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A NATIONAL DRAMA IN PICTURES AND SOUND

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A factual symphony

In dramatic pictures and in son orous text, the tragedy of Ameri ca's Mississippi unfolds in the pages of THE RIVER. Based upon his brilliant motion picture, Pare Lorentz's book is a 'Rich Land, Poor Land' brought to visual life. Here is an education in national geography and economic engi neering, strikingly presented.

Stackpole Sons

$2.00

THE RIVER

THE BODY OF THE NATION

Copyright, 1938, by Pare Lorrnlz A LI. R I (1 II TS It K S K R V K U

Mamtfarlurat in Ihc Unilrd States b.i/ Tlic Telegraph I'rcst, llarrMurg, Va.

I'rctlitifar phnlngraphs : Cluirle* Krulch, Tcnnrnscc I'allci/ Authority : l-'.n:iny t'liilloii-nii, t'uilt-'l .trti.il*: American ttcd t'roff

THE BODY OF THE NATION

But the basin of the Mississippi is the Body of The Nation. All the other parts are but members, important in themselves, yet more important in their relations to this. Exclusive of the Lake basin and of 300,000 square miles in Texas and New Mexico, which in many aspects form a part of it, this basin contains about 1,250,000 square miles. In extent it is the second great valley of the world, being exceeded only by that of the Amazon. The valley of the frozen Obi approaches it in extent ; that of the La Plata comes next in space, and probably in habitable capacity, having about eight-ninths of its area ; then comes that of the Yenisei, with about seven-ninths; then Lena, Amoor, Hoang-ho, Yang-tse-Kiang, and Nile, five-ninths ; the Ganges, less than one- half ; the Indus, less than one-third; the Euphrates, one-fifth; the Rhine, one- fifteenth. It exceeds in extent the whole of Europe, exclusive of Russia, Nor way, and Sweden. It would contain Austria four times, Germany or Spain five times, France six times, the British Islands or Italy ten times. Concep tions formed from the river-basins of Western Europe are rudely shocked when we consider the extent of the valley of the Mississippi; nor are those formed from the sterile basins of the great rivers of Siberia, the lofty plateaus of Central Asia, or the mighty sweep of the swampy Amazon more adequate. Latitude, elevation, and rainfall all combine to render every part of the Mississippi Valley capable of supporting a dense population. As a dwelling- place for civilized man it is by far the first upon our globe.

Mark Twain's Life on The Mississippi.

PREFACE

The text in this book has been taken verbatim from a motion picture, "The River" which I produced for the Farm Security Administration, U. S. Department of Agriculture.

The photographs either are from the movie itself, or, with a few excep tions, were made by government cameramen working in the same areas in which we made the picture.

The narration for the movie was not written until we had hewed 80,000 feet of film down to 2900 feet. It was intended as a functional text to accom pany Mr. Virgil Thomsons score, and to fit the tempo of the sequences in the picture.

I have not changed the words for two reasons: the text now provides a permanent record of the motion picture, and, originally utilitarian writing, I think it explains the pictorial story of the Mississippi River better than it might were it elaborated into a smoother and more conventional form.

I am greatly indebted to scores of hard-working civil servants who fur nished me with information during the preparatory stages of "The River" ; but the three books which I found essential to any understanding of the old river were Mark Twain's "Life On The Mississippi", still the most accurate book ever written on the subject; the Mississippi Valley Committee's Re port, (1934, Department of Interior), the best-written government report I've ever read, and Lyle Saxon's "Father Mississippi."

I am also greatly indebted to Ed Locke; to Roy Stryker, of the Farm Security Administration; and to Charles Krutch, of the Tennessee Valley Authority, whose enthusiastic help in assembling the photographs made the book possible.

I list elsewhere credits for the pictures we used other than those from the motion picture.

PARE LORENTZ

From as far West as Idaho,

Down from the glacier peaks of the Rockies-

From as far East as New York,

Down from the turkey ridges of the Alleghenies Down from Minnesota, twenty five hundred miles,

The Mississippi River runs to the Gulf. Carrying every drop of water, that flows down

two-thirds the continent,

Carrying every brook and rill, rivulet and creek, Carrying all the rivers that run down two thirds

the continent, The Mississippi runs to the Gulf of Mexico.

