Growing Up With The River: Nine Generations on the Missouri by Dan & Connie Burkhardt
In Growing Up with the River, you will meet children from nine generations who grew up along the Missouri River from Hermann to St. Charles. You will share in a long list of adventures and observe the changes they see in the river valley including visits from Lewis and Clark and a presidential candidate, the departure of Native Americans, the arrival of German immigrants, steamboats, trains and a TNT factory, and the the creation of the Katy Trail and Missouri’s largest conservation area. But the children aren’t the only characters in this story.
A bur oak tree grows from an acorn to a majestic symbol of this history as it bears witness to many changes in the natural world – the extinction of the beautiful Carolina parakeet that roosted on its branches, the building of levees to control the flooding that covered its roots, the over-hunting and return of wildlife that rest in its shade, and the loss of native plants in the surrounding countryside.
What hasn’t changed in two centuries is the natural scenic beauty of Missouri River Country and the small river communities.
You, your friends and families can follow the map and stories in this book and plan your own visit to these rural landscapes beginning at the Gateway Arch. The Arch, one of the most recognized symbols in the world, was created to be a lasting symbol to the Missouri River and what took place there.
The cover illustrates the march of history in the Missouri River valley since 1806.
Ten original paintings were commissioned from Missouri landscape painter Bryan Haynes to tell the story of Missouri River history since Lewis and Clark.
About the Author
Dan and Connie Burkhardt live in St. Louis and on their farm near the Missouri River with a herd of fifty cows and several flocks of chickens. Dan Burkhardt has also created two coffee-table books on two very different watersheds -- Missouri River Country: 100 Miles of Stories and Scenery from Hermann to the Confluence (2013) and Florida Bay Forever: The Story of Water from the Everglades to the Keys (2013).
Product Specifications
Published by Walsworth Publishing Co., 2016. Paperback, 128 pages.
