I do not know much about gods; but

    I think that the river

Is a strong brown god — sullen,

    untamed and intractable.

           — T. S. Eliot, “The Dry Salvages”

London was T. S. Eliot’s “timekept city.” St. Louis was the source of “the yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes.” The riverside factories and the smoke they produced are mostly gone, but the city remains industrial. It isn’t the biggest or the best in any category: third-busiest inland port, third-largest railroad hub, etc. Manufacturing continues to play a large role in the economy there, but it is mostly of …