I Was Born By The River
2026 QCC Long-Term Sustainability Report
Dear Friends, Family & Fellow River Rats: First of all, Happy "Canoe" Year from us Mighty Quapaws! This is a business health follow-up report, following up on everything we suffered -- and rose above -- throughout the last two years. Seems like a good day to do this. Today we celebrate Martin Luther King Day. Like all Americans, we are full of hopes & fears, and dreams & aspirations -- for bringing out the best, and doing the best we can do -- and also we are ready to get to work bringing back the balance. (Also: to all of our many friends & family on the Upper Mississippi: please know, you are not alone: we stand strong with you. Justice will prevail!) Let it be known, we Mighty Quapaws are rolling up our sleeves and ready to dive into the work we do best: as canoe carvers and guides into the wild interior of America, along the floodplain of the Mighty Mississippi. Our goal is long-term health of all creation. The need for clean air and clean water unites us all. You readers helped us survive these past two years. We will never forget that! We Mighty Quapaws are entering 2026 intent on following through with our long-term sustainable plan adopting as need be as we go along. You will see from below that we have not been idle, but actively engaged to make it work. Back Story: For decades I have been plowing everything I make back into the Quapaw Canoe Company (QCC), and not been very good at taking care of personal needs like healthcare, retirement planning, and providing for my daughter. Over the decades, QCC has been the ground-breaking pioneer in providing guiding & outfitting services on the Lower Mississippi River, our range is approximately 1,000 miles of free-flowing big river meandering through the Mid and Deep South, and major tributaries the St. Francis, the White, the Arkansas, Yazoo, Big Black, Ouchita and Red. And major distributary, the Atchafalaya, the "River of Trees." Over the decades we have nurtured outposts in Helena, Natchez, Vicksburg, and Memphis. We inspired many others including Big Muddy Adventures (St. Louis), Bayou Teche Experience, Mississippi River Expeditions (Memphis), Red River Canoe Company (Shreveport), and soon to open Iberville Landing (near Baton Rouge). I have been looking for a business partner to take over administration of company. (That has not happened yet, but remains an open door.) Over the past 2 years we have raised $16,135 via gofundme, with a $25K goal (this is ongoing). Thanks to you all, we were able to survive financial crisis, and were afforded breathing room to think clearly, and make thoughtful plans for the future.
New Website: Coming Soon! Looking into the New Year 2026, we are tree-trimming and tightening our belts wherever we can. As part of that efficiency we are going in house with web design & maintenance (as well as many other aspects of administration — changing world, I am a dinosaur in that respect!). Our good friend and adventure partner Dave Cornthwaite is creating a new up-to-date website, along with his soulmate wife, Emma Karembo. Catalpa House For Sale: As part of our belt-tightening plan, I reluctantly decided to sell my house, and intend to consolidate everything at the Sunflower Building, our downtown Clarksdale headquarters on the banks of the Sunflower River. It is becoming physically impossible for me to take care of two large buildings. I have already moved studio there, and sometimes sleep there on a hammock in the old cave location. Some renovation will be necessary, but the building is solid as an adobe church (literally 3-foot thick concrete walls at base, with buttressing support structure. Bricks and steel I-beam construction above that. Some wood on top floor). The house (110 Catalpa) is now on the market for $185K through Fiser Realty (2026 lowered price). You can see the house on Zillow. It is a unique place: historic Clarksdale Boarding House with Tennessee Williams connection (Glass Menagerie metaphor inspiration). On banks of Sunflower River opposite downtown Clarksdale. Sits on 3 city lots. There are 10 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms and 2 kitchens. Separate rear apartment. Great potential for enterprising individual or organization. Looks dumpy from the outside, but Catalpa house is in better shape than most new houses. Great "bones." No structure issues. No rot. No major problems. You have to see the inside! Artist's dream house. Entrepreneur's paradise! At 5450 square feet it is the best buy currently on the market in Clarksdale. Done: Sold 4 suburbans: In 2025 Mark River and I picked out the 2 best suburbans out of 6, and sold (or traded) the others.
Tree Trimming:
In our success, we have grown like a big tree, but maybe with too many branches for the trunk to sustain. So I look at this as a tree-trimming project. Quapaw has been successful model for decades, since 1998. Most businesses do not survive year 1. 85% don't make it to year 5. 2026 is our 28th year! We were named 2024 Mississippi Business of the Year by the SBA. That doesn't make anything any easier, but it does give us all the more reason to create a plan for long-term sustainability! 
Who Are We?
In 2026 our Clarksdale team consists of 4 river guides, 6 on-call guides, Mighty Quapaw apprentices, and 3 shuttle drivers. I am "chief of many hats." Chief shuttle driver Ellis Coleman (RIP 1956-2025) was our longest running employee (since 2007), and chief guide Mark River is longest running river guide (2011). We have been meeting regularly throughout 2025 for problem-solving and strategizing. We will continue to do so in 2026.
