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Mississippi River

January 19, 2023

For the river in eastern Ontario, see Mississippi River (Ontario). For other uses of "Mississippi", see Mississippi (disambiguation).

The Mississippi River[a] is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system.[15][16] From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it flows generally south for 2,340 miles (3,770 km)[16] to the Mississippi River Delta in the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains all or parts of 32 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces between the Rocky and Appalachian mountains.[17] The main stem is entirely within the United States; the total drainage basin is 1,151,000 sq mi (2,980,000 km2), of which only about one percent is in Canada. The Mississippi ranks as the thirteenth-largest river by discharge in the world. The river either borders or passes through the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana.[18][19]

Mississippi River
The Mississippi in Iowa
Mississippi River basin
EtymologyOjibwe Misi-ziibi, meaning "Great River"
Nickname(s)"Old Man River," "Father of Waters"[1][2][3]
Location
CountryUnited States
StateMinnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana
CitiesSaint Cloud, MN, Minneapolis, MN, St. Paul, MN, La Crosse, WI, Quad Cities, IA/IL, St. Louis, MO, Memphis, TN, Greenville, MS, Vicksburg, MS, Baton Rouge, LA, New Orleans, LA
Physical characteristics
SourceLake Itasca (traditional)[4]
 • locationItasca State Park, Clearwater County, MN
 • coordinates47°14′23″N 95°12′27″W / 47.23972°N 95.20750°W / 47.23972; -95.20750
 • elevation1,475 ft (450 m)
MouthGulf of Mexico
 • location
Pilottown, Plaquemines Parish, LA
 • coordinates
29°09′04″N 89°15′12″W / 29.15111°N 89.25333°W / 29.15111; -89.25333
 • elevation
0 ft (0 m)
Length2,340 mi (3,770 km)
Basin size1,151,000 sq mi (2,980,000 km2)
Discharge 
 • locationNone (Sumative representation of catchment: View source); max and min at Baton Rouge, LA[5]
 • average593,000 cu ft/s (16,800 m3/s)[5]
 • minimum159,000 cu ft/s (4,500 m3/s)
 • maximum3,065,000 cu ft/s (86,800 m3/s)
Discharge 
 • locationVicksburg[6]
 • average768,075 cu ft/s (21,749.5 m3/s) (2009-2020 water years)
 • minimum144,000 cu ft/s (4,100 m3/s)
 • maximum2,340,000 cu ft/s (66,000 m3/s)
Discharge 
 • locationSt. Louis[7]
 • average168,000 cu ft/s (4,800 m3/s)[7]
Basin features
Tributaries 
 • leftSt. Croix River, Wisconsin River, Rock River, Illinois River, Kaskaskia River, Ohio River, Yazoo River, Big Black River
 • rightMinnesota River, Des Moines River, Missouri River, White River, Arkansas River, Ouachita River, Red River, Atchafalaya River

Native Americans have lived along the Mississippi River and its tributaries for thousands of years. Most were hunter-gatherers, but some, such as the Mound Builders, formed prolific agricultural and urban civilizations. The arrival of Europeans in the 16th century changed the native way of life as first explorers, then settlers, ventured into the basin in increasing numbers.[20] The river served first as a barrier, forming borders for New Spain, New France, and the early United States, and then as a vital transportation artery and communications link. In the 19th century, during the height of the ideology of manifest destiny, the Mississippi and several western tributaries, most notably the Missouri, formed pathways for the western expansion of the United States.

Formed from thick layers of the river's silt deposits, the Mississippi embayment is one of the most fertile regions of the United States; steamboats were widely used in the 19th and early 20th centuries to ship agricultural and industrial goods. During the American Civil War, the Mississippi's capture by Union forces marked a turning point towards victory, due to the river's strategic importance to the Confederate war effort. Because of the substantial growth of cities and the larger ships and barges that replaced steamboats, the first decades of the 20th century saw the construction of massive engineering works such as levees, locks and dams, often built in combination. A major focus of this work has been to prevent the lower Mississippi from shifting into the channel of the Atchafalaya River and bypassing New Orleans.

Since the 20th century, the Mississippi River has also experienced major pollution and environmental problems — most notably elevated nutrient and chemical levels from agricultural runoff, the primary contributor to the Gulf of Mexico dead zone.

Name and significance

The word Mississippi itself comes from Misi zipi, the French rendering of the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe or Algonquin) name for the river, Misi-ziibi (Great River).[21]

In the 18th century, the river was the primary western boundary of the young United States, and since the country's expansion westward, the Mississippi River has been a convenient line dividing the Western United States from the Eastern, Southern, and Midwestern regions. This is symbolized by the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the phrase "Trans-Mississippi" as used in the name of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition.

Regional landmarks are often classified in relation to the river, such as "the highest peak east of the Mississippi"[22] or "the oldest city west of the Mississippi".[23] The FCC also uses it as the dividing line for broadcast call-signs, which begin with W to the east and K to the west, overlapping in media markets along the river.

Divisions

The Mississippi River can be divided into three sections: the Upper Mississippi, the river from its headwaters to the confluence with the Missouri River; the Middle Mississippi, which is downriver from the Missouri to the Ohio River; and the Lower Mississippi, which flows from the Ohio to the Gulf of Mexico.

Upper Mississippi

Main article: Upper Mississippi River
 
The source of the Mississippi River at Lake Itasca
 
The first bridge (and only log bridge) over the Mississippi, about 25 feet south of its source at Lake Itasca
 
Former head of navigation, St. Anthony Falls, Minneapolis, Minnesota
 
Confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers, viewed from Wyalusing State Park in Wisconsin

The Upper Mississippi runs from its headwaters to its confluence with the Missouri River at St. Louis, Missouri. It is divided into two sections:

  1. The headwaters, 493 miles (793 km) from the source to Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, Minnesota; and
  2. A navigable channel, formed by a series of man-made lakes between Minneapolis and St. Louis, Missouri, some 664 miles (1,069 km).

