Bar none, the Natchez is the coolest way to experience the grandeur of the mighty Mississippi. It is one of only two true steamboats plying the river today, and is the ninth steamer to bear the Natchez name.

She was put into service in 1975, with many of her components coming from classic ships of yore: the steam engines were built in 1925 for sternwheeler Clairton; her bell, made of 250 smelted silver dollar coins, graced the S.S. J.D. Ayres; her 32-note steam calliope was designed in the Gilded Age style; her genuine copper and steel steam whistle is a treasured antique; and the grand paddlewheel is made of 25 tons of white oak.

The Natchez is a beauty, and impresses the grandeur of this expansive river upon you. Boarding the boat is like walking into another age, and as you watch the steam engine push the paddlewheel, your imagination runs wild. After turning the bend, and leaving the New Orleans skyline behind, the banks of the Mississippi seem untouched by time.

Rusted ship cranes pass by slowly, as the crew from giant Singaporean ships wave happily from their bridge. The water is flat and expansive, the murky color hiding untold wonders beneath.

The boat itself is majestic, with the powerful, bright red wheel churning the water and propelling the shining white ship forward. The inside is adorned in wood, and the three levels offer a myriad of perspectives on the journey.

You begin to understand the potency of this river, and its always humbling to appreciate a power greater than yours.