There is a good chance that someone from Jefferson County met Dick Conant, the “Riverman.” And it’s absolutely certain if they did, they would remember him. The subject of a new book by Ben McGrath, Riverman, An American Oddysey, Conant paddled the length of the Mississippi River and many other streams in North America.
No local towns are mentioned in the text, but many of the mighty river’s streamside cities did get shout-outs from the detailed documentation Conant carried in his canoe. Unfortunately he didn’t complete his last adventure, trying to paddle the length of the East Coast from New England to Florida.
His capsized boat was found in Albermarle Sound in North Carolina in late 2014. Among the items recovered were his journals and a copy of an article from The New Yorker written by McGrath. Investigators contacted the sportswriter, and with the permission and best wishes of Conant’s family, he tracked down people whose names and locations were identified in the recovered contents.
The story of three weeks he spent in Caruthersville, with a bar called Woody’s as the center of his attention, illustrated how he lived the golden years of his life. Described as a Santa Claus look-alike in bib overalls, he was a U.S. Navy veteran, itinerant worker and prolific paddler.
One of the most dramatic events in the book took place close to Jefferson County in 2009. It started somewhere further upriver in Minnesota when he purchased provisions for the trip. Among the staples of his diet were hot dogs he “preserved” in pickle juice.
Conant ended up with dysentery that he blamed on the hot dogs, not his storage system, and camped on a towhead somewhere south of Chester, Ill. The area received heavy rain over several days and the river was rising fast. Conant battled relentless diarrhea while having to keep moving his campsite higher and higher up the tiny island.
Overall, he estimated the river rose nearly 20 feet, and he was down to about 18 inches of elevation before the crest came. In addition to all manner of trees and brush rushing by, Conant reported washing machines and construction drywall floating in the floodwater. He spent 10 days on the island recovering from his illness and waiting for the river to recede.
The Mississippi was not the only geography Conant explored. He grew up near the Hudson River in New York, which was part of his final journey and where McGrath first met him at age 63. He also paddled the Yellowstone, Ohio, Tennessee and Tombigbee rivers and many other streams and canals across the United States.
Conant is one of the most intriguing characters I’ve found in a book recently. His stories of people he met on his voyages prove there are many other people out there who really are “out there.”
“To me he was the Dos Equis Guy, ‘the most interesting man in the world,’” one person said about Conant.
Among his diary entries, collected in a book he had hoped to publish, Conant complimented the folks he met in many river towns. “In most places I visit,” he wrote, “I am treated with friendship and generosity and kindness in the extreme.”
Conant may have paddled past our Jefferson County riverbanks, or set up his camp on the more rural Illinois shore. But from years of living in Jefferson County and writing about its people, I know many of our residents would have enjoyed his company. I am also certain that those with a sense of adventure, a love of the water, or just fans of a fun read will like Riverman, An American Odyssey as much as I did.
John Winkelman is Marketing Director for Liguori Publications near Barnhart, Mo., and Associate Editor for Outdoor Guide Magazine. If you have story ideas to share for the Leader outdoor news page, e-mail ogmjohnw@aol.com, and you can find more outdoor news and updates at johnjwink.com.