This is a Message Board Post. Reply to the message or author by clicking on the link below. *************************************************************************** MESSAGE: (#283686) Joseph 'Diamond Joe' Reynolds <http://iagenweb.org/boards/clayton/biographies/index.cgi?rev=283686> AUTHOR: S. Ferrall - IA DATE: 6/13/2010 at 11:11:32 Surnames: REYNOLDS,MORTON,MERRICK,BURNS,ARMOUR,DEERY,WILCOX,FLEMING,BILL,MORRISSEY,KILLEN Joseph Reynolds In 1882 the steamboat" Mary Morton," passing down the Mississippi from St. Paul to St. Louis, tied up at the landing-place at McGregor, Iowa, to discharge and take on freight. George B. Merrick, a leading Wisconsin editor, was making the trip as a guest of his oldtime river friend, Captain Burns. Mr. Merrick was himself a former riverman, was a great lover of the Mississippi, and is a prolific writer on the history of its navigation. Much contained in this sketch is derived from his records of the rise and fall of river travel and traffic. Telling of touching at McGregor on this trip he says: