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The Travel Trilogy #3
River-Horse: A Voyage Across America
In RIVER-HORSE, the preeminent chronicler of American back roads -- who has given us the classics BLUE HIGHWAYS and PRAIRYERTH -- recounts his singular voyage on American waters from sea to sea. Along the route, he offers a lyrical and ceaselessly fascinating shipboard perspective on the country's rivers, lakes, canals, and towns. Brimming with history, drama, humor, and wisdom, RIVER-HORSE belongs in the pantheon of American travel literature. In his most ambitious journey ever, Heat-Moon sets off aboard a small boat he named Nikawa ("river horse" in Osage) from the Atlantic at New York Harbor in hopes of entering the Pacific near Astoria, Oregon. He and his companion, Pilotis, struggle to cover some five thousand watery miles -- more than any other cross-country river traveler has ever managed -- often following in the wakes of our most famous explorers, from Henry Hudson to Lewis and Clark. En route, the voyagers confront massive floods, submerged rocks, dangerous weather, and their own doubts about whether they can complete the trip. But the hard days yield up incomparable strangers generous with help and eccentric tales, landscapes unchanged since Sacagawea saw them, riverscapes flowing with a lively past, and the growing belief that efforts to protect our lands and waters are beginning to pay off. And, throughout its course, the expedition enjoys coincidences so breathtaking as to suggest the intervention of a divine and witty Providence. Teeming with humanity and high adventure, Heat-Moon's account is an unsentimental and original arteriogram of our nation at the edge of the millennium. Masterly in its own right, RIVER-HORSE, when taken with BLUE HIGHWAYS and PRAIRYERTH, forms the capstone of a peerless and timeless trilogy.
540 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1999
350 people are currently reading
2757 people want to read
About the author
William Least Heat-Moon
28 books425 followersFrom wikipedia:
William Least Heat-Moon, byname of William Trogdon is an American travel writer of English, Irish and Osage Nation ancestry. He is the author of a bestselling trilogy of topographical U.S. travel writing.
His pen name came from his father saying, "I call myself Heat Moon, your elder brother is Little Heat Moon. You, coming last, therefore, are Least." Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Heat-Moon attended the University of Missouri where he earned bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D. degrees in English, as well as a bachelor's degree in photojournalism. He also served as a professor of English at the university.
William Least Heat-Moon, byname of William Trogdon is an American travel writer of English, Irish and Osage Nation ancestry. He is the author of a bestselling trilogy of topographical U.S. travel writing.
His pen name came from his father saying, "I call myself Heat Moon, your elder brother is Little Heat Moon. You, coming last, therefore, are Least." Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Heat-Moon attended the University of Missouri where he earned bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D. degrees in English, as well as a bachelor's degree in photojournalism. He also served as a professor of English at the university.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 255 reviews
February 8, 2012
There is no hiding in writing. You can run the River Of No Return in central Idaho, you can float the Xingu in central Brazil, raft the Grand Canyon of the wild Colorado, drive the Pacific Coast Highway, travel to faraway lands and cultures, or ride the rails and watch for fires in desolate, lookout towers in the middle of nowhere – you can ride and ride and ride, and run and run and run, but if you choose to write about your journey, you cannot hide who you are. William Least Heat-Moon, author of River Horse: A Voyage Across America is a curmudgeon—a second-order curmudgeon. (See below.) And on top of that, his writing suffers from way, way, way too many metaphors, similes, and analogies. Heat-Moon is in love with himself, his writing style, and his worldview; and is bitter and angry that others don’t fully appreciate his talents. That’s what I get from reading this book. That said, there are some things I like about this story. It is informative and authoritative. I did get a sense of the land and I liked the historical references to the Lewis and Clark expedition and also the local folklores and color.
This is travel writing, a book about Heat-Moon’s 100+ day journey of 5,288 miles across America in 1995, mostly by major waterways, in a 22 foot motorboat, named Nikawa, which in the Osage language means, river horse. And, as one of the author’s travel companion’s notes spelled backward is “Awakin.” Wishful thinking, methinks. If by awakening one means insight into self. Not much of that going on here. The writing style is NPRish. Contrived. Overdone. Too clever. Metaphors and whatnots are for the purpose of expanding understanding — Making sense of the unknown by the knower of, to the unknower of—the unknown. Not to show off but to simplify. For example: The Snake River. Or, The River Of No Return. Which then Heat-Moon dresses up as in his chapter heading: “Bungholes and Bodacious Bounces.” But then, and this is part of what I like about the book, Heat-Moon gives a good declarative, simple opening paragraph that describes the physical characteristics of the canyon, followed by excerpts from L & C Expedition’s Journal and tops that with this local lore descriptor: ‘“Creation chopped it [the Canyon] out with a hatchet.’” (circa 1900) One can imagine a huge god-like man, say Paul Bunyan, standing over the rocky mountains with an axe and chopping away, and then what that would look like – the canyon that the Salmon River carved out in central Idaho. But then one of his (=Heat-Moon’s) pal’s (like attracts like) chimes in with this, ‘“This isn’t a river – it’s a wet elevator.’” (pg. 430 – both) Huh? This kind of muddling metaphor is a constant. Here’s another one: “Things unacknowledged were about to claw into the light like moles desperate in a flooding field.” (pg. 489) Which is a re-statement of what he mused 16 pages earlier, “… – my life off the river caught up that morning …I’d given that other existence time to find me and bring with it much I’d recently failed to do well or even adequately – marriage preeminently – so that when I fully woke, even before I thought I heard the wind, I wanted nothing to do with anything, and lay wishing I could evaporate like a creek when feeder streams dwindle in summer heat until one day the water is gone, leaving behind only an imprint in its bed.” Sh__t. Heat-Moon was 56 when he took this trip, and I know some readers do like this kind of self-wallowing, but it’s not uplifting nor inspiring … makes me glad I haven’t encountered Heat-Moon on any of my travels! It’s NPRish, yes? His worldview is tree-hugging liberal (Nothing wrong with that. I lean that way myself.); and he seems to look down his nose at most of the people he encounters along his journey. This is where the “second-order curmudgeon” comes from. I’ve taken that from David Wallace’s account in his novel The Broom of the System, where Wallace speaks (via a character) about “a second-order vain person.” Which is – pretending not to be vain when you are – which can also be applied to Heat-Moon. So curmudgeon: bad tempered, disapproving, disagreeing person, which is how I find Heat-Moon. And yes, I have some of that in me. Most writers do. But he pretends he’s not, folksin’ up to the folks he encounters on his journey, and then secretly belittling them when he has no further use for them. Anyway, that’s my impression.
