Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the second longest in the, with a length of 2,320 miles (3,734 km) from  to the. (The longest is its tributary the measuring 2565 miles.)  The Mississippi River is part of the --Mississippi river system, which is the largest river system in North America and among the largest in the world: by length (6,275 km or 3,900 miles), it is the, and by average discharge (16,200 m³/s), it is the. The longest of the many long Mississippi tributaries is the with the  as second longest. Measured by water volume, the largest of all Mississippi tributaries is the. The river starts in and then empties into the. The name Mississippi is derived from the word misi-ziibi meaning 'great river' (gichi-ziibi 'big river' at its headwaters).

Geography


From its source at, 1,475 feet (450 m) above sea level in located in , the river falls to 801 ft prior to  in. There it drops to 725 feet (220 m), creating the only along the river's course. The Mississippi is joined by the in, the  in Prairie du Chien, , the  and the  near , and by the  at. The joins the Mississippi in the state of. The in  is a major  of the Mississippi.

The Mississippi drains most of the area between the and the, except for the areas drained by  via the , the  and the. It runs through two states &mdash; and Louisiana &mdash; and was used to define the borders of eight states. The river has since shifted, but the state borders of, , , , , , , and have not changed. The river empties into the about 100 miles (160 km) downstream from. Measurements of the length of the Mississippi from Lake Itasca to the Gulf of Mexico vary, but the 's number is 2,320 miles (3,733 km). The retention time from Lake Itasca to the Gulf is about 90 days.

The river is divided into the, from its source south to the Ohio River, and the , from the Ohio to its mouth near New Orleans. The upper Mississippi is further divided into three sections: the headwaters, from the source to ; a series of man-made lakes between Minneapolis and St. Louis, Missouri; and the middle Mississippi, a relatively free-flowing river downstream of the confluence with the Missouri River at St. Louis.

A series of 29 and dams on the upper Mississippi, most of which were built in the 1930s, is designed primarily to maintain a 9 foot (2.7 m) deep channel for commercial barge traffic. The lakes formed are also used for recreational boating and fishing. The dams make the river deeper and wider but do not stop it. No flood control is intended. During periods of high flow, the gates, some of which are submersible, are completely opened and the dams simply cease to function. Below St. Louis, the Mississippi is relatively free-flowing, although it is constrained by numerous levees and directed by numerous s.

Through a natural process known as the lower Mississippi River has shifted its final course to the ocean every thousand years or so. This occurs because the deposits of silt and sediment begin to clog its channel, raising the river's level and causing it to eventually find a steeper, more direct route to the. The abandoned distributary diminishes in volume and forms what are known as s. This process has, over the past 5,000 years, caused the coastline of south Louisiana to advance toward the Gulf from 15 to 50 miles (25 to 80 km).

U.S. government scientists determined in the 1950s that the Mississippi River was starting to switch to the channel because of its much steeper path to the Gulf of Mexico. Eventually the Atchafalaya River would capture the Mississippi River and become its main channel to the Gulf of Mexico, leaving New Orleans on a side channel. As a result, the authorized a project called the, which has prevented the Mississippi River from leaving its current channel that drains into the Gulf via New Orleans. Because of the large scale of high energy water flow through the Old River Control Structure threatening to damage the structure, an auxiliary flow control station was built adjacent to the standing control station. This US$300 million project was completed in 1986 by the Army Corps Of Engineers.



Course changes
The, about 200,000 to 125,000 years before present, blocked the Mississippi near , diverting it to its present channel farther to the west (current western border of Illinois). The roughly follows the ancient channel of the Mississippi downstream from Rock Island to Hennepin. South of, the current is actually following the ancient channel of the Mississippi River to  before the Illinoian glaciation.

Other changes in the course of the river have occurred because of s along the, which lies between the cities of and St. Louis. Three earthquakes in 1811 and 1812, estimated at approximately 8 on the, were said to have temporarily reversed the course of the Mississippi.

The settlement of was cut off from,  during the 1811 and 1812 earthquakes and placed on the western side of the Mississippi River, the  side.