The source of the Upper Mississippi branch is traditionally accepted as Lake Itasca, 1,475 feet (450 m) above sea level in Itasca State Park in Clearwater County, Minnesota. The name Itasca was chosen to designate the "true head" of the Mississippi River as a combination of the last four letters of the Latin word for truth (veritas) and the first two letters of the Latin word for head (caput).[24] However, the lake is in turn fed by a number of smaller streams.

From its origin at Lake Itasca to St. Louis, Missouri, the waterway's flow is moderated by 43 dams. Fourteen of these dams are located above Minneapolis in the headwaters region and serve multiple purposes, including power generation and recreation. The remaining 29 dams, beginning in downtown Minneapolis, all contain locks and were constructed to improve commercial navigation of the upper river. Taken as a whole, these 43 dams significantly shape the geography and influence the ecology of the upper river. Beginning just below Saint Paul, Minnesota, and continuing throughout the upper and lower river, the Mississippi is further controlled by thousands of wing dikes that moderate the river's flow in order to maintain an open navigation channel and prevent the river from eroding its banks.

The head of navigation on the Mississippi is the St. Anthony Falls Lock.[25] Before the Coon Rapids Dam in Coon Rapids, Minnesota, was built in 1913, steamboats could occasionally go upstream as far as Saint Cloud, Minnesota, depending on river conditions.

The uppermost lock and dam on the Upper Mississippi River is the Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam in Minneapolis. Above the dam, the river's elevation is 799 feet (244 m). Below the dam, the river's elevation is 750 feet (230 m). This 49-foot (15 m) drop is the largest of all the Mississippi River locks and dams. The origin of the dramatic drop is a waterfall preserved adjacent to the lock under an apron of concrete. Saint Anthony Falls is the only true waterfall on the entire Mississippi River. The water elevation continues to drop steeply as it passes through the gorge carved by the waterfall.

After the completion of the St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam in 1963, the river's head of navigation moved upstream, to the Coon Rapids Dam. However, the Locks were closed in 2015 to control the spread of invasive Asian carp, making Minneapolis once again the site of the head of navigation of the river.[25]

The Upper Mississippi has a number of natural and artificial lakes, with its widest point being Lake Winnibigoshish, near Grand Rapids, Minnesota, over 11 miles (18 km) across. Lake Onalaska, created by Lock and Dam No. 7, near La Crosse, Wisconsin, is more than 4 miles (6.4 km) wide. Lake Pepin, a natural lake formed behind the delta of the Chippewa River of Wisconsin as it enters the Upper Mississippi, is more than 2 miles (3.2 km) wide.[26]

By the time the Upper Mississippi reaches Saint Paul, Minnesota, below Lock and Dam No. 1, it has dropped more than half its original elevation and is 687 feet (209 m) above sea level. From St. Paul to St. Louis, Missouri, the river elevation falls much more slowly and is controlled and managed as a series of pools created by 26 locks and dams.[27]

The Upper Mississippi River is joined by the Minnesota River at Fort Snelling in the Twin Cities; the St. Croix River near Prescott, Wisconsin; the Cannon River near Red Wing, Minnesota; the Zumbro River at Wabasha, Minnesota; the Black, La Crosse, and Root rivers in La Crosse, Wisconsin; the Wisconsin River at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin; the Rock River at the Quad Cities; the Iowa River near Wapello, Iowa; the Skunk River south of Burlington, Iowa; and the Des Moines River at Keokuk, Iowa. Other major tributaries of the Upper Mississippi include the Crow River in Minnesota, the Chippewa River in Wisconsin, the Maquoketa River and the Wapsipinicon River in Iowa, and the Illinois River in Illinois.

 
The Upper Mississippi River at its confluence with the Missouri River north of St. Louis

The Upper Mississippi is largely a multi-thread stream with many bars and islands. From its confluence with the St. Croix River downstream to Dubuque, Iowa, the river is entrenched, with high bedrock bluffs lying on either side. The height of these bluffs decreases to the south of Dubuque, though they are still significant through Savanna, Illinois. This topography contrasts strongly with the Lower Mississippi, which is a meandering river in a broad, flat area, only rarely flowing alongside a bluff (as at Vicksburg, Mississippi).

 
The confluence of the Mississippi (left) and Ohio (right) rivers at Cairo, Illinois, the demarcation between the Middle and the Lower Mississippi River

Middle Mississippi

The Mississippi River is known as the Middle Mississippi from the Upper Mississippi River's confluence with the Missouri River at St. Louis, Missouri, for 190 miles (310 km) to its confluence with the Ohio River at Cairo, Illinois.[28][29]

The Middle Mississippi is relatively free-flowing. From St. Louis to the Ohio River confluence, the Middle Mississippi falls 220 feet (67 m) over 180 miles (290 km) for an average rate of 1.2 feet per mile (23 cm/km). At its confluence with the Ohio River, the Middle Mississippi is 315 feet (96 m) above sea level. Apart from the Missouri and Meramec rivers of Missouri and the Kaskaskia River of Illinois, no major tributaries enter the Middle Mississippi River.

Lower Mississippi

Main article: Lower Mississippi River
 
Lower Mississippi River at Algiers Point in New Orleans

The Mississippi River is called the Lower Mississippi River from its confluence with the Ohio River to its mouth at the Gulf of Mexico, a distance of about 1,000 miles (1,600 km). At the confluence of the Ohio and the Middle Mississippi, the long-term mean discharge of the Ohio at Cairo, Illinois is 281,500 cubic feet per second (7,970 cubic meters per second),[30] while the long-term mean discharge of the Mississippi at Thebes, Illinois (just upriver from Cairo) is 208,200 cu ft/s (5,900 m3/s).[31] Thus, by volume, the main branch of the Mississippi River system at Cairo can be considered to be the Ohio River (and the Allegheny River further upstream), rather than the Middle Mississippi.