I like this kind of book – a travel-log, but not this one. I much preferred Road Angels: Searching for Home on America’s Coast of Dreams (2001) by Kent Nerburn.
This is travel writing, a book about Heat-Moon’s 100+ day journey of 5,288 miles across America in 1995, mostly by major waterways, in a 22 foot motorboat, named Nikawa, which in the Osage language means, river horse. And, as one of the author’s travel companion’s notes spelled backward is “Awakin.” Wishful thinking, methinks. If by awakening one means insight into self. Not much of that going on here. The writing style is NPRish. Contrived. Overdone. Too clever. Metaphors and whatnots are for the purpose of expanding understanding — Making sense of the unknown by the knower of, to the unknower of—the unknown. Not to show off but to simplify. For example: The Snake River. Or, The River Of No Return. Which then Heat-Moon dresses up as in his chapter heading: “Bungholes and Bodacious Bounces.” But then, and this is part of what I like about the book, Heat-Moon gives a good declarative, simple opening paragraph that describes the physical characteristics of the canyon, followed by excerpts from L & C Expedition’s Journal and tops that with this local lore descriptor: ‘“Creation chopped it [the Canyon] out with a hatchet.’” (circa 1900) One can imagine a huge god-like man, say Paul Bunyan, standing over the rocky mountains with an axe and chopping away, and then what that would look like – the canyon that the Salmon River carved out in central Idaho. But then one of his (=Heat-Moon’s) pal’s (like attracts like) chimes in with this, ‘“This isn’t a river – it’s a wet elevator.’” (pg. 430 – both) Huh? This kind of muddling metaphor is a constant. Here’s another one: “Things unacknowledged were about to claw into the light like moles desperate in a flooding field.” (pg. 489) Which is a re-statement of what he mused 16 pages earlier, “… – my life off the river caught up that morning …I’d given that other existence time to find me and bring with it much I’d recently failed to do well or even adequately – marriage preeminently – so that when I fully woke, even before I thought I heard the wind, I wanted nothing to do with anything, and lay wishing I could evaporate like a creek when feeder streams dwindle in summer heat until one day the water is gone, leaving behind only an imprint in its bed.” Sh__t. Heat-Moon was 56 when he took this trip, and I know some readers do like this kind of self-wallowing, but it’s not uplifting nor inspiring … makes me glad I haven’t encountered Heat-Moon on any of my travels! It’s NPRish, yes? His worldview is tree-hugging liberal (Nothing wrong with that. I lean that way myself.); and he seems to look down his nose at most of the people he encounters along his journey. This is where the “second-order curmudgeon” comes from. I’ve taken that from David Wallace’s account in his novel The Broom of the System, where Wallace speaks (via a character) about “a second-order vain person.” Which is – pretending not to be vain when you are – which can also be applied to Heat-Moon. So curmudgeon: bad tempered, disapproving, disagreeing person, which is how I find Heat-Moon. And yes, I have some of that in me. Most writers do. But he pretends he’s not, folksin’ up to the folks he encounters on his journey, and then secretly belittling them when he has no further use for them. Anyway, that’s my impression.
I like this kind of book – a travel-log, but not this one. I much preferred Road Angels: Searching for Home on America’s Coast of Dreams (2001) by Kent Nerburn.
June 19, 2023
”Oh! He who has never been afar let him once go from home to know what home is, for as you draw neigh again to your old native river he seems to pour through you with all his tides, and in your enthusiasm you swear to build alters like milestones along both his sacred banks”
~Herman Melville, Redburn
”Here, as everywhere, whether mountains or men, a river finds faults, weaknesses, rifts, and exploits them. And that’s why rivers outlast rocks…and men.”
”Our journey is seas to sea, salt to salt, tide to tide.”
William Least Heat Moon conceived and charted a journey across America by its waterways — coast to coast, nearly 5,000 miles, minimum portages, through the heartland of America. With his boat christened Nikawa (Osage for River Horse) he began in the Atlantic in New York Harbor, and ended in the Pacific by the mouth of the Columbia River. The Hudson River, the Erie Canal, Lake Erie, the Allegheny River, the Ohio, the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Snake River, and the Columbia River were his watery interstates.
Along the way, the author shares the history and topography of the rivers and the shores that he passes. He explains the differences between cities that treat rivers as their front doors, ones that treat them as their back doors, and ones that nearly hide the fact that a river flows through it at all. The Journals of Lewis and Clark serve as his scriptures, a text he returns to again and again as much of his journey followed in their path. He had companions on this journey, and due to the nature of river travel, most of his human interaction and conversation are with them rather than those ashore. Most strikingly, he gives a view of the vastness of this continental country from a watery perspective that few ever see.
~Herman Melville, Redburn
”Here, as everywhere, whether mountains or men, a river finds faults, weaknesses, rifts, and exploits them. And that’s why rivers outlast rocks…and men.”
”Our journey is seas to sea, salt to salt, tide to tide.”
William Least Heat Moon conceived and charted a journey across America by its waterways — coast to coast, nearly 5,000 miles, minimum portages, through the heartland of America. With his boat christened Nikawa (Osage for River Horse) he began in the Atlantic in New York Harbor, and ended in the Pacific by the mouth of the Columbia River. The Hudson River, the Erie Canal, Lake Erie, the Allegheny River, the Ohio, the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Snake River, and the Columbia River were his watery interstates.
Along the way, the author shares the history and topography of the rivers and the shores that he passes. He explains the differences between cities that treat rivers as their front doors, ones that treat them as their back doors, and ones that nearly hide the fact that a river flows through it at all. The Journals of Lewis and Clark serve as his scriptures, a text he returns to again and again as much of his journey followed in their path. He had companions on this journey, and due to the nature of river travel, most of his human interaction and conversation are with them rather than those ashore. Most strikingly, he gives a view of the vastness of this continental country from a watery perspective that few ever see.