These earthquakes also created in Tennessee from the altered landscape near the river. The faulting is related to an (geologic term for a failed rift) that formed at the same time as the Gulf of Mexico.

Watershed


The Mississippi River has the third largest ("catchment") in the world, exceeded in size only by the watersheds of the  and. It drains 41% of the 48. The basin covers more than 1,245,000 square miles (3,225,000 km²), including all or parts of 31 states and two provinces.

Major tributaries of the Mississippi:
 * in Mississippi
 * in Mississippi
 * in Louisiana
 * in Arkansas
 * in Arkansas
 * in Kentucky
 * in Illinois
 * in Illinois
 * in Missouri
 * in Illinois
 * in Iowa
 * in Iowa
 * in Illinois
 * in Iowa
 * in Wisconsin
 * in Wisconsin
 * in Minnesota And Wisconsin
 * in Minnesota

Major sub-tributaries include the (a tributary of the Ohio River) and the  (a tributary of the Missouri River).

Mississippi - Missouri river system
The longest named river in North America is the, with a length of 2,341 miles (3,767 km) from the confluence of the , , and to the Mississippi River. Taken together, the Jefferson, Missouri, and Mississippi form the largest in.

If measured from the source of the Jefferson at to the Gulf of Mexico, the length of the Mississippi-Missouri-Jefferson combination is approximately 3,900 miles (6,275 km), making the combination the. The uppermost 207 mi (333 km) of this combined river are called the Jefferson, the lowest 1,352 mi (2,175 km) are part of the Mississippi, and the intervening 2,341 mi (3,767 km) are called the Missouri.

Outflow
Fresh river water flowing from the Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico does not mix into the salt water immediately. The images from NASA's to the right show a large plume of fresh water, which appears as a dark ribbon against the lighter-blue surrounding waters.

The images demonstrate that the plume did not mix with the surrounding sea water immediately. Instead, it stayed intact as it flowed through the Gulf of Mexico, into the, and entered the. The Mississippi River water rounded the tip of Florida and traveled up the southeast coast to the latitude of before finally mixing in so thoroughly with the ocean that it could no longer be detected by MODIS.

The Mississippi river discharges at an annual average rate of between 200,000 and 700,000 cubic feet per second (7,000 to 20,000 m³/s). Although it is the 5th largest river in the world by volume, this flow is a mere fraction of the output of, which moves nearly 7 million ft³/s (200,000 m³/s) during wet seasons. On average the Mississippi has only 1/11th the flow of the Amazon River, but is nearly twice that of the and almost 6 times the volume of the.

Nomenclature
The word Mississippi comes from Messipi, the French rendering of the (Ojibwe or Algonquin) name for the river, Misi-ziibi, which means "great river." The called Lake Itasca Omashkoozo-zaaga'igan (Elk Lake) and the river flowing out of it Omashkoozo-ziibi (Elk River). After flowing into, the Ojibwe called the river Bemijigamaa-ziibi (River from the Traversing Lake). After flowing into, the name of the river again changed to Miskwaawaakokaa-ziibi (Red Cedar River) and then to Gichi-ziibi (Great River) after flowing into. The Ojibwe name Misi-ziibi applied only to the portion below the, but the ever-changing names of the river seemed illogical to the English speakers. After the expeditions by and , the longest stream above the juncture of the Crow Wing River and Gichi-ziibi was named "Mississippi River".

Early American
On, , became the first recorded an to reach the Mississippi River, which he called "Rio de Espiritu Santo" (River of the Holy Spirit). (The river is now called Rio Misisipi in .) French explorers and  began exploring the Mississippi. He traveled with a named "Ne Tongo" (which in  means big river) in 1673. Marquette proposed calling it the River of the. In 1682, and  claimed the entire Mississippi River Valley for France, calling the river Colbert River after  and the region Louisiana, for. In 1718, New Orleans was established by.

France lost all its territories on the North American mainland as a result of the. The gave the  rights to all land in the valley east of the Mississippi and  rights to land west of the Mississippi. Spain also ceded to England to regain, which the English occupied during the war. Britain then divided the territory into and.

Article 8 of the states, "The navigation of the river Mississippi, from its source to the ocean, shall forever remain free and open to the subjects of Great Britain and the citizens of the United States." With this treaty, which ended the, Britain also ceded West Florida back to Spain to regain the , which Spain had occupied during the war. Spain then had control over the river south of 32°30' north latitude and, in what is known as the, hoped to gain greater control of Louisiana and all of the west. These hopes ended when Spain was pressured into signing in 1795. France reacquired 'Louisiana' from Spain in the secret in 1800. The United States bought the territory from France in the of 1803.

The river was noted for the number of bandits which called its islands and shores home, including who was a well-known murderer, horse stealer and slave "re-trader". His notoriety was such that author devoted an entire chapter to him in his book , and Murrell was rumored to have an island headquarters on the river at.



19th century
Twain's book also extensively covered the races which took place from 1830 to 1870 on the river before more modern boating methods replaced the steamer. It was published first in serial form in  in seven parts in 1875. The full version, including a passage from the unfinished  and works from other authors, was published by in 1885. The first steamboat to travel the full length of the Mississippi from the Ohio River to New Orleans, Louisiana, was the New Orleans in December 1811. Its maiden voyage occurred during the series of s in 1811–12. Steamboat transport remained a viable industry (both in terms of passengers and freight) until the end of the first decade of the twentieth century. Among the several Mississippi River system steamboat companies was the noted, which from 1859 to 1898 operated a luxurious fleet of steamers between St. Louis and New Orleans.

In 1815, America defeated Britain at the, part of the.

The river played a decisive role in the. The  called for Union control of the lower Mississippi River. The Union victory at the in 1863 was pivotal to the Union's final victory of the Civil War.

In 1848, the was built to connect the Mississippi River to  via the  near. In 1900, the canal was replaced by the. The canal allowed to address specific health issues (,  and other waterborne diseases) by sending its waste down the Illinois and Mississippi river systems rather than polluting its water source of Lake Michigan. The canal also provided a shipping route between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi.

20th century
The sport of was invented on the river in a wide region between Minnesota and Wisconsin known as. of, created and refined his skiing technique in late June and early July 1922. He later performed the first water ski jump in 1925 and was pulled along at 80 miles per hour (128 km/h) by a Curtiss later that year.

In the spring of 1927, the river broke out of its banks in 145 places during the and inundated 27,000 square miles (70,000 km²) to a depth of up to 30 feet (10 m).

On, , the automobile ferry  was struck by a ship traveling upstream as the ferry attempted to cross from , to. Seventy-eight passengers and crew died; only eighteen survived the accident.

The was another significant flood, although it primarily affected the Mississippi above its confluence with the Ohio River at Cairo, Illinois.

Two portions of the Mississippi were designated as some of the in 1997: The lower portion around Louisiana and Tennessee, and the upper portion around Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Missouri.

21st century
In 2002 the n long-distance swimmer swam the entire length of the river, from Minnesota to Louisiana, over the course of 68 days.

In 2005, the Source to Sea Expedition (http://sourcetosea.net) paddled the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers to benefit the Audubon Society's Upper Mississippi River Campaign.

On, , the in Minneapolis collapsed during the evening rush hour.

Also in 2007, it is expected that more than 150 pleasure boats will travel down the river from Grafton to Cairo while participating in the, which is circumnavigation of Eastern North America by water.

Navigation
A clear channel is needed for the s and other vessels that make the Mississippi one of the great commercial s of the world. The task of maintaining a navigation channel is the responsibility of the U.S. Army, which was established in 1866. Earlier projects began as early as 1829 to remove snags, close off secondary channels and excavate rocks and s. In 1829, there were surveys of the two major obstacles on the upper Mississippi, the Des Moines Rapids and the Rock Island Rapids, where the river was shallow and the riverbed was rock. The Des Moines Rapids were about 11 miles (18 km) long and just above the mouth of the at. The Rock Island Rapids were between and. Both rapids were considered virtually impassable.

On a side note, it is at this area of the Mississippi River that the river flows East to West as opposed to its normal course North to South.