In addition to the Ohio River, the major tributaries of the Lower Mississippi River are the White River, flowing in at the White River National Wildlife Refuge in east-central Arkansas; the Arkansas River, joining the Mississippi at Arkansas Post; the Big Black River in Mississippi; and the Yazoo River, meeting the Mississippi at Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Deliberate water diversion at the Old River Control Structure in Louisiana allows the Atchafalaya River in Louisiana to be a major distributary of the Mississippi River, with 30% of the combined flow of the Mississippi and Red Rivers flowing to the Gulf of Mexico by this route, rather than continuing down the Mississippi's current channel past Baton Rouge and New Orleans on a longer route to the Gulf.[32][33][34][35] Although the Red River was once an additional tributary, its water now flows separately into the Gulf of Mexico through the Atchafalaya River.[36]

Watershed

 
Map of the Mississippi River watershed
An animation of the flows along the rivers of the Mississippi watershed
See also: List of drainage basins by area

The Mississippi River has the world's fourth-largest drainage basin ("watershed" or "catchment"). The basin covers more than 1,245,000 square miles (3,220,000 km2), including all or parts of 32 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. The drainage basin empties into the Gulf of Mexico, part of the Atlantic Ocean. The total catchment of the Mississippi River covers nearly 40% of the landmass of the continental United States. The highest point within the watershed is also the highest point of the Rocky Mountains, Mount Elbert at 14,440 feet (4,400 m).[37]

 
Sequence of NASA MODIS images showing the outflow of fresh water from the Mississippi (arrows) into the Gulf of Mexico (2004)

In the United States, the Mississippi River drains the majority of the area between the crest of the Rocky Mountains and the crest of the Appalachian Mountains, except for various regions drained to Hudson Bay by the Red River of the North; to the Atlantic Ocean by the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence River; and to the Gulf of Mexico by the Rio Grande, the Alabama and Tombigbee rivers, the Chattahoochee and Appalachicola rivers, and various smaller coastal waterways along the Gulf.

The Mississippi River empties into the Gulf of Mexico about 100 miles (160 km) downstream from New Orleans. Measurements of the length of the Mississippi from Lake Itasca to the Gulf of Mexico vary somewhat, but the United States Geological Survey's number is 2,340 miles (3,770 km). The retention time from Lake Itasca to the Gulf is typically about 90 days.[38]

The stream gradient of the entire river is 0.01%, a drop of 450 m over 3,766 km.

Outflow

The Mississippi River discharges at an annual average rate of between 200 and 700 thousand cubic feet per second (6,000 and 20,000 m3/s).[39] The Mississippi is the fourteenth largest river in the world by volume. On average, the Mississippi has 8% the flow of the Amazon River,[40] which moves nearly 7 million cubic feet per second (200,000 m3/s) during wet seasons.

Before 1900, the Mississippi River transported an estimated 440 million short tons (400 million metric tons) of sediment per year from the interior of the United States to coastal Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico. During the last two decades, this number was only 160 million short tons (145 million metric tons) per year. The reduction in sediment transported down the Mississippi River is the result of engineering modification of the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio rivers and their tributaries by dams, meander cutoffs, river-training structures, and bank revetments and soil erosion control programs in the areas drained by them.[41]

Mixing with salt water

Denser salt water from the Gulf of Mexico forms a salt wedge along the river bottom near the mouth of the river, while fresh water flows near the surface. In drought years, with less fresh water to push it out, salt water can travel many miles upstream—64 miles (103 km) in 2022—contaminating drinking water supplies and requiring the use of desalination. The United States Army Corps of Engineers constructed "saltwater sills" or "underwater levees" to contain this 1988, 1999, 2012, and 2022. This consists of a large mound of sand spanning the width of the river 55 feet below the surface, allowing fresh water and large cargo ships to pass over.[42]

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 MODIS show a large plume of fresh water, which appears as a dark ribbon against the lighter-blue surrounding waters. These 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 Straits of Florida, and entered the Gulf Stream. The Mississippi River water rounded the tip of Florida and traveled up the southeast coast to the latitude of Georgia before finally mixing in so thoroughly with the ocean that it could no longer be detected by MODIS.

Course changes

Over geologic time, the Mississippi River has experienced numerous large and small changes to its main course, as well as additions, deletions, and other changes among its numerous tributaries, and the lower Mississippi River has used different pathways as its main channel to the Gulf of Mexico across the delta region.

Through a natural process known as avulsion or delta switching, the lower Mississippi River has shifted its final course to the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico 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 Gulf of Mexico. The abandoned distributaries diminish in volume and form what are known as bayous. 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 (24 to 80 km). The currently active delta lobe is called the Birdfoot Delta, after its shape, or the Balize Delta, after La Balize, Louisiana, the first French settlement at the mouth of the Mississippi.

Prehistoric courses

The current form of the Mississippi River basin was largely shaped by the Laurentide Ice Sheet of the most recent Ice Age. The southernmost extent of this enormous glaciation extended well into the present-day United States and Mississippi basin. When the ice sheet began to recede, hundreds of feet of rich sediment were deposited, creating the flat and fertile landscape of the Mississippi Valley. During the melt, giant glacial rivers found drainage paths into the Mississippi watershed, creating such features as the Minnesota River, James River, and Milk River valleys. When the ice sheet completely retreated, many of these "temporary" rivers found paths to Hudson Bay or the Arctic Ocean, leaving the Mississippi Basin with many features "over-sized" for the existing rivers to have carved in the same time period.