Down the Yellowstone, the Milk, the White and

Cheyenne ; The Cannonball, the Musselshell, the James and

the Sioux; Down the Judith, the Grand, the Osage, and the

Platte,

The Skunk, the Salt, the Black, and Minnesota ; Down the Rock, the Illinois, and the Kankakee The Allegheny, the Monougahela, Kanawha, and

Muskingum ; Down the Miami, the Wabash, the Licking and

the Green

The Cumberland, the Kentucky, and the Ten nessee ; Down the Ouchita, the Wichita, the Red, and

Yazoo —

Down the Missouri three thousand miles from the

Rockies ; Down the Ohio a thousand miles from the Alle-

ghenies ; Down the Arkansas fifteen hundred miles from

the Great Divide ;

Down the Red, a thousand miles from Texas; Down the great Valley, twenty-five hundred miles

from Minnesota,

Carrying every rivulet and brook, creek and rill, Carrying all the rivers that run down two-thirds

the continent— The Mississippi runs to the Gulf.

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New Orleans to Baton Rouge,

Baton Rouge to Natchez,

Natchez to Vicksburg,

Vicksburg to Memphis,

Memphis to Cairo—

We built a dyke a thousand miles long.

Men and mules, mules and mud ;

Mules and mud a thousand miles up the Missis sippi.

A century before we bought the great Western River, the Spanish and the French built dykes to keep the Mississippi out of New Orleans at flood stage.

In forty years we continued the levee the entire

length of the great alluvial Delta, That mud plain that extends from the Gulf of

Mexico clear to the mouth of the Ohio. The ancient valley built up for centuries by the

old river spilling her floods across the bottom

of the continent —

A mud delta of forty thousand square miles. Men and mules, mules and mud- New Orleans to Baton Rouge, Natchez to Vicksburg, Memphis to Cairo— A thousand miles up the river.

And we made cotton king !

We rolled a million bales down the river for Liverpool and Leeds . . .

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1860: we rolled four million bales down the river;

Rolled them off Alabama, Rolled them off Mississippi, Rolled them off Louisiana, Rolled them down the river !

We fought a war.

We fought a war and kept the west bank of the river free of slavery forever.

But we left the old South impoverished and stricken.

Doubly stricken, because, beyond the tra gedy of war, already the frenzied cotton cultivation of a quarter of a century had taken toll of the land.

We mined the soil for cotton until it would yield no more, and then moved west.

We fought a war, but there was a double tragedy — the tragedy of land twice impoverished.

HEADQUARTERS, ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA

April 10, 1865

After four years of arduous service marked by unsurpassed courage and fortitude, the Army of Northern Virginia has been com pelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources.

I need not tell the survivors of so many hard-fought battles, who have remained steadfast to the last that I have consented to this result from no distrust of them. . .

But feeling that valor and devotion could accomplish nothing that could compensate for the loss that would have attended the continuation of the contest,

I have determined to avoid useless sacrifice of those whose past services have endeared them to their country-men. . .

With an increasing admiration of your constancy and devotion to your country,

and a grateful remembrance of your kind and generous consideration of mysdf, I bid you an affectionate farewell.

R. E. LEE, General.

Black spruce and Norway pine, Douglas fir and Red cedar, Scarlet oak and Shagbark hickory, Hemlock and aspen- There was lumber in the North.

The war impoverished the old South, the railroads

killed the steamboats, But there was lumber in the North. Heads up ! Lumber on the upper river.

Heads up!

Lumber enough to cover all Europe. Down from Minnesota and Wisconsin, Down to St. Paul ; Down to St. Louis and St. Joe- Lumber for the new continent of the West. Lumber for the new mills.

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There was lumber in the North and coal in the hills.

Iron and coal down the Monon- gahela.

Iron and coal down the Alle gheny.

Iron and coal down the Ohio.

Down to Pittsburgh,

Down to Wheeling,

Iron and coal for the steel mills, for the railroads driving

West and South, for the new cities of the Great Valley —

We built new machinery and

cleared new land in the

West. Ten million bales down to the

Gulf- Cotton for the spools of England

and France. Fifteen million bales down to the

Gulf- Cotton for the spools of Italy and

Germany.

We built a hundred cities and a thousand towns:

St. Paul and Minneapolis,

Davenport and Keokuk,

Moline and Quincy,

Cincinnati and St Louis,

Omaha and Kansas City . . .

Across to the Rockies and down from Minnesota,

Twenty-five hundred miles to New Orleans,

We built a new continent.

