River Books & Programs -> by Jerry Hay

About the Author

Jerry Hay has been exploring rivers for many years. He grew up along the Wabash River in Indiana where his fascination and love of rivers began. He has traveled the entire length of the Wabash and White Rivers by canoe and power boat. During those journeys he kept journals and drew river maps. This information, along with scouting the rivers by land and air, have provided a wealth of information that can be found in his guide books. Hay is available as a guest speaker about Indiana rivers and river life in general. His talks are very popular with river organizations, schools and libraries. His topics are not only about navigation, but also history, geography, and river lore. Jerry is retired as Riverlorian for the Delta Queen Steamboats of New Orleans. He gave daily talks, serves as a river guide, and made announcements about interesting sites along the rivers. The passengers are usually on week-long trips on navigable rivers throughout the eastern United States. In celebration of the Lewis and Clark expedition, Hay did shows on the steamboats and continues to do them at other events portraying Captain William Clark. He does a very convincing talk about the expedition and shares some of Clark's journals. Audiences have commented that even though they knew Jerry, they had become convinced that he was Captain Clark during his presentation. His expertise about rivers is well known and led to him being called as an expert witness in a case that led to designating a river as non-navigable. He has traveled nearly every major river in the U.S., including the entire lengths of the Mississippi River and Ohio Rivers. One of Jerry's unusual writing projects is a published children's book. The booked titled "A Goose Named Gilligan" was written by Hay about the true adventures of a goose that he rescued and was adopted by him. Another book project by Hay is completed. He started writing the book in 1997 and after nearly eight years it is finished. The book is titled "Beyond The Bridges" and is one of the most complete books about life on the rivers ever written. "Rivers Revealed" was released in June of 2007 by Indiana University Press This edition is available world-wide in soft cover. Hay completed the "Ohio River Guide Book", and was published in the Spring of 2008. This book is a complete guide of the entire 981 miles of the river and is a must-have for boaters, floaters and river road travelers.

Jerry Hay as Captain William Clark Cruising on the Wabash River

Hay with actors of a screenplay he wrote Exploring the Yukon River

Jerry can be found in a tux or hanging out along the riverbank

Jerry's boat, the River Runner Taking a break on the Delta Queen Steamboat

Here Jerry Presents a special gift to the newly remodeled Riverboat Inn at Madison, Indiana. This is a life ring from the Delta Queen Steamboat that was given to Hay when he retired from the boat. The Riverboat Inn is displaying the life ring to fit in with their riverboat theme.