lewis and Clark," by Tom Mullen, was slipped inside complete with my name in the acknowledgements.
It didn't take me long to read the entire book. It's one of those books you start and can't stop until it's finished.
What a trip that was.
He took me with him to exotic places where I met a slew of colorful strangers. He canoed untamed and scenic river stretches, bicycled beside river barges, scuba dived and explored the makings of dam power plants, all the while he kept meeting strangers.

Tom found Jim Nower, a farmer in Weston, Mo., who said "I'm 81 now. My family's been on this farm since Great Grandfather Nower got here in 1856."
In Doniphan he was looking for a monument, which was placed there by Benedictine Monks along the river when they settled in Doniphan in the middle 1800s.
Then he went looking for Wolf River Bob in White Cloud and found him.
"A man with a tousled Kris Kringle beard and a pony tail stood. He almost saluted when he heard his name," Tom wrote

"Yessir, 'at's me," he said. "Wolf River Bob."
Tom and Six Pack kept going
They followed that ole' river all the way to Astoria and the Pacific Ocean through tamed Crow country where he talks to Joe Medicine Crow then to Fort Peck Lake in Montana, "When the Land Belonged to God."
He and Six Pack finally made their destination.
It wasn't long before he convinced a publishing company to publish his book where his "Rivers of Change" takes us to a Xanadu, with its own twists and turns of prose and lyric with a visual that puts us on the page.
I'm glad I met Tom Mullen that day in May. I'm glad I took the time to make a stranger feel welcome in a strange place. I'm glad he had the courage to keep going.
I'm glad I was intrigued.

Rating:
Summary: "Zen and the Ways of Rivers"
Review: Thoughtful and well-researched, and a total pleasure to read. This book is a combination of "Blue Highways" and "Travels with Charley" - a wonderful travelogue of life along backroads (and back rivers!) America. But more importantly - I learned an amazing amount about rivers and water management. The author's obvious knowledge of water systems is presented easily and effectively.
Now, living next to the Rio Grande, or visiting New Orleans, I have a much better understanding of how wildlife (and people) are affected by these rivers. If you enjoy reading about real people, their lives (and their rivers), and like to learn a bit at the same time, I highly recommend this book. A great alternative read in these days of "Lewis and Clark remembered".

Rating:
Summary: "Zen and the Ways of Rivers"
Review: Thoughtful and well-researched, and a total pleasure to read. This book is a combination of "Blue Highways" and "Travels with Charley" - a wonderful travelogue of life along backroads (and back rivers!) America. But more importantly - I learned an amazing amount about rivers and water management. The author's obvious knowledge of water systems is presented easily and effectively.
Now, living next to the Rio Grande, or visiting New Orleans, I have a much better understanding of how wildlife (and people) are affected by these rivers. If you enjoy reading about real people, their lives (and their rivers), and like to learn a bit at the same time, I highly recommend this book. A great alternative read in these days of "Lewis and Clark remembered".