April 26, 2007
Haven't navigated all the way through yet. So far, Least Heat Moon's 'deep map' approach to digging headlong into the (recent) history of particular corners of north America is enlightening and surprisingly fast-paced (even if it's not the methodological novelty it's cracked up to be). His choice to refer to his touring companion as 'Pilotis', ostensibly so as to honor his friend's humble wish for anonymity, becomes grating about two pages in; and there's a lot of smug 'Year in Provence'-style celebration of frosty brews with quirky locals after a hard day of yachting, &c. But overall, the writing -- at heart, it's a classic American river odyssey -- flows along entertainingly, and you're bound to learn some neat trivia along the way.
October 25, 2014
Heat-Moon's (fellow Missourian)journal of his transcontinental river journey from the Atlantic to the Pacific is enchanting. I felt I was in the boat with him as he vividly described the landscape, the perils of river travel, and the vastness of this country's wilderness. In the best tradition of Twain's "Life on the Mississippi" and Lewis and Clark's journals, Heat-Moon provides great historical narrative interspersed with his descriptions of the mighty Hudson, Ohio, Mississippi, Missouri, Salmon, and Columbia rivers as they are today. A great trip!
May 13, 2007
when my wanderlust threatens to overcome me, all i have to do is take out my copy of this book and read a few chapters. william least-heat moon is one of my favourite authors, and his acount of travelling across america by boat is extraordinary. the people he encounters, the adventures he goes on, they all satisfy my hobo nature.
June 16, 2021
This is the story of Heat-Moon's travels across the United States by boat, with a few companions, in a 22-foot boat and canoe. Starting at Elizabeth, NJ and ending at Astoria, OR, he and his companions travel over 5000 miles by boat. They do have to portage over and around a number of dams; some dams have locks which enable them to pass through on the boat.
As we learn in the process of reading, he meticulously planned this trip for years. At times during the trip, the continuation of the trip was in jeopardy. But they persisted; well, he persisted and the others grudgingly complied. I learned much about rivers reading this, particularly about the different channels running through them and the difficulties of navigating upstream and downstream, in high water and in shallow water. Basically, if you don't know what you're doing, don't attempt this.
As with Heat-Moon's book of traveling the US by car, Blue Highways, one of the fascinating features of the book are the many different types of people who cross his path. You also learn about geography, and there are a lot of factual tidbits sprinkled throughout the book. For much of the Western part of his journey, he follows the trail of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and quotes frequently from their journals.
Each river that he traverses is a different section of the book. An extended quote from another writer applicable to that river appears at the beginning of each section, and maps of the journey are sprinkled throughout, so that you get a visual idea as to the progress of the journey. I had no idea the Missouri River was as long and as treacherous as it is. He actually divided it into two sections, Lower and Upper. By the time they reached the end of the Missouri, I was as tired as he and his crew were.
Keep your dictionary handy when you read this book; Heat-Moon throws all kinds of esoteric and unfamiliar words at you. All in all, this is a good read, and a fascinating look at parts of the US that most of us will probably never see.
As we learn in the process of reading, he meticulously planned this trip for years. At times during the trip, the continuation of the trip was in jeopardy. But they persisted; well, he persisted and the others grudgingly complied. I learned much about rivers reading this, particularly about the different channels running through them and the difficulties of navigating upstream and downstream, in high water and in shallow water. Basically, if you don't know what you're doing, don't attempt this.
As with Heat-Moon's book of traveling the US by car, Blue Highways, one of the fascinating features of the book are the many different types of people who cross his path. You also learn about geography, and there are a lot of factual tidbits sprinkled throughout the book. For much of the Western part of his journey, he follows the trail of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and quotes frequently from their journals.
Each river that he traverses is a different section of the book. An extended quote from another writer applicable to that river appears at the beginning of each section, and maps of the journey are sprinkled throughout, so that you get a visual idea as to the progress of the journey. I had no idea the Missouri River was as long and as treacherous as it is. He actually divided it into two sections, Lower and Upper. By the time they reached the end of the Missouri, I was as tired as he and his crew were.
Keep your dictionary handy when you read this book; Heat-Moon throws all kinds of esoteric and unfamiliar words at you. All in all, this is a good read, and a fascinating look at parts of the US that most of us will probably never see.
August 26, 2019
William Least Heat-Moon (pen name for William Trogdon) is a greatly gifted travel writer. River Horse is the last in a trilogy of which the two preceding books are Blue Highways and PrairyErth. They can be read in any order, though.
In River Horse, Heat-Moon, with a small crew of friends, travels from the Atlantic Ocean (starting out from New York Harbor) to the Pacific Ocean (the Oregon coast near Portland) almost exclusively by river. Although it is not possible to travel from coast to coast by river with no intervening land at all, Heat-Moon managed to plot a route that kept portaging to a bare mininum. With just a small dory boat and a canoe, he and his crew sailed up the Hudson to the Erie Canal, then on two connecting lakes -- Lake Erie and Lake Chautauqua -- to the Allegheny, to the Ohio, to the Mississippi, to the Missouri (the longest river in the U.S.), which took them to the Continental Divide. Up to that point they were sailing upstream -- against the current -- which of course was much more difficult than going downstream. After crossing the Continental Divide, of course, they were going downstream, on the Salmon River, to the Snake River, and finally to the Columbia River, which pours itself into the Pacific Ocean.
Heat-Moon has much to say about the pretty much criminal damage done to America's wildlife, waterways, and natural landscape by two centuries of polluting industry, hunting and fishing animal species into extinction and near-extinction, and a national system of close to a hundred hydroelectric dams and locks that have literally changed the course of rivers and topography, and have spelled annihilation for one of the most amazing biological phenomena ever to exist; namely, the yearly run of salmon to spawning grounds.
There is so much more, and it's not all depressing human arrogance and contempt for the astounding natural inheritance Europeans were given in a completely untouched continent. The cameraderie between Heat-Moon and his companions, and the ways they come to depend on each other on this 100-day voyage, is both laugh-out-loud funny and touching. Heat-Moon also describes in wonderful detail the marvelous diversity of human beings who live in the places they pass through. Lots of quaint and eccentric conversations and local color.
Four stars for this engaging, entertaining, inspirational, and informative read.