Standing in front of the Mirror: One thing I heard in SBA workshops last year was if your business is struggling, you need to look at yourself. You need to stand in front of the mirror and ask yourself "why aren't things working the way you would like them to work?" So that is what we are now doing! All of my Clarksdale team is 100% on board to help figure this thing out. Wanted: On-Land Mighty Quapaw: One big challenge for us is keeping the company going while we are on the river, doing our work. Approx 75% of our income comes from guiding & outfitting on the Mississippi River. We can’t answer phone on river, talk to visitors, or make gift shop sales. We don’t get trips when we don’t answer phone (or texts or emails). Solution: In 2026 we are looking for creative entrepreneur-type to take all of that over! Either as partner, or purchase. Someone to keep doors open, to meet & greet visitors off the street, to answer emails and phone calls, and to develop that side of our business. We call it the "Mississippi River Interpretive Center." Also known as "Gift Shop." This location is stuffed with canoes, kayaks, paddles, artwork, driftwood, fossils, river rocks, maps, posters and literature all related to the Lower Mississippi River, the biggest & wildest river in North America. Our Gift Shop area is one of the best locations in all of downtown Clarksdale, at the T-bone intersection 3rd & Sunflower with a public plaza and park on one side, and the Sunflower River behind. 2026 will see the completion of a two-mile round trip elevated walking trail along the river, with a new footbridge leading to Soldier's Field, and Martin Luther King Bridge being the turnarounds. PS: The City of Clarksdale has become a thriving hotbed creative culture, with live music every night of the week, and a wide assortment of festivals year round (For example, this coming weekend is the annual Clarksdale Film Festival). Go to Visit Clarksdale for performances, lodging, and more.
Newsletter: I have been writing this newsletter we call “River Time” or “The Lower Mississippi River Dispatch” for over three decades. You are reading issue #1014. Literally one thousand and fourteen newsletters sent out in the past thirty-one years! These started out in 1995 as emails to friends & family. During the 2000s we used "Mailman" Now it is delivered via Substack to over 7,000 subscribers. I have done this as a volunteer thing, to help spread the river gospel. Always free-of-charge. But as a matter of survival we are going to add on an option for paid newsletter. Free will continue also.
Exploration, Artwork, Music: Personally, by Jan, 2027, one year from now, I would like to be spending one-third of my time managing and guiding for Quapaw Canoe Company and two-thirds exploring the river, documenting creation, creating artwork, writing and making music, and doing whatever is necessary to support my daughter Emma in her next steps in life (now Freshman in college). I am about to complete a $10k commission painting. I also need to convert the one million word online Rivergator.org into a single volume hard copy book. I have satchel full of gritty river-rat songs that are begging to be brought to life. Summary: We Mighty Quapaws have self-imposed another two-year deadline on this. Figure it out -- or else! We have trips on our calendar through the end of the year, and into Fall 2027. I hope this has been an informative and helpful health report! Let me know if you have any questions. Quapaw Canoe Company needs to survive. But so do I, and my family. Seems like there are some viable ways to make that happen. Thank you from the bottom of my heart in being there for me in my time of need! With great love & appreciation on Martin Luther King Day 2026, -John PS: I would not be who I am today, and would not have been able to survive so far in Clarksdale up to now without the friends and family net of knowledge, compassion, support. I can’t begin to express my appreciation for that! I am endlessly thankful, and every day feel this in everything I do, gratitude and happiness for my community.
Interview with author from recent Lauren Rhoades Rooted. "What does it mean to call Mississippi home? Why do people choose to leave or live in this weird, wonderful, and sometimes infuriating place? Shortly after high school graduation, John Ruskey and his best friend took a trip down the Mississippi River and crash landed on Cat Island. That was the beginning of what would become John’s lifelong passion for exploring and sharing the magic of the Mississippi River with others." Thanks Lauren! Click here for the rest of the story!
Water is More Precious than Diamonds: Most of the water found on earth was created during the creation of our universe, and arrived like messengers from afar encrusted in asteroids. And so we are not only worker bees of our queen Mississippi, but we are also pilgrims on the longer road of honoring one of the most precious substances in the universe, and helping ensure its best journey as it transpires through all living things, and makes the big river swirl and boil, and ripple and wave with boundless enthusiasm and joy.
For the operations of the canoe company, we are at a crossroads, and ready for some strategizing for better procedure and long-term sustenance. I have been seeking help for years now, at least since pandemic, and even before. A business partner, with passion for administration. A sustainable plan. An integrative plan that connects everything we do with everything we love about the river, and make it flow in a perpetual motion connected kind of way. Horizontal integration. Spiraling upward perhaps, and opening outwards in smooth, slurpy, enchanting mirror-surfaces, snapshots of heaven’s harmony, like those that we see in the upward motion that creates those magnificent boils in the middle of the main channel of the Mississippi!
End Note: we Mighty Quapaws are sending big river strength and perseverance to our family & friends on the Upper Mississippi, especially in the Twin Cities, and especially to parents whose children are surely feeling traumatized by barbarian behavior imposed on them in neighborhoods, streets, schools, and other public spaces. As a father I can only imagine the terror children are feeling. When one of us suffers, we all suffer. River rat friends & family, please know, you are not alone: we stand strong with you, like the queen momma Mississippi herself!
~~~Lower Mississippi River Dispatch No. 1014~~~ Since 1995 ~ “Voice of the Lower Mississippi River” ~Quapaw Canoe Company, Clarksdale, Mississippi~
I REALLY enjoyed my interaction with Quapaw Canoe Company over the years I lived in Mississippi, and some of the trips I got to go on are incredible memories. Where can I get one of those patches!
Paddles up!
We, you, Quapaw and the River will survive and flourish. Karma & Hard Work will help us all to not only survive but exceed all expectations. You and all Quapaw Bothers & Sisters are too valuable to the River and the River is too precious to all of us.