Ice sheets during the Illinoian Stage, about 300,000 to 132,000 years before present, blocked the Mississippi near Rock Island, Illinois, diverting it to its present channel farther to the west, the current western border of Illinois. The Hennepin Canal roughly follows the ancient channel of the Mississippi downstream from Rock Island to Hennepin, Illinois. South of Hennepin, to Alton, Illinois, the current Illinois River follows the ancient channel used by the Mississippi River before the Illinoian Stage.[43][44]

 
View along the former riverbed at the Tennessee/Arkansas state line near Reverie, Tennessee (2007)

Timeline of outflow course changes[45]

  • c. 5000 BC: The last ice age ended; world sea level became what it is now.
  • c. 2500 BC: Bayou Teche became the main course of the Mississippi.
  • c. 800 BC: The Mississippi diverted further east.
  • c. 200 AD: Bayou Lafourche became the main course of the Mississippi.
  • c. 1000 AD: The Mississippi's present course took over.
  • Before c. 1400 AD: The Red River of the South flowed parallel to the lower Mississippi to the sea
  • 15th century: Turnbull's Bend in the lower Mississippi extended so far west that it captured the Red River of the South. The Red River below the captured section became the Atchafalaya River.
  • 1831: Captain Henry M. Shreve dug a new short course for the Mississippi through the neck of Turnbull's Bend.
  • 1833 to November 1873: The Great Raft (a huge logjam in the Atchafalaya River) was cleared. The Atchafalaya started to capture the Mississippi and to become its new main lower course.
  • 1963: The Old River Control Structure was completed, controlling how much Mississippi water entered the Atchafalaya.

Historic course changes

In March 1876, the Mississippi suddenly changed course near the settlement of Reverie, Tennessee, leaving a small part of Tipton County, Tennessee, attached to Arkansas and separated from the rest of Tennessee by the new river channel. Since this event was an avulsion, rather than the effect of incremental erosion and deposition, the state line still follows the old channel.[46]

The town of Kaskaskia, Illinois once stood on a peninsula at the confluence of the Mississippi and Kaskaskia (Okaw) Rivers. Founded as a French colonial community, it later became the capital of the Illinois Territory and was the first state capital of Illinois until 1819. Beginning in 1844, successive flooding caused the Mississippi River to slowly encroach east. A major flood in 1881 caused it to overtake the lower 10 miles (16 km) of the Kaskaskia River, forming a new Mississippi channel and cutting off the town from the rest of the state. Later flooding destroyed most of the remaining town, including the original State House. Today, the remaining 2,300 acres (930 ha) island and community of 14 residents is known as an enclave of Illinois and is accessible only from the Missouri side.[47]

New Madrid Seismic Zone

The New Madrid Seismic Zone, along the Mississippi River near New Madrid, Missouri, between Memphis and St. Louis, is related to an aulacogen (failed rift) that formed at the same time as the Gulf of Mexico. This area is still quite active seismically. Four great earthquakes in 1811 and 1812, estimated at 8 on the Richter magnitude scale, had tremendous local effects in the then sparsely settled area, and were felt in many other places in the Midwestern and eastern U.S. These earthquakes created Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee from the altered landscape near the river.

Length

When measured from its traditional source at Lake Itasca, the Mississippi has a length of 2,340 miles (3,770 km). When measured from its longest stream source (most distant source from the sea), Brower's Spring in Montana, the source of the Missouri River, it has a length of 3,710 miles (5,970 km), making it the fourth longest river in the world after the Nile, Amazon, and Yangtze.[48] When measured by the largest stream source (by water volume), the Ohio River, by extension the Allegheny River, would be the source, and the Mississippi would begin in Pennsylvania.[citation needed]

Depth

At its source at Lake Itasca, the Mississippi River is about 3 feet (0.91 m) deep. The average depth of the Mississippi River between Saint Paul and Saint Louis is between 9 and 12 feet (2.7–3.7 m) deep, the deepest part being Lake Pepin, which averages 20–32 feet (6–10 m) deep and has a maximum depth of 60 feet (18 m). Between where the Missouri River joins the Mississippi at Saint Louis, Missouri, and Cairo, Illinois, the depth averages 30 feet (9 m). Below Cairo, where the Ohio River joins, the depth averages 50–100 feet (15–30 m) deep. The deepest part of the river is in New Orleans, where it reaches 200 feet (61 m) deep.[49][50]

Cultural geography

State boundaries

The Mississippi River runs through or along 10 states, from Minnesota to Louisiana, and is used to define portions of these states borders, with Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi along the east side of the river, and Iowa, Missouri, and Arkansas along its west side. Substantial parts of both Minnesota and Louisiana are on either side of the river, although the Mississippi defines part of the boundary of each of these states.

In all of these cases, the middle of the riverbed at the time the borders were established was used as the line to define the borders between adjacent states.[51][52] In various areas, the river has since shifted, but the state borders have not changed, still following the former bed of the Mississippi River as of their establishment, leaving several small isolated areas of one state across the new river channel, contiguous with the adjacent state. Also, due to a meander in the river, a small part of western Kentucky is contiguous with Tennessee but isolated from the rest of its state.

 
Lake Pepin, the widest naturally occurring part of the Mississippi, is part of the Minnesota–Wisconsin border.
 
The Mississippi River in downtown Baton Rouge

Communities along the river

Metro Area Population
Minneapolis–Saint Paul 3,946,533
St. Louis 2,916,447
Memphis 1,316,100
New Orleans 1,214,932
Baton Rouge 802,484
Quad Cities, IA-IL 387,630
St. Cloud, MN 189,148
La Crosse, WI 133,365
Cape Girardeau–Jackson MO-IL 96,275
Dubuque, IA 93,653
 
In Minnesota, the Mississippi River runs through the Twin Cities (2007)
 
Community of boathouses on the Mississippi River in Winona, MN (2006)
 
The Mississippi River at the Chain of Rocks just north of St. Louis (2005)
 
A low-water dam deepens the pool above the Chain of Rocks Lock near St. Louis (2006)

Many of the communities along the Mississippi River are listed below; most have either historic significance or cultural lore connecting them to the river. They are sequenced from the source of the river to its end.

Bridge crossings

See also: List of crossings of the Upper Mississippi River and List of crossings of the Lower Mississippi River
 
The Stone Arch Bridge, the Third Avenue Bridge and the Hennepin Avenue Bridge in Minneapolis (2004)

The road crossing highest on the Upper Mississippi is a simple steel culvert, through which the river (locally named "Nicolet Creek") flows north from Lake Nicolet under "Wilderness Road" to the West Arm of Lake Itasca, within Itasca State Park.[53]

The earliest bridge across the Mississippi River was built in 1855. It spanned the river in Minneapolis where the current Hennepin Avenue Bridge is located.[54] No highway or railroad tunnels cross under the Mississippi River.