In River Horse, Heat-Moon, with a small crew of friends, travels from the Atlantic Ocean (starting out from New York Harbor) to the Pacific Ocean (the Oregon coast near Portland) almost exclusively by river. Although it is not possible to travel from coast to coast by river with no intervening land at all, Heat-Moon managed to plot a route that kept portaging to a bare mininum. With just a small dory boat and a canoe, he and his crew sailed up the Hudson to the Erie Canal, then on two connecting lakes -- Lake Erie and Lake Chautauqua -- to the Allegheny, to the Ohio, to the Mississippi, to the Missouri (the longest river in the U.S.), which took them to the Continental Divide. Up to that point they were sailing upstream -- against the current -- which of course was much more difficult than going downstream. After crossing the Continental Divide, of course, they were going downstream, on the Salmon River, to the Snake River, and finally to the Columbia River, which pours itself into the Pacific Ocean.
Heat-Moon has much to say about the pretty much criminal damage done to America's wildlife, waterways, and natural landscape by two centuries of polluting industry, hunting and fishing animal species into extinction and near-extinction, and a national system of close to a hundred hydroelectric dams and locks that have literally changed the course of rivers and topography, and have spelled annihilation for one of the most amazing biological phenomena ever to exist; namely, the yearly run of salmon to spawning grounds.
There is so much more, and it's not all depressing human arrogance and contempt for the astounding natural inheritance Europeans were given in a completely untouched continent. The cameraderie between Heat-Moon and his companions, and the ways they come to depend on each other on this 100-day voyage, is both laugh-out-loud funny and touching. Heat-Moon also describes in wonderful detail the marvelous diversity of human beings who live in the places they pass through. Lots of quaint and eccentric conversations and local color.
Four stars for this engaging, entertaining, inspirational, and informative read.
August 19, 2010
Oh man! I've been working on this book for a while. Once I'm finished with it I'm sure I'll give it four stars. I mean, I do like it. But like Blue Highways, Heat-Moon doesn't miss a detail or a bit of trivia and he doesn't miss an opportunity to share those things with you. The journey here is a SLOW one, it seems, because he offers so much so often. Bogs you down such that sometimes you just want to put your fingers in your ears and say, "Just open up the throttles and shut up for a minute, will ya?" But soon you start to miss his commentary. Until you have to put your fingers in your ears again.
When this is over, I'll be glad I was along for the ride. Three stars while I work my way through it, four stars when I'm done.
Interesting note - he claims in this book (I think this book) that one can point to any place on a map of America and he will have been within 25 miles of it at some point in his travels. How freaking awesome is that?!?
Totally unrelated and irrelevant comment, as this thought just randomly crossed my mind: I'm SICK of hot weather now and ready for duck season to arrive. Quack quack.
Another unrelated comment: I've got skinny wrists. Makes me mad.
Finally, Ilike love Krispy Kreme Chocolate Glazed Doughnuts.
When this is over, I'll be glad I was along for the ride. Three stars while I work my way through it, four stars when I'm done.
Interesting note - he claims in this book (I think this book) that one can point to any place on a map of America and he will have been within 25 miles of it at some point in his travels. How freaking awesome is that?!?
Totally unrelated and irrelevant comment, as this thought just randomly crossed my mind: I'm SICK of hot weather now and ready for duck season to arrive. Quack quack.
Another unrelated comment: I've got skinny wrists. Makes me mad.
Finally, I
November 1, 2016
This is a bad-ass book in terms of being the work of an independent thinker a nature-loving rebel, and a critic of modernism. That is what I like about it. But he went overboard- reduced his friends' credit into one, aggregate, seemingly incompetent character. I am still flabbergasted by that. Whether or not the friendship ended somewhat sourly, Heat-Moon should have told the truth, the outright colorful (though not necessarily friction-free) details of his friends' amateur boating efforts. I never saw in their perspective, I never got to be emphatic (nor even angry!) with them as a reader of adventure should. Never mind if it's a roller-coaster, icky romance or ball pen wars as long as you give them credit!
The beginning was in cumbersome, heavily-laden sentence that I felt like it's Charles Dickens' time once again. The impact of the kind of soil on bends are left out by Heat-Moon. Botanical impacts are not many as it should be, certainly not as sesame seed on a bochi. It is rather riddled with historical excerpts . There are times when history interjections are lovable, but I would still have preferred a considerable part of it to his own poetic presentation, not journalistic collection.
The beginning was in cumbersome, heavily-laden sentence that I felt like it's Charles Dickens' time once again. The impact of the kind of soil on bends are left out by Heat-Moon. Botanical impacts are not many as it should be, certainly not as sesame seed on a bochi. It is rather riddled with historical excerpts . There are times when history interjections are lovable, but I would still have preferred a considerable part of it to his own poetic presentation, not journalistic collection.
September 22, 2019
A winning book by one the masters of travel writing, an audacious journey that no one had ever completed, and a primer on how to get along with your traveling companions. After I finished his first book on travel, Blue Highways, I bought a second copy so that I could give one away, as I do, and keep one to reread. That’s high praise from me. And this book will likely take the same course. Read it because you like rivers and the boats that travel them, read it because you like travel in the least-seen parts of the US, or read it because you like great writing.
May 22, 2019
This book is a slog, let's just get that out of the way right now! At about 500 pages it's a hefty tome but it feels even longer thanks to Heat-Moon's plodding plotting and his style of overwriting. I really enjoyed Blue Highways when I read it years ago and the idea of his travelling the USA via rivers intrigued me and I'm glad I read the book but...
The author travels the entire journey with a man we know only as Pilotis, this gets annoying fast and we never learn a thing about the man he travels months and thousands of miles with. There are other travel companions and they remain similarly anonymous so there's virtually no meaningful human interaction in the entire book. They stop frequently on their journey but apart from accounts of small talk with waitresses and the occasional farmer we never learn anything meaningful about the towns they pass through or the people who live near the water or work on it (the people who works the river locks or pilot river barges are pretty much universally described negatively).
All criticisms aside, the journey they embark on is audacious and worth reading about. I had no idea what sort of impact damns, dredging and other human activities have had on the US's waterways and it's worth reading the book for this alone. This is definitely not a must read but if you have a love for travel and nautical literature it may be worth picking up.
