Life on the Ohio (Ohio River Valley Series) - Hardcover

Coomer, James

4.67

9 ratings by Goodreads

9780813120003: Life on the Ohio (Ohio River Valley Series)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0813120004 ISBN 13: 9780813120003

Publisher: Univ Pr of Kentucky, 1997

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" When young James Coomer was offered a job as deckhand on the tugboat Pat Murphy at a dollar an hour, he took his first smell of diesel fuel and knew he was hooked. Life on the Ohio puts the reader in the pilot's seat as Coomer wrestles with runaway barges, navigates through ice and fog, pacifies angry crew members, and contends with the loneliness of working a thirty-day stretch. A modern counterpart to Twain's account of life as a steamboat pilot, Life on the Ohio depicts the working river as it is today with its immense towboats, gigantic locks and dams, and millions of tons of cargo. Coomer captures the movement of the boats and the colorful language of river people. Coomer admits that he stuck at his job not for money but for love of the river and his work. "Over the years I had experiences I wouldn't trade for a barge full of gold," he says, "and that's what this book is all about."

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From Booklist:

Coomer's memoir is part of the University Press of Kentucky's Ohio River Valley series, books that examine and illuminate the region and its people. Written over a lengthy period of time, Life on the Ohio is Captain Coomer's chronicle of his personal and professional odyssey as a third-generation pilot, a career that spanned 30 years. Coomer divides the book into his early apprenticeship as a harbor manager, his years on the towboats that go from Pittsburgh to Cairo, the time he spent aboard a 12-foot skiff cruising the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and a year spent working a self-built harbor tug in New Orleans. There's a lot of maudlin dialogue ("That's a fer piece," "Howdy," "Reckon I will," etc.), but for readers that can get through the hackneyed prose, the book is worth the trip. George Cohen

Review:

"Worth the trip."―Booklist

"One that river buffs will enjoy."―Filson Club Historical Quarterly

"A fascinating series of sketches of river life told by a keen observer."―S & D Reflector

"Shows that Mark Twain's steamboat genre is equally compelling when the captain's voice emanates from the wheelhouse of a post-World War II 3,000-horsepower diesel towboat."―The American Neptune

"This riverman's memoir never fails to keep the reader's attention tightly moored."―The Valley Magazine

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