The first railroad bridge across the Mississippi was built in 1856. It spanned the river between the Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois and Davenport, Iowa. Steamboat captains 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, setting it on fire. Legal proceedings ensued, with Abraham Lincoln defending the railroad. The lawsuit went to the Supreme Court of the United States, which ruled in favor of the railroad.[55]

Below is a general overview of selected Mississippi bridges that have notable engineering or landmark significance, with their cities or locations. They are sequenced from the Upper Mississippi's source to the Lower Mississippi's mouth.

Navigation and flood control

 
Mississippi River levels at Memphis, Tennessee
  Major flood stage
  Moderate flood stage
  Flood stage
  Action stage
  River levels
  Minimum operating limit (-12 feet)
 
Downbound barge rates
In late 2022 there was low river levels that caused two backups on the Lower Mississippi River that held up over 100 tow boats with 2,000 barge units and caused barge rates to soar[56][57]
Main article: List of locks and dams of the Upper Mississippi River
 
Towboat and barges at Memphis, Tennessee
 
Ships on the lower part of the Mississippi

A clear channel is needed for the barges and other vessels that make the main stem Mississippi one of the great commercial waterways of the world. The task of maintaining a navigation channel is the responsibility of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, which was established in 1802.[58] Earlier projects began as early as 1829 to remove snags, close off secondary channels and excavate rocks and sandbars.

 
Oil tanker on the Lower Mississippi near the Port of New Orleans
 
Barge on the Lower Mississippi River

A series of 29 locks and dams on the upper Mississippi, most of which were built in the 1930s, is designed primarily to maintain a 9-foot-deep (2.7 m) channel for commercial barge traffic.[59][60] 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 wing dams. The scope and scale of the levees, built along either side of the river to keep it on its course, has often been compared to the Great Wall of China.[32]

On the lower Mississippi, from Baton Rouge to the mouth of the Mississippi, the navigation depth is 45 feet (14 m), allowing container ships and cruise ships to dock at the Port of New Orleans and bulk cargo ships shorter than 150-foot (46 m) air draft that fit under the Huey P. Long Bridge to traverse the Mississippi to Baton Rouge.[61] There is a feasibility study to dredge this portion of the river to 50 feet (15 m) to allow New Panamax ship depths.[62]

19th century

 
Lock and Dam No. 11, north of Dubuque, Iowa (2007)

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 Des Moines River at Keokuk, Iowa. The Rock Island Rapids were between Rock Island and Moline, Illinois. Both rapids were considered virtually impassable.

In 1848, the Illinois and Michigan Canal was built to connect the Mississippi River to Lake Michigan via the Illinois River near Peru, Illinois. The canal allowed shipping between these important waterways. In 1900, the canal was replaced by the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. The second canal, in addition to shipping, also allowed Chicago to address specific health issues (typhoid fever, cholera 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 Corps of Engineers recommended the excavation of a 5-foot-deep (1.5 m) channel at the Des Moines Rapids, but work did not begin until after Lieutenant Robert E. Lee 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-deep (1.4 m) channel to be obtained by building wing dams that 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 St. Paul, Minnesota, and Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, 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.

20th century

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

In 1913, construction was complete on Lock and Dam No. 19 at Keokuk, Iowa, the first dam below St. Anthony Falls. Built by a private power company (Union Electric Company of St. Louis) to generate electricity (originally for streetcars in St. Louis), 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. Lock and Dam No. 1 was completed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1917. Lock and Dam No. 2, near Hastings, Minnesota, was completed in 1930.

Before the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, the Corps's 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 to be so wrong that communities threatened by the flood began to create their own levee breaks to relieve the force of the rising river.

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) feet deep and 400 feet (120 m) wide to accommodate multiple-barge tows.[63][64] 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.

 
Formation of the Atchafalaya River and construction of the Old River Control Structure.
 
Project design flood flow capacity for the Mississippi river in thousands of cubic feet per second.[65]

Until the 1950s, there was no dam below Lock and Dam 26 at Alton, Illinois. Chain of Rocks Lock (Lock and Dam No. 27), which consists of a low-water dam and an 8.4-mile-long (13.5 km) 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.

U.S. government scientists determined in the 1950s that the Mississippi River was starting to switch to the Atchafalaya River 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 U.S. Congress authorized a project called the Old River Control Structure, which has prevented the Mississippi River from leaving its current channel that drains into the Gulf via New Orleans.[66]

Because the large scale of high-energy water flow threatened to damage the structure, an auxiliary flow control station was built adjacent to the standing control station. This $300 million project was completed in 1986 by the Corps of Engineers. Beginning in the 1970s, the Corps applied hydrological transport models to analyze flood flow and water quality of the Mississippi. 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.

 
Soldiers of the Missouri Army National Guard sandbag the River in Clarksville, Missouri, June 2008, following flooding.

21st century

The Corps now actively creates and maintains spillways and floodways to divert periodic water surges into backwater channels and lakes, as well as route part of the Mississippi's flow into the Atchafalaya Basin and from there to the Gulf of Mexico, bypassing Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The main structures are the Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway in Missouri; the Old River Control Structure and the Morganza Spillway in Louisiana, which direct excess water down the west and east sides (respectively) of the Atchafalaya River; and the Bonnet Carré Spillway, also in Louisiana, which directs floodwaters to Lake Pontchartrain (see diagram). Some experts blame urban sprawl for increases in both the risk and frequency of flooding on the Mississippi River.[67]

Some of the pre-1927 strategy remains in use today, with the Corps actively cutting the necks of horseshoe bends, allowing the water to move faster and reducing flood heights.[68]

History

Approximately 50,000 years ago, the Central United States was covered by an inland sea, which was drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries into the Gulf of Mexico—creating large floodplains and extending the continent further to the south in the process. The soil in areas such as Louisiana was thereafter found to be very rich.[69]

Native Americans

Main articles: Woodland period, Hopewell tradition, and Mississippian culture

The area of the Mississippi River basin was first settled by hunting and gathering Native American peoples and is considered one of the few independent centers of plant domestication in human history.[70] Evidence of early cultivation of sunflower, a goosefoot, a marsh elder and an indigenous squash dates to the 4th millennium BC. The lifestyle gradually became more settled after around 1000 BC during what is now called the Woodland period, with increasing evidence of shelter construction, pottery, weaving and other practices.

