A collection of interconnected sketches and stories portraying the vanishing waterway and surrounding swamplands of the Kankakee, blending natural history, local color, and human portraits. The author evokes the river's flora and fauna, seasonal migrations, and fading marshland life, then shifts to vignettes of residents—storekeepers, hunters, quirky townspeople—whose lives intersect with the changing landscape. Historical references to early explorers and anecdotal reminiscences appear alongside portraiture of characters and episodic tales that record customs, humor, and loss as drainage and development alter the river's course. The tone is observational and elegiac, emphasizing landscape, wildlife, and the social patterns tied to a disappearing ecosystem.