July-August 2012
Highlights and Links
Follow the links for more information about Upper Mississippi stories and news in this issue of Big River.
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Guttenberg, Iowa, tied for Fifth Place with Bellevue, Iowa.
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By Dean Klinkenberg
The Mississippi Traveler found six Upper Mississippi riverfronts to be the most inviting for hanging out and watching the river. Which ones would get your vote? For the whole story, order a copy of this issue.
Lake City, Minn., claimed Third Place.
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Davenport, Iowa, came in Second Place.
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Free-Floating Man-Eaters of the Backwaters
The Bladderwort
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The Wisconsin River
The lower Wisconsin River is popular with paddlers.
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Whit-Craft Boats
By James Lantow
 
Whit-Craft brochure images from the 1960s.
The Whit-Craft Boat Company built hundreds of houseboats in Winona, Minn. It was a thriving business in the late 1950s through the 60s, employing 60 workers. The company sold the well crafted houseboats all over the United States, in Canada and elsewhere.
The author's bi-tunnel houseboat in 1965.
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Crossing the Railroad, Dividing a Town
By Julianne Couch |
Railroad tracks are embedded into the pavement of Second Street in Bellevue, Iowa, with only a curb between the trains and the passenger cars cruising alongside.This cozy arrangement is known as “on street running.”
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Breitbach's Country Dining — Iowa’s oldest bar and eatery
An Iowa Treasure
Breitbach’s is best known for its made-from-scratch food. The restaurant offers all-you-can-eat buffets on Friday and Saturday nights and a Sunday morning breakfast buffet, also full menus for breakfast, lunch and dinner and a sandwich menu anytime.
Mike and Cindy Breitbach and their children, the fifth and sixth generations to work in the restaurant, are still serving home-cooked meals at Breitbach’s Country Dining on the Great River Road between Dubuque and Guttenberg in northeast Iowa.
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River Reviews
Muskrat for Supper, by Kenny Slawey
Troubled Waters, by Jack Lambert
Shell Games — The Life and Times of Pearl McGill, Industrial Spy and Pioneer Labor Activist, by Jeffrey S. Copelnd
The Okee Dokee Brothers — Can You Canoe?
Fishing Camp, the Game |
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