A network of trade routes referred to as the Hopewell interaction sphere was active along the waterways between about 200 and 500 AD, spreading common cultural practices over the entire area between the Gulf of Mexico and the Great Lakes. A period of more isolated communities followed, and agriculture introduced from Mesoamerica based on the Three Sisters (maize, beans and squash) gradually came to dominate. After around 800 AD there arose an advanced agricultural society today referred to as the Mississippian culture, with evidence of highly stratified complex chiefdoms and large population centers.

The most prominent of these, now called Cahokia, was occupied between about 600 and 1400 AD[71] and at its peak numbered between 8,000 and 40,000 inhabitants, larger than London, England of that time. At the time of first contact with Europeans, Cahokia and many other Mississippian cities had dispersed, and archaeological finds attest to increased social stress.[72][73][74]

Modern American Indian nations inhabiting the Mississippi basin include Cheyenne, Sioux, Ojibwe, Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk, Fox, Kickapoo, Tamaroa, Moingwena, Quapaw and Chickasaw.

The word Mississippi itself comes from Messipi, the French rendering of the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe or Algonquin) name for the river, Misi-ziibi (Great River).[75][76] The Ojibwe called Lake Itasca Omashkoozo-zaaga'igan (Elk Lake) and the river flowing out of it Omashkoozo-ziibi (Elk River). After flowing into Lake Bemidji, the Ojibwe called the river Bemijigamaag-ziibi (River from the Traversing Lake). After flowing into Cass Lake, the name of the river changes to Gaa-miskwaawaakokaag-ziibi (Red Cedar River) and then out of Lake Winnibigoshish as Wiinibiigoonzhish-ziibi (Miserable Wretched Dirty Water River), Gichi-ziibi (Big River) after the confluence with the Leech Lake River, then finally as Misi-ziibi (Great River) after the confluence with the Crow Wing River.[77] After the expeditions by Giacomo Beltrami and Henry Schoolcraft, the longest stream above the juncture of the Crow Wing River and Gichi-ziibi was named "Mississippi River". The Mississippi River Band of Chippewa Indians, known as the Gichi-ziibiwininiwag, are named after the stretch of the Mississippi River known as the Gichi-ziibi. The Cheyenne, one of the earliest inhabitants of the upper Mississippi River, called it the Máʼxe-éʼometaaʼe (Big Greasy River) in the Cheyenne language. The Arapaho name for the river is Beesniicíe.[78] The Pawnee name is Kickaátit.[79]

The Mississippi was spelled Mississipi or Missisipi during French Louisiana and was also known as the Rivière Saint-Louis.[80][81][82]

European exploration

 
Discovery of the Mississippi by De Soto A.D. 1541 by William Henry Powell depicts Hernando de Soto and Spanish Conquistadores seeing the Mississippi River for the first time.
 
Map of the French settlements (blue) in North America in 1750, before the French and Indian War (1754 to 1763).
 
Ca. 1681 map of Marquette and Jolliet's 1673 expedition.
 
Route of the Marquette-Jolliete Expedition of 1673

In 1519 Spanish explorer Alonso Álvarez de Pineda became the first recorded European to reach the Mississippi River, followed by Hernando de Soto who reached the river on May 8, 1541, and called it Río del Espíritu Santo ("River of the Holy Spirit"), in the area of what is now Mississippi.[83] In Spanish, the river is called Río Mississippi.[84]

French explorers Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette began exploring the Mississippi in the 17th century. Marquette traveled with a Sioux Indian who named it Ne Tongo ("Big river" in Sioux language) in 1673. Marquette proposed calling it the River of the Immaculate Conception.

When Louis Jolliet explored the Mississippi Valley in the 17th century, natives guided him to a quicker way to return to French Canada via the Illinois River. When he found the Chicago Portage, he remarked that a canal of "only half a league" (less than 2 miles or 3 kilometers) would join the Mississippi and the Great Lakes.[85] In 1848, the continental divide separating the waters of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi Valley was breached by the Illinois and Michigan canal via the Chicago River.[86] This both accelerated the development, and forever changed the ecology of the Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes.

In 1682, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle and Henri de Tonti claimed the entire Mississippi River valley for France, calling the river Colbert River after Jean-Baptiste Colbert and the region La Louisiane, for King Louis XIV. On March 2, 1699, Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville rediscovered the mouth of the Mississippi, following the death of La Salle.[87] The French built the small fort of La Balise there to control passage.[88]

In 1718, about 100 miles (160 km) upriver, New Orleans was established along the river crescent by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, with construction patterned after the 1711 resettlement on Mobile Bay of Mobile, the capital of French Louisiana at the time.

In 1727, Étienne Perier begins work, using enslaved African laborers, on the first levees on the Mississippi River.

Colonization

See also: Flood of 1851

Following Britain's victory in the Seven Years War, the Mississippi became the border between the British and Spanish Empires. The Treaty of Paris (1763) gave Great Britain rights to all land east of the Mississippi and Spain rights to land west of the Mississippi. Spain also ceded Florida to Britain to regain Cuba, which the British occupied during the war. Britain then divided the territory into East and West Florida.