The author travels the entire journey with a man we know only as Pilotis, this gets annoying fast and we never learn a thing about the man he travels months and thousands of miles with. There are other travel companions and they remain similarly anonymous so there's virtually no meaningful human interaction in the entire book. They stop frequently on their journey but apart from accounts of small talk with waitresses and the occasional farmer we never learn anything meaningful about the towns they pass through or the people who live near the water or work on it (the people who works the river locks or pilot river barges are pretty much universally described negatively).
All criticisms aside, the journey they embark on is audacious and worth reading about. I had no idea what sort of impact damns, dredging and other human activities have had on the US's waterways and it's worth reading the book for this alone. This is definitely not a must read but if you have a love for travel and nautical literature it may be worth picking up.
August 12, 2007
Inspired by reading Blue Highways, I came to love the point of view of this native American author. He figures out a way to travel by water across the continental United States. His encounters with people along the canals, lakes and rivers recall the America of a century ago, when automobile and air travel did not prevail. He also teaches by example a warm and respectful attitude toward native Americans and towards all kinds of people.
November 11, 2018
I've tried to finish this book multiple times over the last several years and I've finally done it.
I've heard nothing but wonderful things about the author and the premise of the book sounds amazing but every time I've picked it up it's been a struggle fest. Least Heat Moon combined several live humans into composite characters and the effect can be a bit jarring at times.
I still really want to read Blue Highways but this was not a promising entry into his work.
I've heard nothing but wonderful things about the author and the premise of the book sounds amazing but every time I've picked it up it's been a struggle fest. Least Heat Moon combined several live humans into composite characters and the effect can be a bit jarring at times.
I still really want to read Blue Highways but this was not a promising entry into his work.
July 30, 2007
William Least Heat Moon gets this idea that he might find the Northwest Passage,plans the whole trip out, and then sets out to do it with a special boat, a good friend, and a group of people watching out for them and helping out when needed. His story is entrancing, part geography, part history, part autobiographical, part lyrical.
September 14, 2007
Though a little hauty at times, it's amazing to read about the cultures that converge along the waterways. The author is definitely anti-civil works. As much damage as a dam can do to an ecosystem, there are benefits that are ignored by Least Heat Moon. One-sided environmentalism gets old, but a traveling story is timeless... definitely worth reading.
July 17, 2019
I am not a boater, and have done no river traveling except on a tour, but River-Horse took me along on a fascinating journey across America. Some places along the river I have seen - the stream at Lumhi Pass - and the Gateway to the Rockies. They were seen from the ground, however, not the river. Now I'll have to read PrairiyErth! I really enjoy his writing and humor.
May 14, 2007
A magical story about a journey through America's waterways that represents an analogy about life. Great spiritual pick-me-up.
July 25, 2013
For a book about rivers "River Horse" was about as dry as can be
August 4, 2017
6/10
meglio di "quoz" per carità, ma tranquillamente prescindibile.
meglio di "quoz" per carità, ma tranquillamente prescindibile.
October 24, 2019
It took me awhile to complete, because I let my progress slowly roll along the river routes that the author described. In the end, I know it has been a very satisfying journey through reading about this grand adventure - and all of it true. I'm glad I own the book because I would not be surprised if I were to return to it to savor individual incidents and philosophical insights about the exploration of America from coast to coast (sea to shining sea and the connecting water routes), both historical and contemporary.
May 22, 2025
Remarkable story.
August 3, 2025
intriguing. often humorous travelogue about crossing the country. almost entirely on the waterways from the Atlantic to the Pacific,
October 21, 2019
I have been entranced by travel literature since the early '70s, when I read On the Road. I've read two of Heat-Moon's other books, PrairyErth and Blue Highways. So far, this is the best.
October 16, 2021
Love the authors descriptive passages--such beautiful and powerful landscape imagery. I think I made a good choice to "read" this in audio format.
August 2, 2008
William [Trogdon] Least Heat-Moon's first book, Blue Highways, is one of my favorites of all time. And while River-Horse is by all rights a great achievement in travel writing, it is inevitably a bit of a let-down in comparison with Highways.
Part of what made Highways so soulful and charming was that it was written in such a deeply personal manner. Heat-Moon leaves on his original trip after a failed marriage, simultaneously seeking a break with his past and a chance to rediscover himself. He travels in Blue Highways with next to nothing - a homeless man roving the country on a few hundred dollars and sleeping in a van. It's an amazing and spiritually enlightening trip taken in a disarmingly humble manner, and readers respond because they can put themselves in those shoes. It's easier to imagine ourselves sleeping in a van outside Missouri than traveling through Baghdad Without a Map like Tony Horwitz, or taking Paul Theroux's Dark Star Safari.
River-Horse, while an excellent book, is a drastically different experience. Humble no more, Heat-Moon's journey from coast to coast on America's rivers is lavishly financed. He scours the country to acquire a lease on just the proper boat, and ends up taking not one, but several. He uses his celebrity, or at least his journalistic credentials, to negotiate a private opening of the Eerie Canal early in the season. And he's followed throughout by a small, but loyal support team, who haul his assorted boats overland, meeting him at various junctures to help him portage or exchange watercraft. The journey is fascinating, but few people can put themselves in his shoes anymore.
It's also worth mentioning that long hours on the water, and the comparatively short length of Heat-Moon's trip (Highways took roughly a full year of traveling), all mean fewer interactions with local denizens of the countryside. The author attempts to balance this absence by supplementing his narrative with remembrances of previous travels - talking about the various things that happened when he last visited a place he's now seeing less of. Far more of the interactions and identifications that occur in the book are with Heat-Moon's entourage of photographer- and writer-friends. Many are humorous or entertaining, but there's an exclusive feel to them that wasn't there in Blue Highways - they occur amongst a club the reader is not part of.
The author tries to alleviate this a bit by disguising the number of people he traveled with. He refers to the plethora of friends who accompanied him at various times on his journey by a single name, 'Pilotis.' Only in the preface material do we find out that this was not one person, but seven. The literary device adds some narrative continuity to the book, and is intended to let the reader get to know the author's friends as the story of a single person, thereby creating a more sympathetic character. It works sometimes, but occasionally it also backfires, as continuing the ruse ultimately makes 'Pilotis' something of a two-dimensional character, thus lessening our sense of identification.