Black spruce and Norway pine,

Douglas fir and Red cedar,

Scarlet oak and Shaghark hickory.

We built a hundred cities and a thousand towns—

But at what a cost !

We cut the top off the Alleghenies and sent it

down the river. We cut the top off Minnesota and sent it down

the river. We cut the top off Wisconsin and sent it down the

river. We left the mountains and the hills slashed and

burned, And moved on.

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The water comes downhill, spring and fall;

Down from the cut-over mountains,

Down from the plowed-off slopes,

Down every brook and rill, rivulet and creek,

Carrying every drop of water that flows down

two-thirds the continent 1903 and 1907, 1913 and 1922, 1927, 1936, 1937!

Down from Pennsylvania and Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia, Missouri and Illinois,

Down from North Carolina and Tennessee- Down the Judith, the Grand, the Osage, and th<

Platte,

The Rock, the Salt, the Black and Minnesota, Down the Monongahela, the Allegheny, Kana

wha and Muskingum, The Miami, the Wabash, the Licking and tin

Green,

Down the White, the Wolfe, and the Cache, Down the Kaw and Kaskaskia, the Red am

Yazoo, Down the Cumberland, Kentucky and the Ten

nessee —

Down to the Mississippi.

New Orleans to Baton Rouge—

Baton Rouge to Natchez- Natchez to Vicksburg—

Vicksburg to Memphis- Memphis to Cairo —

A thousand miles down the levee the long vigil starts.

Thirty-eight feet at Baton Rouge

River rising.

Helena: river rising.

Memphis: river ris ing.

Cairo : river rising.

A thousand miles to go,

A thousand miles of levee to hold —

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Coastguard patrol needed at

Paducah ! Coastguard patrol needed at

Paducah !

200 boats — wanted at Hickman ! 200 boats wanted at Hickman!

Levee patrol : men to Blytheville ! Levee patrol : men to Blytheville !

2000 men wanted at Cairo ! 2000 men wanted at Cairo !

A hundred thousand men to fight the old river.

We sent armies down the river to help the engi neers fight a battle on a two thousand mile front :

The Army and the Navy,

The Coast Guard and the Marine Corps,

TheCCCandtheWPA,

The Red Cross and the Health Service.

They fought night and day to hold the old river off the valley.

Food and water needed at Louisville : 500 dead, 5000 ill;

Food and water needed at Cincinnati ;

Food and water and shelter and clothing needed for 750,000 flood victims:

Food and medicine needed at Lawrenceburg ; 35,000 homeless in Evansville ; Food and medicine needed in Aurora ; Food and medicine and shelter and clothing for 750,000 down in the valley.

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Last time we held the levees,

But the old river claimed her valley.

She backed into Tennessee and Ar kansas

And Missouri and Illinois.

She left stock drowned, houses torn loose,

Farms ruined.

1903 and 1907.

1913 and 1922.

1927.

1936.

1937!

We built a hundred cities and a

thousand towns — But at what a cost!

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Spring and fall the water comes down, and for

years the old river has taken a toll from the

Valley more terrible than ever she does in

flood times.

Year in, year out, the water comes down From a thousand hillsides, washing the top off

the Valley. For fifty years we dug for cotton and moved West

when the land gave out. For fifty years we plowed for corn, and moved on

when the land gave out. Corn and wheat; wheat and cotton — we planted

and plowed with no thought for the future — And four hundred million tons of top soil, Four hundred million tons of our most valuable

natural resource have been washed into the

Gulf of Mexico every year.

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And poor land makes poor people.

Poor people make poor land.

For a quarter of a century we have been forcing

more and more farmers into tenancy. Today forty percent of all the farmers in the great

Valley are tenants.

Ten percent are share croppers, Down on their knees in the valley, A share of the crop their only security. No home, no land of their own, Aimless, footloose, and impoverished, Unable to eat even from the land because their cash crop is their only livelihood.

Credit at the store is their only

reserve. And a generation growing up

with no new land in the

West- No new continent to build. A generation whose people

knew King's Mountain, and

Shiloh ; A generation whose people

knew Fremont and Custer;

But a generation facing a life

of dirt and poverty, Disease and drudgery; Growing up without proper

food, medical care, or

schooling, "Ill-clad, ill-housed, and ill-

fed"- And in the greatest river valley

in the world.

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There is no such thine/ as an ideal river in Nature, but the Mississippi is out of

joint.