Article 8 of the Treaty of Paris (1783) 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 American Revolutionary War, Britain also ceded West Florida back to Spain to regain the Bahamas, which Spain had occupied during the war. Initial disputes around the ensuing claims of the U.S. and Spain were resolved when Spain was pressured into signing Pinckney's Treaty in 1795. However, in 1800, under duress from Napoleon of France, Spain ceded an undefined portion of West Florida to France in the secret Treaty of San Ildefonso. The United States then secured effective control of the river when it bought the Louisiana Territory from France in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. This triggered a dispute between Spain and the U.S. on which parts of West Florida Spain had ceded to France in the first place, which would decide which parts of West Florida the U.S. had bought from France in the Louisiana Purchase, versus which were unceded Spanish property. Due to ongoing U.S. colonization creating facts on the ground, and U.S. military actions, Spain ceded both West and East Florida in their entirety to the United States in the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819.

The last serious European challenge to U.S. control of the river came at the conclusion of the War of 1812, when British forces mounted an attack on New Orleans just 15 days after the signing of the Treaty of Ghent. The attack was repulsed by an American army under the command of General Andrew Jackson.

In the Treaty of 1818, the U.S. and Great Britain agreed to fix the border running from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains along the 49th parallel north. In effect, the U.S. ceded the northwestern extremity of the Mississippi basin to the British in exchange for the southern portion of the Red River basin.

So many settlers traveled westward through the Mississippi river basin, as well as settled in it, that Zadok Cramer wrote a guidebook called The Navigator, detailing the features, dangers, and navigable waterways of the area. It was so popular that he updated and expanded it through 12 editions over 25 years.

 
Shifting sand bars made early navigation difficult.

The colonization of the area was barely slowed by the three earthquakes in 1811 and 1812, estimated at 8 on the Richter magnitude scale, that were centered near New Madrid, Missouri.

Steamboat era

Main article: Steamboats of the Mississippi

Mark Twain's book, Life on the Mississippi, covered the steamboat commerce, which took place from 1830 to 1870, before more modern ships replaced the steamer. Harper's Weekly first published the book as a seven-part serial in 1875. James R. Osgood & Company published the full version, including a passage from the then unfinished Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and works from other authors, in 1885.

The first steamboat to travel the full length of the Lower Mississippi from the Ohio River to New Orleans was the New Orleans in December 1811. Its maiden voyage occurred during the series of New Madrid earthquakes in 1811–12. The Upper Mississippi was treacherous, unpredictable and to make traveling worse, the area was not properly mapped out or surveyed. Until the 1840s, only two trips a year to the Twin Cities landings were made by steamboats, which suggests it was not very profitable.[89]

Steamboat transport remained a viable industry, both in terms of passengers and freight, until the end of the first decade of the 20th century. Among the several Mississippi River system steamboat companies was the noted Anchor Line, which, from 1859 to 1898, operated a luxurious fleet of steamers between St. Louis and New Orleans.

Italian explorer Giacomo Beltrami wrote about his journey on the Virginia, which was the first steamboat to make it to Fort St. Anthony in Minnesota. He referred to his voyage as a promenade that was once a journey on the Mississippi. The steamboat era changed the economic and political life of the Mississippi, as well as of travel itself. The Mississippi was completely changed by the steamboat era as it transformed into a flourishing tourist trade.[90]

Civil War

Main article: Mississippi River in the American Civil War
 
Battle of Vicksburg (ca. 1888)
 
Mississippi River from Eunice, Arkansas, a settlement destroyed by gunboats during the Civil War.

Control of the river was a strategic objective of both sides in the American Civil War, forming a part of the U.S. Anaconda Plan. In 1862, Union forces coming down the river successfully cleared Confederate defenses at Island Number 10 and Memphis, Tennessee, while Naval forces coming upriver from the Gulf of Mexico captured New Orleans, Louisiana. One of the last major Confederate strongholds was on the heights overlooking the river at Vicksburg, Mississippi; the Union's Vicksburg Campaign (December 1862–July 1863), and the fall of Port Hudson, completed control of the lower Mississippi River. The Union victory ended the Siege of Vicksburg on July 4, 1863, and was pivotal to the Union's final victory of the Civil War.

20th and 21st centuries

See also: Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, Great Flood of 1951, Mississippi flood of 1973, and Great Mississippi and Missouri Rivers Flood of 1993

The "Big Freeze" of 1918–19 blocked river traffic north of Memphis, Tennessee, preventing transportation of coal from southern Illinois. This resulted in widespread shortages, high prices, and rationing of coal in January and February.[91]

In the spring of 1927, the river broke out of its banks in 145 places, during the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and inundated 27,000 sq mi (70,000 km2) to a depth of up to 30 feet (9.1 m).

In 1930, Fred Newton was the first person to swim the length of the river, from Minneapolis to New Orleans. The journey took 176 days and covered 1,836 miles.[92][93]

In 1962 and 1963, industrial accidents spilled 3.5 million US gallons (13,000 m3) of soybean oil into the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers. The oil covered the Mississippi River from St. Paul to Lake Pepin, creating an ecological disaster and a demand to control water pollution.[94]

On October 20, 1976, the automobile ferry, MV George Prince, was struck by a ship traveling upstream as the ferry attempted to cross from Destrehan, Louisiana, to Luling, Louisiana. Seventy-eight passengers and crew died; only eighteen survived the accident.

In 1988, the water level of the Mississippi fell to 10 feet (3.0 m) below zero on the Memphis gauge. The remains of wooden-hulled water craft were exposed in an area of 4.5 acres (1.8 ha) on the bottom of the Mississippi River at West Memphis, Arkansas. They dated to the late 19th to early 20th centuries. The State of Arkansas, the Arkansas Archeological Survey, and the Arkansas Archeological Society responded with a two-month data recovery effort. The fieldwork received national media attention as good news in the middle of a drought.[95]

The Great Flood of 1993 was another significant flood, primarily affecting the Mississippi above its confluence with the Ohio River at Cairo, Illinois.

