Day Six
The Mississippi River Cruise
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After visiting Mark Twain Cave, we went back downtown Hannibal to join in an afternoon Mississippi River cruise on board the Mark Twain River Boat. We parked our car
at a parking lot on Center Street Landing and walked onto the pier. A small office house stood on the pier, and we went into it. A lot of souvenirs suddenly caught my eyes and on second look,
I found a ticket counter by the right side wall of the room. We purchased our tickets there (we probably paid $20 each), and then boarded the boat.
There still was some time before the start of the cruise, so we moved up and down a few levels of the boat. We then sat on top deck seats and waited for the start of
the cruise. It was mid October and the sky was blue. Still, the wind blowing across the river hit us in some power, which caused us to feel chilly.
Soon the captain and a copilot appeared in the pilothouse. Taped calliope music began to play, and the captain began to give us detailed information about the town of
Hannibal, Mark Twain, Tom and his friends, and of course this tour itself. Now our boat was about to leave ther pier.
This is a view of the Mark Twain River Boat, seen from the Center Street Landing parking lot. On the right of the boat, you see a brown flat house, which is the office of the
River Boat Company. We got our tichets there, and boarded the boat.This boat looks like a steamboat, but actually it's a diesel engine boat. Its chimneys are fake.
People are sitting on the top deck, chatting happily while waiting for the departure. What you see in the back is the pilothouse. There is some time before the departure, so the pilot
does not show up yet. Single click on the photo for enlarging it.
The inside of the pilot house. You see a big steering wheel, which may remind you of a steamboat captain manoevering his boat in Mighty Mississippi in some Mark Twain's novels. The
Mississippi River is seen through the back windows.
Upstream view from the open deck. The hill by the river is Cardiff Hill, which was an everyday play spot for Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. Do you see a white lighthouse near the top of
the hill? That is The Mark Twain Memorial Lighthouse where you can see a wonderful view of the Mighty Mississippi. You can access it from the northern end of Main Street. Click for
the photo enlargement.
Downstream view from the open deck. The river flows down and finally reaches the Gulf of Mexico. Tom and Huck, together with Jim a negro slave, sailed down on an abandoned raft, deaming
a new life of freedom somewhere down the river. The raft would have been like a tiny floating leaf in these humongous river waters.
When you focus on the upper corner of the photo, you will see a gap in a string of the woods. That is a water flow that devides the two islands (or acctually two sandbars), Shuck
Island and Pearl Island. Both of them belong not to the State of Missouri but to the State of Illinois.
Our cruise boat is just leaving the port! What you see in the back is the old downtown of Hannibal.
The riverboat first goes upstream toward the Mark Twain Memorial Bridge. Here you see the bridge far. Interstate 72 runs on the bridge. We have come westward to Hannibal on 72 all the
way from Springfield, Illinois. Single click on the photo to enjoy seeing the enlarged view.
This photo shows the east bank of the Mississippi, which makes the westmost edge of the State of Illinois. The Mississippi devides the States of Illinois and MIssouri.
When you see the photo closely, you may realize the right half of the woods looks a little bigger. And there is a reason for that. Actually, that part is not the bank but a big
sand bar called "Shuck Island." A stream of the river waters actually flows between the east bank and the sandbar so that it makes the bar look like a small island in the river.
This photo may help to clearly show what I have just written above. The sandbar stretched toward the left (or upstream) is a part of Shuck Island. There is a stream of waters
behind that sandbar. But a much more impressive thing in this photo is a body of huge amounts of muddy waters of the Mississippi River that you see here! The flow speed is much higher
than you imagine, especially in the middle of the river. And that's why swimming across the river is strictly prohibited. Single-click for the photo enlargement.
Some video clips for the cruising are available. Click here to jump onto the video page.
Day Seven starts on the next page.
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