BY JAMES V. SWIFT WJ Contributing Editor We have lost our river troubadour. The man who did so much for the rivers in bringing them to rus many fans and the general public through his songs passed on June 4 in the Centennial Hospital in Nashville, Tenn. He had fought a great bat- tle many years with non-Hodgkins lym- phoma (cancer). John Hartford was a great trouper; he sang as long as he could stand. The river knows rum for rus river songs, but John Hartford had a great career in other music, especially bluegrass. His most famous song, "Gentle On My Mind," was not about the river, but it did make him famous. It is said it is sung someplacearound the world every day; it has been broadcast more than 6 million times, and has been recorded more than 300 times, most promi- nently by Glen Campbell in 1967. He was on the Smothers Brothers Com- -From Ruth Fen Collection, St. Louis Mercantile Library Collectionand edy Hour, Campbell's "Good Time Hour," and he was a narrator on Ken Bums' Civil Capt. Dennis Trone (left), Rnth Ferris John Hartford in the pilothouse of War series. He won two Grammy Awards the Jnlia Belle Swain. for "Gentle On My Mind" and another for his album "Mark Twang." He recorded Hartford is best known for in thesecircles. Keith Norrington, New Albany, Ind., more than 40 albums. He was one of "Ruth's Boys"; that is he recalls that when he heard the Hot Stove came under the influence of Miss Ruth NavigationLeague, St. Louis Scuttle No.1, Remembered On The River Ferris at the St. Louis Community School, Golden Eagle Club, the Midwest River- For all these honors and fame in the blue- and a love of the river was inevitable. In boatBuffs and the Middle Ohio Chapterof grass circuit and general songs, it is as a fact,one of his favorite songs,performed at the Sons & Daughters of Pioneer River- riverman, pilot and river historian that John mostevery concert,was "Miss Ferris." men were going to honor Ferris at their

,- joint meeting in St. Louis in April 1977,he wrote Hartford suggestinga songto honor her at that time. Hartford replied that he couldn't attend the meeting because he would be on the Julia Belle Swain,but he could do something.The somethingturned out to be a tape of "Miss Ferris." Norring- ton got to present it to Ruth Ferris the night of the banquet.(She got two standing ovations.) There are other popular Hartford river songs,including the "Julia Belle Swain," "Delta Queen Waltz," "Kentucky Pool Made a Fool out of Me," "In Plain View of the Town," and "Old Time Riverman." The Julia Belle Swain Hartford got his pilot's license through his work on the steamerJulia Belle Swain. He is remembered on the boat as being more than just a crew member, as he broughtthe vesselfame, too. When he was on the Julia Belle it was owned by Capt. -Gift to Ruth Ferris by Marie Hartford, Ruth Ferr ;s Collection, St. Louis Mercantile Library Collection Dennis Trone. Ruth Ferris and John Hartford on Dec ember 28, 1981, his wedding day. -SEE HARTFORD PAGE17 ~~---~~-~-~ is .",.~~~""'"""'V.".,."'"" ~ -,, , , , v-~~~~~~~ Hartford (CONTINUED FROM PAGE 18) Now the boat is operated out of La Crosse, Wis., and as chance would have it, the day of John's funeral, June 9, the Midwest Riverboat Buffs were having their spring meeting at La Crosse and that night rode the Julia Belle. Before dinner, Buffs president Robert Soule said a few words about John Hartford and called for a moment of silence in his honor. Eddie Allen, the river songwriter from Trempealeau, Wis., opened his pro- gram with "Gentle On My Mind," and sang several Hartford songs during his performance. As the Julie Belle came in to land, the landing whistle was dedicat- ed to John Hartford. (There was a feeling that John Hartford's spirit was in the pilothouse that night.) Hartford was also an author; his river book is Steamboat In A Cornfield (the Vir- ginia), and he also wrote Word Movies. - -Photo by Wayne Crosslin, St. Louis Post-Dispatch His death report went out on the Associ- ated Press network and was carried by many At the Waterways Journal office, 1978. papers. The St. Louis Post-ffispatch story was done by Bethany Prange. A particular- and fame;he wantedonly to be a rivennan." the St. Louis Mercantile Library. ly good one was written by Bill Windram for John Hartford grew up in University Hartford lived with his wife Marie and the Quad-City Times recalling a trip he had City, Mo., St. Louis' suburb to the west. family on the banks of the Cumberland made with Hartford on the Julia Belle His parents' name was Harford, but so Riverin Madison,Tenn. A river light on the Swain. "At that moment a few years ago manypeople kept adding the "t" that John bank was named for him, and he had a John Hartford was a messiah, a pilot-master adjustedit. great collection of river material. In the of the river in the calm water above Clinton, He washonored a fewyears ago by hav- room where he liked to play, the ceiling Iowa...a two-fold personality, because at ing a stardedicated to him in the Walk of camefrom the steamerGordon C. Greene. the same time he was a songwriter and trou- Fame" in the UniversityCity "Loop." Then, On the back of his fiddle were the wordsof badour of national fame. At the steamboat's in 2000,he washonored with the DonaldT. Capt. Fred Way: "Nothing is real butthe wheel, though, he would forsake the songs Wright Award for Maritime Journalismby river, and all elseis sham."