Like most artists, John Banvard wanted to make a living painting just what he liked.  To his great surprise, John made a fortune—thanks to his Yankee ingenuity as well as his talents.  This is his true success story.

In the 1830s, when he was fifteen, John arrived in Louisville.  Right away he fell in love with the life around him: the river, the flatboats, the unusual and colorful people.  

Not long after, a Floating Art Show set out from New Harmony, Indiana on the Wabash River.  John Banvard and three fellow artists had converted a flatboat into a gallery for their paintings and dioramas!

John did the lecturing, and the four boys took in more potatoes than dimes, and more eggs than dollars. But by the time they had reached New Orleans, after an adventure-filled voyage, John knew what he wanted to do. 

He would make one enormous painting, scene after scene of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.  It would take years of planning and work, but somehow he would manage it.  It would be miles long; he would find a way to exhibit it and give talks about the people and places.

Joseph Papin's authentic and exciting pictures help make this book in its own way a captivating panorama of the heart of America in the mid-nineteenth century.

From the dust jacket