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 …