RICH: The South’s American Queen

Published 11:00 am Sunday, July 27, 2025

A reader from Minnesota recently wrote and in her email, she mentioned that she lives near where the Mississippi River begins.

There is no greater, more besotted fan of the Mississippi than I. Of course, I had questions.

Where does it start? How deep and wide is it?

She replied that it starts with Lake Itasca and that it is about 18 feet wide. 

“Depending on how much rain we have had, it is, at most, knee deep in the center of the river.”

It has been my privilege to be hired several times to entertain on riverboats that traveled the Mississippi river. It was pure joy and, once, when my husband joined me on the America Queen, he was impressed. I caught the tail end of a long, proud tradition.

When, first, I was hired about 18 years ago, I was on the Mississippi Queen, opening for Hollywood legend Mickey Rooney. Among the several stops we made along the river was the quaint town of Natchez, filled with antebellum homes and old cemeteries. I had already been there on a book tour about two years before. Mama was with me and she was not enamored with the fascinating large headstones that caught my fancy. We both got so mad at each other.

“I want somethin’ to eat,” she demanded. “I’ll wait for you in the car.”

I thought about that when that our riverboat stopped in Natchez where we had a show in the town’s wonderful, community theater. Mickey Rooney, then in his 80s, was still as entertaining as he had been as a 16-year-old at MGM studio, answering to legendary studio boss, Louis B. Mayer. Rooney danced, laughed, sang. He was stupendous.

Another time. I was hired for a 12-day trip, leaving New Orleans on the Mississippi Queen, then switching to the historic Delta Queen in Memphis, which took us into St. Louis where fireworks abounded — it was the Fourth of July — and trailed by the American Queen in a riverboat race. All three boats were equipped with paddle wheels and a steam calliope that played music every time we pulled out of port or into one in places like St. Francisville, Vicksburg — a tour of the immense Civil War cemetery — Greenville, MS and others.

In fact, thanks to the Mississippi Queen, I was in port in Greenville when we were handed the Delta Democrat Times. On the front page was the biggest headline I, a longtime journalist, had ever seen. Powerfully, it informed: SHELBY FOOTE DIES. The noted Civil War expert who gave Ken Burns a stunning documentary had called Greenville “home.”

On every trip, we had at least one full day on the river. I sat in a rocking chair on the deck, reading a book and enjoying every minute on what I believe to be America’s greatest river. Sometimes I would lay down my book and think of Samuel Clements who took his pen name from the river on which he captained a boat. “Mark Twain” was the cry that came when the water was 12 feet deep.

The Delta Queen stayed afloat for two additional decades by a special Congressional order that made it the only wood structured boat in American waters. A few years ago, Congress refused to renew the order. It became a beautiful memory.

A bit later, the Mississippi Queen — the most glittering of the riverboats — headed toward a scrap pile.

That left only the American Queen to reign. A year ago, the company owning it, parked it and ceased operations.

Yet, joy lives on, thanks to Viking Cruises that runs a route along the Mississippi River. It stops in the hospitable, literary renown town of Greenville, Mississippi where hometown native Steve Azar performs the number one dinner show on the river.

It’s so nice when tradition prevails and homefolks do well. In fact, it’s beautiful.

—Ronda Rich is the best-selling author of the Stella Bankwell series. Please visit www.rondarich.com to sign up for her free newsletter.