I criticize here, but I'll close by saying that nothing in the book challenges Heat-Moon's status as one of my favorite authors. Even if it's not my favorite of his works, I view River-Horse as a superior achievement. It's most definitely worth reading, and it paints a vivid picture of America's waterways, past and present, along with the vital role they play in our culture and our environment.
Part of what made Highways so soulful and charming was that it was written in such a deeply personal manner. Heat-Moon leaves on his original trip after a failed marriage, simultaneously seeking a break with his past and a chance to rediscover himself. He travels in Blue Highways with next to nothing - a homeless man roving the country on a few hundred dollars and sleeping in a van. It's an amazing and spiritually enlightening trip taken in a disarmingly humble manner, and readers respond because they can put themselves in those shoes. It's easier to imagine ourselves sleeping in a van outside Missouri than traveling through Baghdad Without a Map like Tony Horwitz, or taking Paul Theroux's Dark Star Safari.
River-Horse, while an excellent book, is a drastically different experience. Humble no more, Heat-Moon's journey from coast to coast on America's rivers is lavishly financed. He scours the country to acquire a lease on just the proper boat, and ends up taking not one, but several. He uses his celebrity, or at least his journalistic credentials, to negotiate a private opening of the Eerie Canal early in the season. And he's followed throughout by a small, but loyal support team, who haul his assorted boats overland, meeting him at various junctures to help him portage or exchange watercraft. The journey is fascinating, but few people can put themselves in his shoes anymore.
It's also worth mentioning that long hours on the water, and the comparatively short length of Heat-Moon's trip (Highways took roughly a full year of traveling), all mean fewer interactions with local denizens of the countryside. The author attempts to balance this absence by supplementing his narrative with remembrances of previous travels - talking about the various things that happened when he last visited a place he's now seeing less of. Far more of the interactions and identifications that occur in the book are with Heat-Moon's entourage of photographer- and writer-friends. Many are humorous or entertaining, but there's an exclusive feel to them that wasn't there in Blue Highways - they occur amongst a club the reader is not part of.
The author tries to alleviate this a bit by disguising the number of people he traveled with. He refers to the plethora of friends who accompanied him at various times on his journey by a single name, 'Pilotis.' Only in the preface material do we find out that this was not one person, but seven. The literary device adds some narrative continuity to the book, and is intended to let the reader get to know the author's friends as the story of a single person, thereby creating a more sympathetic character. It works sometimes, but occasionally it also backfires, as continuing the ruse ultimately makes 'Pilotis' something of a two-dimensional character, thus lessening our sense of identification.
I criticize here, but I'll close by saying that nothing in the book challenges Heat-Moon's status as one of my favorite authors. Even if it's not my favorite of his works, I view River-Horse as a superior achievement. It's most definitely worth reading, and it paints a vivid picture of America's waterways, past and present, along with the vital role they play in our culture and our environment.
May 9, 2012
William Least Heat-Moon. Our author slips in his anglo name at one point in this narrative, but only in the most sly way, as if it were a secret he uttered by mistake. He also reveals the meaning of Heat-Moon--an Indian (Osage) name for a midsummer moon. Least? I still don’t know. River Horse is that kind of book. Full of signs and portents and knowledge and suspense, always slipping around in currents or running aground in the shallows or stalled at the locks. The goals are definite, but distant, and fulfillment unsure even if the goal is reached. The road is shadowy, liquid, its source unknown and direction unpredictable. Underneath the few visible surface inches is another world altogether, sometimes benign, sometimes dynamic, sometimes friendly, sometimes hostile. Always unknown.
River Horse is on one level the non-fiction tale of a man and his boat, intent on journeying across North America by water in one season--the space between May and August when navigability is maximum. For reasons he explains and re-explains and never quite fully justifies, he wants to move east to west, to more or less duplicate a major portion of the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804. It means that the upstream portion of the trip will be about twice as long as if he traveled in the opposite direction, but it HAS to be east to west anyhow.
He gathers a crew, finds a boat that he thinks will fill the bill (flat bottom for the shallows, big enough to take two motors to fight the current, narrow enough to fit between close banks and rocks), fits out a motorized canoe to fit where the Nikawa won’t go so he can absolutely maximize water miles and minimize portages, gathers a crew, and takes off from New Jersey.
Despite extensive preparation--research, advance contact with lock and dam operators, spotting fueling stations, etc.--the trip is fraught with complications and difficulties. As we travel, Heat-Moon, fills us in with scholarly and entertaining (hard combination to achieve)--often poetic-- accounts and descriptions of the history, geography, geology, zoology, and sociology of the lands and cities and towns we pass through. He also delivers a healthy political/environmental commentary on the governmental neglect and commercial exploitation of our resources. Both the journey and the commentary are fascinating and suspenseful. It’s not the kind of suspense where you wonder whether they’re going to make it. It’s the kind of suspense where you wonder how, as in how are they going to extricate themselves from this one?
As if that weren’t enough, there are sub-currents of a non-riverine kind in the relationships among the crew and the inner life of the narrator. People are taking the journey for their own reasons, which don’t always match his, and the levels of commitment vary. So folks come aboard, then debark in mid-journey, leaving ghosts of guilt, regret, resentment. So, too, the marriage that Heat-Moon is leaving behind. We don’t glimpse too much of it, just enough to know that every mile of the odyssey is intertwined with thoughts of what worked, what didn’t, and why. All of this leaves a shadowed frame around a mostly bright and colorful painting. It sounds a bit novelistic for a piece of travel writing, but that's how substantive this journal is, how much dimension it has.
And I should mention the vocabulary enhancements he provided yours truly. Words such “atrabilious,” “esurient,” “jactitation,” and “cliquant.” Delicious.
I don’t know a better journey book in contemporary American literature. I call it a classic, and an inspiring one at that. A good start to 2009.
River Horse is on one level the non-fiction tale of a man and his boat, intent on journeying across North America by water in one season--the space between May and August when navigability is maximum. For reasons he explains and re-explains and never quite fully justifies, he wants to move east to west, to more or less duplicate a major portion of the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804. It means that the upstream portion of the trip will be about twice as long as if he traveled in the opposite direction, but it HAS to be east to west anyhow.