The Corps recommended excavation of a 5 foot (1.5 m) deep channel at the, but work did not begin until after Lieutenant endorsed the project in 1837. The Corps later also began excavating the Rock Island Rapids. By 1866, it had become evident that excavation was impractical, and it was decided to build a canal around the Des Moines Rapids. The canal opened in 1877, but the Rock Island Rapids remained an obstacle.

In 1878, Congress authorized the Corps to establish a 4.5 foot (1.4 m) deep channel to be obtained by building wing dams which direct the river to a narrow channel causing it to cut a deeper channel, by closing secondary channels and by dredging. The channel project was complete when the Moline Lock, which bypassed the Rock Island Rapids, opened in 1907.

To improve navigation between, and , the Corps constructed several dams on lakes in the headwaters area, including Lake Winnibigoshish and Lake Pokegama. The dams, which were built beginning in the 1880s, stored spring run-off which was released during low water to help maintain channel depth.

In 1907, Congress authorized a 6 foot (1.8 m) deep channel project on the Mississippi, which was not complete when it was abandoned in the late 1920s in favor of the 9 foot (2.7 m) deep channel project.

In 1913, construction was complete on a dam at Keokuk, Iowa, the first dam below St. Anthony Falls. Built by a private power company to generate electricity, the Keokuk dam was one of the largest hydro-electric plants in the world at the time. The dam also eliminated the Des Moines Rapids.

was completed in Minneapolis in 1917 and Lock and Dam No. 2 at, was completed in 1930.

Prior to the 1927 flood, the Corps' primary strategy was to close off as many side channels as possible to increase the flow in the main river. It was thought that the river's velocity would scour off bottom sediments, deepening the river and decreasing the possibility of flooding. The 1927 flood proved this so wrong that communities threatened by the flood began to make their own levee breaks to relieve the tension of the rising river.

The Corps now actively creates floodways to divert periodic water surges into backwater channels and lakes. The main floodways are the Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway; the Morganza Floodway, which directs floodwaters down the Atchafalaya River; and the which directs water to. The Old River Control structure also serve as a major floodgates that can be opened to prevent flooding. Some of the pre-1927 strategy is still in use today; the Corps actively cuts the necks of horseshoe bends, allowing the water to move faster and reducing flood heights.

The Rivers and Harbors Act of 1930 authorized the 9 foot (2.7 m) channel project, which called for a navigation channel 9 feet (2.7 m) deep and 400 feet (120 m) wide to accommodate multiple-barge tows. This was achieved by a series of locks and dams, and by dredging. Twenty-three new locks and dams were built on the upper Mississippi in the 1930s in addition to the three already in existence. Two new locks were built north of Lock and Dam No. 1 at Saint Anthony Falls in the 1960s, extending the for commercial traffic several miles, but few barges go past the city of Saint Paul today.

Beginning in the 1970s, the Corps applied s to analyze flood flow and water quality of the Mississippi.

Until the 1950s, there was no dam below Lock and Dam 26 at. Lock and Dam 27, which consists of a low-water dam and an 8.4 mile (13.5 km) long canal, was added in 1953 just below the confluence with the Missouri River, primarily to bypass a series of rock ledges at St. Louis. It also serves to protect the St. Louis city water intakes during times of low water.

Dam 26 at Alton, Illinois, which had structural problems, was replaced by the Mel Price Lock and Dam in 1990. The original Lock and Dam 26 was demolished.

Cities along the river
The cities below have either historic significance or cultural lore connecting them to the Mississippi River. They are ordered from the beginning of the river to its end.

