The Last Ferryman

In 1939--and for several decades preceding that year--the only way to cross the river at Millerville, Illinois, was by ferry. It seemed there always was a ferry in Millerville. Buck Shyrock, the local ferryman, knew that better than most. Being a ferryman was in Buck's blood--his grandfather and father both had ferried folks across the Wabash, from the Illinois side to the Indiana side and back again. To Buck's way of thinking, Millerville was a ''ferry town ... and it'll keep on bein' a ferry town.'' Even though in recent years there was talk of building a bridge across the river, that's all it was--just talk. Buck was sure of it.

Buck's certainty is shaken, however, by the appearance of Floyd Bailey, a roll of blueprints tucked firmly under his arm, and by the growing awareness that Bailey is to act as project engineer on the erection of a suspension bridge--a bridge that will mean the end of Buck's way of life.