John Ruskey on his canoe; (below) the Sunflower stream. Pictures by Sudeshna Banerjee

The Sunflower, a tributary of the Yazoo, flows languidly by the Mississippi delta town of Clarksdale. Clusters of bright yellow bloom amid lush greenery on its banks paint an impressionist picture. Close by, a bearded man is busy hacking at a huge bark of cypress. His face is worn out by the elements, but his eyes are kind. He is John Ruskey, known to locals in Clarksdale as the Mississippi Man.

Ruskey today is the owner of Quapaw Canoe Company, which provides eco-tourism experiences. But delta residents, young and old, brag about how the intrepid man had sailed across the length of the mighty Mississippi in a self-made raft.

“That was years ago,” Ruskey smiles, taking a break from the single-minded shaping of yet another canoe. He was in high school then. “As a kid I was always trying to get to a pond, get muddy, do things,” he recalls. Ruskey grew up by a mountain creek in Colorado. One day in his 18th year, along with a friend, he started building a raft. “We were inspired by Huck Finn,” he says, referring to Mark Twain’s fictional hero. Once the raft was ready, the two teenagers packed it with tents, sleeping bags, cooking gear, knives, saw, sailing kit, books, sketch book, thermometer, life jackets, weather radio and a guitar. “We sailed off from Minnesota.”

“The river goes through the heart of the country,” says Ruskey, fishing out a much-used map of the US. The journey took them through miles of wilderness. “We slept in the raft but generous people kept us fed. Fishermen gave us fish. And though we were high school kids, many people gave us beer,” he adds with a twinkle in his eyes.

The voyage threw up many unforeseen moments. “We were in Wisconsin, up north. It was a wet foggy day. Suddenly we could hear a tug boat close by. The sound of the water splashing was veering closer though we could see nothing beyond our noses. We got ready to dive into the water, fearing a collision.” The two boats sailed safely by each other but Ruskey still wonders about the near miss. “Had it not been for the boat, we could also have drifted out into the Gulf of Mexico.”

Another time, in St Louis, when the duo were three months into the trip, they dozed off and the boat capsized. “We could save only the food and the guitar. Everything else had to be replaced.” They did not give up and kept sailing downstream. But the voyage still ended in disaster. “That was another two months later. There was an electric supply tower in the middle of the river. We slammed into it and our raft got destroyed. We swam to the nearest island.” The two might have died of cold as they had got hypothermic, but by a stroke of luck their waterproof matchsticks were still on them. “We managed to get a fire going.”

The river had brought Ruskey to Mississippi. “I was a piece of driftwood.” That is how he landed in a state where he would return soon to start life. “Mississippi pulled me as it was the birthplace of blues. I came here in 1991 with a guitar looking for a blues man.” In Clarksdale, he found Johnny Belington, a guitarist who taught children how to play blues. “I wanted to go back to the river as well as work with kids. He inspired me.”

even years on, Ruskey is spearheading a back-to-the-river movement. “Though Memphis is a river-city, people had turned their backs on the Mississippi. After industrialisation in the 60s, the river banks gained a reputation of being a hangout of dirty people.” That is why he has based his mission on three Rs — respect for the river (and therefore nature); respect for other people (as sailing a boat requires teamwork) and respect for one’s self (one needs to take care of oneself and not fall ill during a voyage). The results, thankfully, are beginning to show.

His company Quapaw, which means ‘the downstream people’ in native American, takes people out on boating trips. “We do sunrise and sunset trips. Some trips may last for days, depending on how far one wants to go.” Recession has not dented business. “People are reconnecting to the river,” he says, with relish. The five boats he helped build in 2007 stay booked, by individuals, families or companies.

What gives the man even more joy is seeing children come up to him and want to pick up sailing. “I take them on as interns. There is no question of payment as I am too happy that they are taking interest in this. Rather, if they stay on I pay them a stipend.”

During these internships, Ruskey shows them how to make a canoe and sail one, read a map and get on an island. “On a boat, one should be prepared to do everything oneself.” An African-American boy, barely into his teens, is busy at work on an adjacent boat. “If he survives the first few days, I’ll know his interest is genuine,” muses Ruskey.

Since his Mississippi trip, Ruskey has sailed down almost every river in the US. He still intends to taste fresh water. “I want to sail on the Amazon, the Congo and perhaps also the Ganges. I’ve never been to India,” he reflects.