He gathers a crew, finds a boat that he thinks will fill the bill (flat bottom for the shallows, big enough to take two motors to fight the current, narrow enough to fit between close banks and rocks), fits out a motorized canoe to fit where the Nikawa won’t go so he can absolutely maximize water miles and minimize portages, gathers a crew, and takes off from New Jersey.
Despite extensive preparation--research, advance contact with lock and dam operators, spotting fueling stations, etc.--the trip is fraught with complications and difficulties. As we travel, Heat-Moon, fills us in with scholarly and entertaining (hard combination to achieve)--often poetic-- accounts and descriptions of the history, geography, geology, zoology, and sociology of the lands and cities and towns we pass through. He also delivers a healthy political/environmental commentary on the governmental neglect and commercial exploitation of our resources. Both the journey and the commentary are fascinating and suspenseful. It’s not the kind of suspense where you wonder whether they’re going to make it. It’s the kind of suspense where you wonder how, as in how are they going to extricate themselves from this one?
As if that weren’t enough, there are sub-currents of a non-riverine kind in the relationships among the crew and the inner life of the narrator. People are taking the journey for their own reasons, which don’t always match his, and the levels of commitment vary. So folks come aboard, then debark in mid-journey, leaving ghosts of guilt, regret, resentment. So, too, the marriage that Heat-Moon is leaving behind. We don’t glimpse too much of it, just enough to know that every mile of the odyssey is intertwined with thoughts of what worked, what didn’t, and why. All of this leaves a shadowed frame around a mostly bright and colorful painting. It sounds a bit novelistic for a piece of travel writing, but that's how substantive this journal is, how much dimension it has.
And I should mention the vocabulary enhancements he provided yours truly. Words such “atrabilious,” “esurient,” “jactitation,” and “cliquant.” Delicious.
I don’t know a better journey book in contemporary American literature. I call it a classic, and an inspiring one at that. A good start to 2009.
April 11, 2015
Have you ever thought about traveling across America by boat? No really, not around, across; through the rivers and portages taking each snakey way around the land in a trusty motorized boat or canoe. Well Least Heat-Moon did, and with a friend (well a few friends at times) he did just that. Having read his Blue Highways and enjoyed it, I figured this would be a good one too.
Later in life after having traveled the blue highways of America, and with an impending divorce, Least Heat-Moon decides that he wants to take another trip across America. Only this time he wants to do it on a different kind of blue highway. The watery kind. So he buys a little boat, finds some friends who can help him on his way, and maps out a course where he can travel the most by river and by not having to use too many portages. He meets people along the way, stops every night to rest in a different city, and learns what the majority of America's waterways look like.
Least Heat-Moon is a decent narrator. He tells you a lot about himself and the people he travels with. You get to hear a few stories about the people he meets along the way, but really not too many. More often than not he's telling stories about the people he's traveling with's pasts and such. He also treats the boat as if it were a person, and there's a ton of description and history behind the boat and why it's named what it is and why he chose such a boat.
While this was an interesting book I still don't feel as if I know America's waterways. I know the laws, the ways that it has changed due to the damming and infrastructure and population of America, but I don't really recall too much in the way of scenery described. Oh sure there was some, but not the in-depth descriptions I was looking for. And that goes for almost everything aside from the boat itself. I wanted to know more about the people and the nature scenes and I felt that it was a bit lacking in this book. There was a lot of social commentary, a little politics, and a lot of personal history about the author and his friends. Which made it seem more like a memoir than a travel narrative.
An ok book, but not quite what I had expected it to be. If you're fond of Least Heat-Moon's writing, you'll like it.
River Horse
Copyright 1999
502 pages
Review by M. Reynard 2015
More of my reviews can be found at www.ifithaswords.blogspot.com
Later in life after having traveled the blue highways of America, and with an impending divorce, Least Heat-Moon decides that he wants to take another trip across America. Only this time he wants to do it on a different kind of blue highway. The watery kind. So he buys a little boat, finds some friends who can help him on his way, and maps out a course where he can travel the most by river and by not having to use too many portages. He meets people along the way, stops every night to rest in a different city, and learns what the majority of America's waterways look like.
Least Heat-Moon is a decent narrator. He tells you a lot about himself and the people he travels with. You get to hear a few stories about the people he meets along the way, but really not too many. More often than not he's telling stories about the people he's traveling with's pasts and such. He also treats the boat as if it were a person, and there's a ton of description and history behind the boat and why it's named what it is and why he chose such a boat.
While this was an interesting book I still don't feel as if I know America's waterways. I know the laws, the ways that it has changed due to the damming and infrastructure and population of America, but I don't really recall too much in the way of scenery described. Oh sure there was some, but not the in-depth descriptions I was looking for. And that goes for almost everything aside from the boat itself. I wanted to know more about the people and the nature scenes and I felt that it was a bit lacking in this book. There was a lot of social commentary, a little politics, and a lot of personal history about the author and his friends. Which made it seem more like a memoir than a travel narrative.
An ok book, but not quite what I had expected it to be. If you're fond of Least Heat-Moon's writing, you'll like it.
River Horse
Copyright 1999
502 pages
Review by M. Reynard 2015
More of my reviews can be found at www.ifithaswords.blogspot.com
October 9, 2015
I confess. I skimmed. A lot.
There's only so many times I wanted to read about what the author and his traveling companion had for lunch. Or for dinner.
The idea behind the book is sound enough. William Least Heat-Moon and a cadre of shifting compatriots--many of them known only by the pseudonym Pilotis ("rhymes with my lotus") travel by boat across America minimizing portage to an extreme degree--like, only 75 miles. All told, they travel over 5,000 miles along rivers and lakes. Interesting, right?
There are a few interesting bits, and the dialogue between Least Heat-Moon and Pilotis can be dryly amusing; there are a few stray observations, and the author has a good ear for dialect. But these few nuggets are drowned in detail.
Early in the book, Least Heat-Moon reprints a bit of found poetry, composed of Japanese warning signs that have been rendered int English. This would actually be a good model for the book: finding the interesting parts--the bit about making their way through Lake Erie was riveting, for example--and piecing them into a small article. The chapter titles are often brilliant, in many ways the best part fo the book.
