American Notes THE MISSISSIPPI

The drought has reduced parts of the mighty Mississippi to a slow, shallow stream, stalling barge traffic amid rocks and sandbars. But as the water recedes, the river bottom emerges, providing clues to a lost past. On an ugly beach of sand and clay in Arkansas, just downstream from Memphis, archaeologists have struck what they consider gold: large chunks of riverboats built in the late 1800s and long buried in silt.

The discoveries include parts of a 200-ft. stern-wheel steamboat, a 175-ft. wooden coal barge and another 140-ft. wooden barge. These relics excite historians because no large boats of the era, nor even their construction drawings, survive. Contends Archaeologist Leslie Stewart-Abernathy, who heads the project: "When we think about the Mississippi, we've got to get beyond the image of the river gambler and think about the guys who built the boats." Without them, there would have been a lot less life on the once romantic river.