While this is the autobiography of someone not famous or a celebrity, Wendell Lee Pieper's story is a captivating read of a broad range of life experiences. His life, now spanning seventy-eight years, includes interesting childhood experiences, notable achievements, disappointments, enlightening travel experiences, sad events, and a dedication to helping others. Along the way, there are many choices and decisions, and the author, as well as the reader, may wonder how his life might have gone differently. The author believes his autobiography will be informative and interesting to those who know him and entertaining to other readers.

Until the railroads extended their steel ribbons westward, people and cargo traveling to Americas frontier went by flatboat, canoe, or paddle-wheeled steamer. The falls of the Ohio River at Louisville presented a considerable obstacle to this floating traffic, and vessels traveling on this major waterway were forced to portage their cargo around the turbulent waters. In 1812, three enterprising brothers from New York, Abner, Joel, and Nathaniel Scribner, bought land at the western end of the rapids and named their new settlement New Albany in honor of the capital of their native state. Their village became the head of downriver navigation on the Ohio and evolved from a backwoods settlement into Indianas largest city, a lively river town where steamboats, textiles, sheet music, automobiles, and pastries have all been manufactured. Natural disasters have periodically changed the face of the city, but New Albany has always recovered due to the determination of its citizens. This collection of vintage images portrays the triumphs and tragedies of these residents.