Late in the book, it's clear that even Least Heat-Moon has become bored. He tries to capture this in a one-and-half-page or so sentence that repeats the word "river" again and again and again with only a few wry breaks (Lewis and Clarke would understand, he says, for example). As a small interlude, it captures the boredom imposed by the previous three-hundred-and-fifty pages brilliantly and concisely.
If only the rest of the book could have been so efficient, allowing the good parts to rise above and be visible.
Since I've been including song lyrics recently, here's what this book reminded me of: M. Ward:
Water, so much water is under the bridge
Water, so much water is under the bridge
Water, so much water is under the bridge
Water, so much water is under the bridge
Water, so much water is under the bridge
Water, so much water is under the bridge
Water, so much water is under the bridge
Water, so much water is under the bridge
There's only so many times I wanted to read about what the author and his traveling companion had for lunch. Or for dinner.
The idea behind the book is sound enough. William Least Heat-Moon and a cadre of shifting compatriots--many of them known only by the pseudonym Pilotis ("rhymes with my lotus") travel by boat across America minimizing portage to an extreme degree--like, only 75 miles. All told, they travel over 5,000 miles along rivers and lakes. Interesting, right?
There are a few interesting bits, and the dialogue between Least Heat-Moon and Pilotis can be dryly amusing; there are a few stray observations, and the author has a good ear for dialect. But these few nuggets are drowned in detail.
Early in the book, Least Heat-Moon reprints a bit of found poetry, composed of Japanese warning signs that have been rendered int English. This would actually be a good model for the book: finding the interesting parts--the bit about making their way through Lake Erie was riveting, for example--and piecing them into a small article. The chapter titles are often brilliant, in many ways the best part fo the book.
Late in the book, it's clear that even Least Heat-Moon has become bored. He tries to capture this in a one-and-half-page or so sentence that repeats the word "river" again and again and again with only a few wry breaks (Lewis and Clarke would understand, he says, for example). As a small interlude, it captures the boredom imposed by the previous three-hundred-and-fifty pages brilliantly and concisely.
If only the rest of the book could have been so efficient, allowing the good parts to rise above and be visible.
Since I've been including song lyrics recently, here's what this book reminded me of: M. Ward:
Water, so much water is under the bridge
Water, so much water is under the bridge
Water, so much water is under the bridge
Water, so much water is under the bridge
Water, so much water is under the bridge
Water, so much water is under the bridge
Water, so much water is under the bridge
Water, so much water is under the bridge
May 31, 2015
Kathy and Carl sent this for Christmas several years ago. I started it a couple of time but couldn't get into it, then Kathy posted it as a want to read (shall i send it to you?) and i decided I really needed to read it. River Horse tells of William Heat-Moon's desire to travel across the country by water. Mapping out and scheduling the trip around canal openings and snow melts was a gargantuan task in itself, yet alone finding an appropriate craft and crew ( on land and water) to make the trekpossible. The book is interspersed with Iconograms for various historic and/or nautical asides. Heat-Moon follows in the footsteps (wake..) of Lewis and Clark adding many interesting historic tidbits. There is a tiny bit of Steinbeck and Travels with Charlie as the reader meets some of the quirky characters along the way. I found the several random references to the Mormons interesting, it almost sounded as if the author had at one time been LDS?? Certainly isn't now and if he was he certainly never read the book of Mormon. On pp 416-417 he writes about the Lemhi Valley in Idaho. He claims it was named for Limhi son of Noah in the Book of Mormon. Those who have read the Book know that Noah was a corrupt king of the Nephites, not the Old Testament Prophet who built the floating Zoo called the Ark. I enjoyed reading about the beginning of the journey along the Erie Canal right here in my neighborhood where I have paddled my own boat many time. Also the Snake river section in my sister's back yard. The Mississippi and Missouri got as lo-o-ong for me as it was for Heat-Moon and his fellow travelers and I was not sure we would EVER get out of Montana. I was saddened to read of the damage that perverse politics has done to the Salmon population and was so impressed by the efforts of the 'Sal-men' on behalf of the fish.
I just admit that I read the description of Heat-Moon emptying the jar of water scooped out of the Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific through a haze of self created salt water.
Thank you Kathy and Carl
I just admit that I read the description of Heat-Moon emptying the jar of water scooped out of the Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific through a haze of self created salt water.
Thank you Kathy and Carl
October 14, 2012
I picked this from the library after reading a positive review in the paper. Was drawn in immediately, by the author's skillful and intriguing blend of history, geography, characterization, and personality. It made me want to take the same trip, experiencing the American continent, not as we do so often these days, on interstates or looking down from 35,000 feet, but the way our ancestors did: from the waterways.
A year or so later, our local library was selling seldom-used books to make more space. I found the copy of River-Horse, most likely uncirculated since I had read it, as the bookmark note I had made was still inside. I had written some 30 words Mr. Heat-Moon had used, all of which I had never heard or seen before. Some of them were not even in my dictionaries!
Went on to read his 2 earlier works: Blue Highways, similar in tone but not as accomplished as this (recommended nonetheless); and Prairyerth, which is astonishing. He reads one corner of a square, seemingly boring state like Kansas, and parses it to find rich veins of the history of the whole USA.
Mr. Heat-Moon remains one of my favorite authors, on the strength of these three books, although I was put off by his more recent work.
The mark of a great artist is to find and express the universal within the particulars of individual place and character. This is what he does. Enjoy the trip!Blue HighwaysPrairyErth
A year or so later, our local library was selling seldom-used books to make more space. I found the copy of River-Horse, most likely uncirculated since I had read it, as the bookmark note I had made was still inside. I had written some 30 words Mr. Heat-Moon had used, all of which I had never heard or seen before. Some of them were not even in my dictionaries!
Went on to read his 2 earlier works: Blue Highways, similar in tone but not as accomplished as this (recommended nonetheless); and Prairyerth, which is astonishing. He reads one corner of a square, seemingly boring state like Kansas, and parses it to find rich veins of the history of the whole USA.
Mr. Heat-Moon remains one of my favorite authors, on the strength of these three books, although I was put off by his more recent work.
The mark of a great artist is to find and express the universal within the particulars of individual place and character. This is what he does. Enjoy the trip!Blue HighwaysPrairyErth
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