A boat with canopy floats on the still water of the river. Shot from the opposite bank, the boat is too small to make out its name or the people in it.
Shot from a boat or the opposite bank, the photo shows a stretch of river and a couple of small buildings alongside a railroad track in the bluffs along the bank.
A barge or ferry is docked on the river by a small cluster of buildings. It is tentatively identified on the back as Specht's Ferry just north of Dubuque.
A path has been made by two wheels going through the snow, curving away to the right. There is a forest to the left of the tracks and a snowy hill to the right.