About Quapaw Canoe Company:

Celebrating 10th year of operation in 2008. Owner John Ruskey has been paddling the river since 1982. Quapaw Canoe Company provides custom-guided canoe & kayak expeditions, day floats and other paddling adventures along the Lower Mississippi River from Cairo Illinois to St. Francisville, Louisiana. Spectacular reaches include the Kentucky Bluffs, Bessie’s Bend (20 mile bend of the river to go one mile), the 4 Chickasaw Bluffs, Memphis to Vicksburg (300 miles of remote river, only 2 bridges, only one town), Confluence of the Arkansas River & surrounding wilderness areas (rich habitat for the Louisiana Black Bear),

The John Ruskey Story--reprinted from the Clarion-Ledger

Guide reaches calm waters

By Cori Bolger cbolger@clarionledger.com

Two high school buddies, $1,000 worth of barrels and lumber and an
undeniable lust for exploration.

In 1983, John Ruskey and his best friend set sail down the Mississippi
River on a homemade raft, leaving Wisconsin and the civilized world
behind.

"We didn't care where it took us," Ruskey said. "We wanted go to the
Gulf of Mexico but we had no idea what that meant."

Five months into the trip, the raft struck a pylon. The two clung to a
piece of wreckage and floated to shore, where the U.S. Coast Guard
found them.

At the time, Ruskey had no idea the experience had taught him an
invaluable lesson, a lesson he would use years later as a guide on
that very same stretch of water hugging the Mississippi Delta.

"Getting out on the Mississippi River is something like getting on a
big mountain," said Ruskey, 42. "It's like climbing Everest or
McKinley. It's such a tricky river that you need to be able to read it
to survive."

That's where Ruskey lends a paddle. As owner of Ruskey's Quapaw Canoe
Co., he leads expeditions from Cairo, Ill., to the Gulf of Mexico.

"He's a real Renaissance man and an incredible asset to Clarksdale and
the whole Delta," said Kappi Allen, Clarksdale Chamber of Commerce's
tourism director.
A lean-muscled outdoorsman, Ruskey grew up one of eight children in a
small town nestled in the Rocky Mountains. He continued his love
affair with the Mississippi River after high school by working on a
steamboat. After attending college in New Mexico, Ruskey wandered the
country playing guitar, eventually landing in Austin, Texas.

All the while, the sound of his John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters
vinyls brought his mind back to Clarksdale. "I bought an Audi for
$400, drove here and never left," he said. "As soon as I crossed over
the river ... it was like breathing home."
In 1992, he became the curator of the Delta Blues Museum, spending his
spare time on the river, where he sat on the banks or paddled for
hours, stopping along the river's barren islands to paint its pristine
bayous and rolling waves.

The river, he said, "is a living being because it destroys and creates
much like God. Anything of beauty that's alive seeks attention."

The Cave

Ruskey eventually quit his museum job to open his company in "The
Cave," a book-filled basement office along the Big Sunflower River.
Outside, dozens of canoes are stacked beside Ladybug, a 450-pound
handmade canoe that carries up to 16 passengers.
The key to navigating the uncertain waters, Ruskey said, is to
understand the language of the river and predict what's going on
beneath its surface.

"The river moves so fast, but the sensation is that you're sitting
still. You've lost all sense of perspective," Ruskey said. "It's like
being in outer space."
That sense of bewilderment, Ruskey explained, leads to deep
introspection and ultimate bliss for an artist.

"An artist is looking for a different way of seeing things," he said.
"The river disturbs cliches and you find out it's not what you'd expect."

An artist himself, Ruskey enjoys capturing river landscapes in his
favorite medium - watercolor. Several times a year he organizes
retreats for artists that include a week on a river sand bar.

Over the years, the river's influence has crept slowly into all
aspects of Ruskey's life - including his marriage.

When he married Sarah Crisler two years ago, the couple paddled into
the wilderness for a four-day honeymoon. "She's strong for her size,"
Ruskey said of his wife, a professor at Rhodes College in Memphis.
"When we were in our canoe, she got out of her wedding dress and into
her river clothes faster than I got out of my tuxedo. I knew we were
going to be all right."

Historic retreat
The couple recently renovated a home in the historic district of
Clarksdale. As local legend has it, the house once was owned by the
Wingfield family, including Maggie Wingfield, the glass figurine
collector captured by playwright Tennessee Williams in The Glass
Menagerie.

"I used to visit and see the figurines on the mantlepiece. I think one
was a unicorn. I guess it caught his eye," said Peg Meek, Maggie
Wingfield's great-great-granddaughter.

The Ruskeys named their home "The Menagerie House" and turned it into
a bed and breakfast and art gallery.

Ruskey also oversees an after-school program for kids who want to
learn the art of canoe-making and river navigation.

Every day, apprentice Clifton Carr helps Ruskey hollow out cypress
logs and turn them into functioning canoes. The process can take up to
seven weeks.

"We're almost like brothers," Carr, 15, said. "There's always
something interesting to do ... John has helped me to become fearless
of the river."

Fearlessness has assimilated itself into Ruskey's work ethic since that first day on the Mississippi River. He will tell you that living
at the mercy of the river sounds as good as dying at it.

"A burial at river seems like a freeing experience," Ruskey said. "The
water has always been a soothing place for me, like going back to
where we came from. It just makes sense."

Tenas Leloo “Little Wolf” & Chinook Tahmahnawis

Tenas Leloo “Little Wolf”

Western Red Cedar
Length: 11’ 2”
Width (at beam): 19”
Head Height (prow): 22”
Tail Height (stern: 15”
Weight: 85 pounds

Chinook Tahmahnawis

Western Red Cedar
Length: 16’
Width (at beam): 21”
Head Height (prow): 32”
Tail Height (stern: 24”
Weight: 175 pounds

They are the work of Chinook elder & master canoe builder George Lagergren, age 84, resident of Wilapa Bay, Washington State. Both are carved in the Chinook tradition with a Wolf Head prow and a triangular tail (stern), both ends are slotted interior with a deep groove (for balancing your whaling harpoon), and painted in the traditional Chinook coloring, red & black. Each is accompanied with a panel of interpretive text and a traditional Chinook Paddle (fashioned from Yellow Cedar).

They do not like being left in the dark! These dugout canoes have strong personalities and a story to tell: the Chinook story! The people who sustained Lewis & Clark through the winter of 1805/06. They crave love & attention, especially from children and young adults. The Chinook Tahmahnawis lies firmly on the floor, the Tenas Leloo sits on a short, stable cradle. They travel together to keep each other company.

In April 2007 I will retrieve the canoes and prepare them for their return journey in June 2007 to the Columbia River Valley (During the entire month of May Quapaw Canoe Company will conduct a Dugout Canoe Carving Workshop with the Chinook Tahmahnawis and two other dugouts – public invited).

Here follows some scenes from their journey: