Let the Lower Lights Be Burning — Dean Gabbert

Let The Lower Lights Be Burning takes its name from an old American hymn. Residents of Spunky Point loved to sing about those "fainting, struggling seamen" and they never doubted it was the Des Moines Rapids that made them that way. This light-hearted story about Mississippi River life in the 1870's features a boatload of memorable characters and a number of notable riverboats as well. Dean Gabbert laughs when he describes himself as a journalist whose blood is a murky mixture of printer's ink and river water. He retired as editor and publisher of the Fail-field (Iowa) Ledger in 1985 and since then he and his wife, Joyce, have made their home at Upper Catfish Bend, a scenic spot on the Upper Mississippi near Nauvoo, Illinois. (Mile 378.6) In 1993 he wrote his first novel, The Log of the Jessie Bill.