I like reading up on all the little towns along the Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio and even some of the smaller tributary Rivers such as the Des Moines River as these were all towns that were once supported by the river boat traffic. So many of those little towns all dried up once the railroad lines were in place. The rails were put down so fast that these little steamboat town died out like overnight. Kinda like the interstate highway system did to to so many little towns alongside the earlier state and federal highway systems that once dotted those roads. As far as pirates along the main river systems of the US I've never heard of any. The first European settlements along these main rivers were settled during the fur trade industry and to trade with the Native Americans. One things for sure, this country has hundreds of ghost towns to research and so many of the have very little history that's been written about them. To me they sound like great places to prospect with a MD. Hopefully I get to do some of that once I retire. I do however like to travel along the order highways as opposed to the interstate, because it's neat to pass by these little towns and look at the old architecture. Along the interstates I've watched truck stops go from just fueling locations to what we have now as the massive travel centers with all kinds of services.
