I think part of it is that the doing it on a boat was unusual enough and sort of exotic enough and ingenious enough that it expanded his social universe. He started cold calling people whose names hed found in dick's manuscripts and journals. And invariably he'd get the same answer, are you kidding me? We were just talking about that guy on thursday? Some of those people, they had met him like 15, 20 years earlier. They range extremely widely. That was kind of thrilling.
The Ohio, Hudson, Mississippi, and Yellowstone — Dick Conant canoed them all. And then he disappeared.
In his riveting new book, “Riverman,” journalist Ben McGrath tries to track down the man who may be the greatest American folk hero you’ve never heard of.
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