Bridge crossings
The first bridge across the Mississippi River was built in 1855. It spanned the river in where the current  is located. The first railroad bridge across the Mississippi was built in 1856. It spanned the river between at  and. Steamboat captians of the day, fearful of competition from the railroads, considered the new bridge "a hazard to navigation". Two weeks after the bridge opened, the steamboat Effie Afton rammed part of the bridge and started it on fire. Legal proceedings ensued - with a young lawyer named defending the railroad. The lawsuit went all the way up to the, and was eventually ruled in favor of Lincoln and the railroad. Below is a general overview of bridges over the Mississippi which have notable engineering or landmark significance with its city. They are ordered from the source to the mouth.
 * - a former (now pedestrian) bridge in  and.
 * , connecting, to rural , locally referred to as the Lansing Bridge and documented in the.
 * - A bridge connecting and  that is listed in the.
 * connecting to  is a twin suspension bridge, also known historically as the Iowa-Illinois Memorial Bridge.
 * connecting to . Located just southwest of the site of the first bridge across the Mississippi River, it is one of only two bridges in the world with two sets of railroad tracks above the auto lanes. It also co-located with Lock and Dam #15 - the largest  in the world.
 * connecting to.
 * connecting to.
 * - in, the largest double-deck swing-span bridge in the world; It is the last operating swing bridge over the Mississippi River for automobile traffic and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
 * Quincy - cable-stayed bridge connecting  and  via westbound US Highway 24. Eastbound traffic into Quincy is served by the older.


 * also known as the Super Bridge as the result of an appearance on PBS program . This cable-stay bridge constructed in 1994 connects to Black Jack, Missouri. It is the northernmost river crossing in the St. Louis metropolitan area and is named after explorer William Clark.
 * - A bridge on the northern edge of ; famous for a 22-degree bend halfway across and the most famous alignment of Historic across the Mississippi.
 * - A bridge connecting and ; the first major steel bridge in the world, and also a National Historic Landmark. This bridge now carries the  light rail system.
 * - The bridge that connects to Missouri and eventually . The bridge has been struck at least twice by.
 * - carries to connect  and ; listed in  for its unique structural "letter" shape.
 * - was the first crossing of the Lower Mississippi and the longest cantilever truss steel railroad bridge in North America when it opened on, . It connects and  and is listed as a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.
 * - the longest Warren truss- style bridge in the United States which carries to connect  and ; also listed on the.
 * -, the first Mississippi River span built in Louisiana.
 * - connects the east- and westbanks of ; the 5th-longest in the world.

Popular culture
The Mississippi River is a commonly cited natural boundary for purposes of dividing the United States into eastern and western sections, with places often being described as east or west "of the Mississippi".

Nicknames
Due to its size and historical significance, the Mississippi has many nicknames. Among these are:
 * The Father of Waters
 * The Gathering of Waters
 * The Big Muddy (more commonly associated with the Missouri River)
 * Big River
 * Old Man River (a nickname immortalized by and  in their song from the classic musical )
 * The Great River
 * Body of a Nation
 * The Mighty Mississippi
 * El Grande (de Soto)
 * The Muddy Mississippi
 * Old Blue
 * Moon River

Literature and music
uses the Mississippi river and Delta as the setting for many hunts throughout his novels. It has been proposed that in Faulkner's famous story, "", young Ike first begins his transformation into a man, thus relinquishing his birthright to land in due to his realizations found within the woods surrounding the. Many of the works of deal with or take place near the Mississippi River. One of his first major works, , is in part a history of the river, in part a memoir of Twain's experiences on the river, and a collection of tales that either take place on or are associated with the river. Twain's most famous work, , is largely a journey down the river. The novel works as an episodic meditation on American culture with the river as the central metaphor.

's novel  portrayed a -style group of steamboat passengers whose interlocking stories are told as they travel down the Mississippi River. The novel is written both as cultural satire and a metaphysical treatise. Like Huckleberry Finn, it uses the Mississippi River as a metaphor for the larger aspects of American and human identity that unify the otherwise disparate characters. The river's fluidity is reflected by the often shifting personalities and identities of Melville's "confidence man."

The second chapter ("The Master of the Mississippi") of 's famous comic book about the "Last of the Clan McDucks" is set on the Mississippi. Scrooge works here for his Uncle Angus "Pothole" McDuck on a wheel steamer and has his first encounter with.

The stage and movie musical 's central musical piece is the -influenced ballad "".

composed a set of movements for symphony orchestra based on the lands the river travels through in his.

The song "Big River" is about the Mississippi River.

The song "", made famous in the version performed by on the album , was composed by  McCoy in 1929 after the  of 1927. Another song about the flood was "Louisiana 1927" by for the album Good Old Boys.

"" from the 1961 film  refers to the Mississippi River.