Introduction / Jon K. Lauck -- I. Natural history and Indigenous Peoples -- A river through time: early cultures on the Big Sioux River / Renee M. Boen and Katie Lamie -- From pipes to pistols: Blood Run, the pipestone trade, and the eclipse of the Pre-Contact economy in the Upper Midwest / Joshua Jeffers -- Geography and land use in the Valley / Christopher R. Laingen -- Land use, forests, and birds of the Big Sioux River Valley / Matthew J. Ley, David L. Swanson, W. Carter Johnson, Mark Dixon -- II. Explorers, settlers, outlaws, and war -- "A stream of clear, swift-running water": Nicollet, Fremont and the exploration of the Big Sioux River in 1838 / John Bicknell -- The Big Sioux River Valley frontier, 1851-1889 / Jeff Bremer -- From Northfield to Springfield: the escape of the James Brothers from history into legen along the Big Sioux River / Sam Herley -- Abbie Gardner, the Spirit Lake Massacre, and reconciliation on the Big Sioux River / James Schaap -- III. Writers, scholars, and artists -- Unheralded novelists of Siouxland / Paul Theobald -- The origins of "Siouxland" / Lance Nixon -- Lorena King Fairbank and John King Fairbank: South Dakota cosmopolitans / Greg Rohlf -- James Seaton of Sioux City: a biography of a Midwestern intellectual / Jeremy Seaton -- "Harvey Dunn Colors": the art of the Big Sioux River Valley / Christopher Vondracek -- IV. Politics -- The politics of the Valley / Matthew Housiaux -- The western watershed: Lake County and its water / Jon Hunter -- V. Water quality -- The Big Sioux River watershed: changing perceptions of river health and the role of state soil and water conservation districts in twentieth-century South Dakota / Dale Potts -- Don't drink the water: bacterial contamination of the Big Sioux River / Kelsey Murray -- VI. Personal reflections -- Life, loss, and the literature of loess / Ryan Allen -- "Follow me," said the river / David Allan Evans -- Author biographies -- Index
Summary:
"In the 19 essays that follow, readers will find a cornucopia of delights and warnings. From "A River Through Time" to "Don't Drink the Water," for example, the writers document early river cultures and bacterial contamination today. The collection's six sections cover almost every conceivable aspect of this 420-mile-long prairie river dividing South Dakota and Iowa and Minnesota and a major tributary to the Missouri River, never before the subject of a book: Natural History and Indigenous Peoples; Explorers, Settlers, Outlaws, and War; Writers, Scholars, and Artists; Politics; Water Quality; Personal Reflections"--Back cover.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.