Jim Bradshaw is one of the Savannah River's biggest fans.

"See these trees and rocks up here? It's the Augusta shoals -- one of the most beautiful places in the state," he told a recent group of guests. "But 99 percent of the people in Augusta have never even seen it."

Bradshaw, also known as "Captain Jim," invested two years of his life -- not to mention his savings -- to refurbish and license a 55-foot tourboat for passenger travel along his favorite waterway.

April marked the one-year anniversary of the Patriot's arrival in Augusta, and Capt. Jim has no regrets.

The tourboat was designed and modified to navigate the Savannah and its peculiar currents above and below downtown, where the boat has docks near 10th Street.

It has three engines and its draft, even when loaded with passengers, is just 23 inches, allowing movement in shallow water.

During a tour, he can show you the submerged pilings of ancient bridges lost during great floods; the graffiti -- wholesome, of course -- left behind by Ivy League rowing teams that train here; even a replica of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.

"It was actually a big tree," he said, gesturing toward the backyard oddity behind a Waters Edge home. "When the owner cut the limbs out he painted it to look like the lighthouse."

Capt. Bradshaw, a 1970 graduate of Cape Fear Maritime College in Wilmington, N.C., came to Augusta four years ago to pilot the Augusta Canal Authority's Petersburg tour boats, but soon he became interested in the Savannah River and saw a need for Augusta to have a tourboat there.

Today, he enjoys sharing the area's history and ecology with visitors.

"This river was once called the Westobou," he said. "They were an Indian tribe taken over by the Shawnee. The British conquered the Shawnee, who named it the Savannah."

Among the lesser known facts he shares with guests: the railroad bridge above Fifth Street is an extremely rare span known as a "bascule bridge," which uses a counterweight to operate its cantilever function. The rail line there once hauled cotton from riverside markets.

Speaking of cotton, he said, the phrase "fair to midland," often used rhetorically when someone is asked how they are doing, is actually an old farming phrase referring to the grade of cotton.

"Back in the day, it was the center grade for the bales," he said.

Some days, the 60-passenger vessel is full. Other times, he enjoys quieter rides with his dog and "second mate," Dusty.

The river, he said, was here long before there was a city of Augusta. It was where the Indians met and traded, where animals crossed at the shallow shoals -- and where floodwaters rushed by en route to the sea.

"This was I-20 just a few hundred years ago," he said. "It's just amazing."