Dust blowing in the West — floods raging in the East — We have seen these problems growing to horrible extremes.

When first we found the great valley it was forty percent forested.

Today, for every hundred acres of forests we found, we have ten left.

Today five percent of the entire valley is ruined forever for agricultural use!

Twenty-five percent of the topsoil has been shoved by the old river into the Gulf of Mexico.

Today two out of five farmers in the valley are tenant farmers — ten percent of them share croppers, living in a state of squalor unknown to the poor est peasant in Europe

And we are forcing thirty thousand more into tenancy and cropping every year.

Flood control of the Mississippi means control in the great Delta that must carry all the water brought down from two-thirds the continent

And control of the Delta means control of the little rivers, the great arms running down from the uplands. And the old river can be controlled.

We had the power to take the valley apart — we have the power to put it to gether again.

In 1933 we started, down on the Tennessee River, when our Congress created the Tennessee Valley Authority, commissioned to develop navi gation, flood control, agriculture, and industry in the valley: a valley that carries more rainfall than any other in the country ; the valley through which the Tennessee used to roar down to Padu- cah in flood times with more water than any other tributary of the Ohio.

First came the dams.

Up on the Clinch, at the head of the river, we built Norris Dam, a great barrier to hold water in flood times and to release water down the river for navigation in low water season.

Next came Wheeler, first in a series of great barriers that will transform the old Tennessee into a link of fresh water pools locked and dammed, regulated and controlled, down six hundred fifty miles to Paducah.

But you cannot plan for water unless you plan for land: for the cut-over mountains — the eroded hills — the gullied fields that pour their waters unchecked down ta the river.

The CCC, working with the forest service and agricultural ex perts, have started to put the worn fields and hillsides back together; black walnut and pine for the worn out fields, and the gullied hillsides ; black walnut and pine for new forest preserves, roots for the cut- over and burned-over hillsides; roots to hold the water in the ground.

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Soil conservation men have worked out crop systems with the farmers of the Valley — crops to conserve and en rich the topsoil.

Today a million acres of land in the Tennessee Valley are being tilled scientifically.

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But you cannot plan for water and land unless you plan for people. Down in the Valley, the Farm Security Administration has built a model agricultural community. Living in homes they themselves built, paying for them on long term rates the homesteaders will have a chance to share in the wealth of the Valley.

More important, the Farm Security Adminis tration has lent thousands of dollars to farmers in the Valley, farmers who were caught by years of depression and in need of only a stake to be self- sufficient.

But where there is water there is power. Where there's water for flood control and water for navigation, there's water for power—

Power for the farm ers of the Valley.

Power for the vil lages and cities and factories of the Valley

West Virginia,North Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia and Alabama.

Power to give a new Tennessee Valley to a new generation.

Power enough to make the river workl

EPILOGUE

We got the blacks to plant the cotton and they gouged the top off the valley.

We got the Swedes to cut the forests, and they sent them down the river.

Then we moved our saws and our plows and started all over again ;

And we left a hollow-eyed generation to peck at the worn-out valley ;

And left the Swedes to shiver in their naked North country.

1903, 1907, 1913, 1922, 1927, 1936, 1937-

For you can't wall out and dam two-thirds the water in the country.

We built dams but the dams filled in.

We built a thousand mile dyke but it didn't hold ;

So we built it higher.

We played with a continent for fifty years.

Flood control? Of the Mississippi?

Control from Denver to Helena ;

From Itasca to Paducah ;

From Pittsburgh to Cairo —

Control of the wheat, the corn and the cotton land ;

Control enough to put back a thousand forests ;

Control enough to put the river together again before it is too late . . . before

it has picked up the heart of a continent and shoved it into the Gulf of

Mexico.

Pare Lorentz

A most original writer, a critic of distinction, Pare Lorentz has at tained a happy climax of his career in his motion picture pro ductions of "The River" and "The Plow that Broke the Plains." This book, a permanent record of his film, is evidence of his poetic ver satility.

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The text is by Phil Stong The pictures by Josephine von Miklos

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THE LIFE AND TIMES OF A CAT

Pictures by Edward Quigley

The text by John Crawford

There has never been so intimate and so amusing an album of all the moods, ages and conditions of a single cat---a common, ordinary cat, at that, and none of your pedigreed creatures. The photographs are works of distinction in their own right. And cat-lovers will find sentimental interest in the book beyond its dramatic pho tography. $2.50

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