Two portions of the Mississippi were designated as American Heritage Rivers in 1997: the lower portion around Louisiana and Tennessee, and the upper portion around Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin. The Nature Conservancy's project called "America's Rivershed Initiative" announced a 'report card' assessment of the entire basin in October 2015 and gave the grade of D+. The assessment noted the aging navigation and flood control infrastructure along with multiple environmental problems.[96]

 
Campsite at the river in Arkansas

In 2002, Slovenian long-distance swimmer Martin Strel swam the entire length of the river, from Minnesota to Louisiana, over the course of 68 days. In 2005, the Source to Sea Expedition[97] paddled the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers to benefit the Audubon Society's Upper Mississippi River Campaign.[98][99]

Future

Geologists believe that the lower Mississippi could take a new course to the Gulf. Either of two new routes—through the Atchafalaya Basin or through Lake Pontchartrain—might become the Mississippi's main channel if flood-control structures are overtopped or heavily damaged during a severe flood.[100][101][102][103][104]

Failure of the Old River Control Structure, the Morganza Spillway, or nearby levees would likely re-route the main channel of the Mississippi through Louisiana's Atchafalaya Basin and down the Atchafalaya River to reach the Gulf of Mexico south of Morgan City in southern Louisiana. This route provides a more direct path to the Gulf of Mexico than the present Mississippi River channel through Baton Rouge and New Orleans.[102] While the risk of such a diversion is present during any major flood event, such a change has so far been prevented by active human intervention involving the construction, maintenance, and operation of various levees, spillways, and other control structures by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

 
The Old River Control Structure complex. View is to the east-southeast, looking downriver on the Mississippi, with the three dams across channels of the Atchafalaya River to the right of the Mississippi. Concordia Parish, Louisiana is in the foreground, on the right, and Wilkinson County, Mississippi, is in the background, across the Mississippi on the left.

The Old River Control Structure, between the present Mississippi River channel and the Atchafalaya Basin, sits at the normal water elevation and is ordinarily used to divert 30% of the Mississippi flow to the Atchafalaya River. There is a steep drop here away from the Mississippi's main channel into the Atchafalaya Basin. If this facility were to fail during a major flood, there is a strong concern the water would scour and erode the river bottom enough to capture the Mississippi's main channel. The structure was nearly lost during the 1973 flood, but repairs and improvements were made after engineers studied the forces at play. In particular, the Corps of Engineers made many improvements and constructed additional facilities for routing water through the vicinity. These additional facilities give the Corps much more flexibility and potential flow capacity than they had in 1973, which further reduces the risk of a catastrophic failure in this area during other major floods, such as that of 2011.

Because the Morganza Spillway is slightly higher and well back from the river, it is normally dry on both sides.[105] Even if it failed at the crest during a severe flood, the floodwaters would have to erode to normal water levels before the Mississippi could permanently jump channel at this location.[106][107] During the 2011 floods, the Corps of Engineers opened the Morganza Spillway to 1/4 of its capacity to allow 150,000 cubic feet per second (4,200 m3/s) of water to flood the Morganza and Atchafalaya floodways and continue directly to the Gulf of Mexico, bypassing Baton Rouge and New Orleans.[108] In addition to reducing the Mississippi River crest downstream, this diversion reduced the chances of a channel change by reducing stress on the other elements of the control system.[109]

Some geologists have noted that the possibility for course change into the Atchafalaya also exists in the area immediately north of the Old River Control Structure. Army Corps of Engineers geologist Fred Smith once stated, "The Mississippi wants to go west. 1973 was a forty-year flood. The big one lies out there somewhere—when the structures can't release all the floodwaters and the levee is going to have to give way. That is when the river's going to jump its banks and try to break through."[110]

Another possible course change for the Mississippi River is a diversion into Lake Pontchartrain near New Orleans. This route is controlled by the Bonnet Carré Spillway, built to reduce flooding in New Orleans. This spillway and an imperfect natural levee about 12–20 ft (3.7–6.1 m) high are all that prevents the Mississippi from taking a new, shorter course through Lake Pontchartrain to the Gulf of Mexico.[111] Diversion of the Mississippi's main channel through Lake Pontchartrain would have consequences similar to an Atchafalaya diversion, but to a lesser extent, since the present river channel would remain in use past Baton Rouge and into the New Orleans area.

Recreation

 
Great River Road in Wisconsin near Lake Pepin (2005)

The sport of water skiing was invented on the river in a wide region between Minnesota and Wisconsin known as Lake Pepin.[112] Ralph Samuelson of Lake City, Minnesota, 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 mph (130 km/h) by a Curtiss flying boat later that year.[112]

There are seven National Park Service sites along the Mississippi River. The Mississippi National River and Recreation Area is the National Park Service site dedicated to protecting and interpreting the Mississippi River itself. The other six National Park Service sites along the river are (listed from north to south):

Ecology

Further information: Mississippi River System § Ecology
 
The American paddlefish is an ancient relict from the Mississippi

The Mississippi basin is home to a highly diverse aquatic fauna and has been called the "mother fauna" of North American freshwater.[113]

Fish

About 375 fish species are known from the Mississippi basin, far exceeding other North Hemisphere river basins exclusively within temperate/subtropical regions,[113] except the Yangtze.[114] Within the Mississippi basin, streams that have their source in the Appalachian and Ozark highlands contain especially many species. Among the fish species in the basin are numerous endemics, as well as relicts such as paddlefish, sturgeon, gar and bowfin.[113]

Because of its size and high species diversity, the Mississippi basin is often divided into subregions. The Upper Mississippi River alone is home to about 120 fish species, including walleye, sauger, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, white bass, northern pike, bluegill, crappie, channel catfish, flathead catfish, common shiner, freshwater drum, and shovelnose sturgeon.[115][116]

Other fauna

A large number of reptiles are native to the river channels and basin, including American alligators, several species of turtle, aquatic amphibians,[117] and cambaridae crayfish, are native to the Mississippi basin.[118]

In addition, approximately 40% of the migratory birds in the US use the Mississippi River corridor during Spring and Fall migrations; 60% of all migratory birds in North America (326 species) use the river basin as their flyway.[119]

Introduced species

Numerous introduced species are found in the Mississippi and some of these are invasive. Among the introductions are fish such as Asian carp, including the silver carp that have become infamous for out-competing native fish and their potentially dangerous jumping behavior. They have spread throughout much of the basin, even approaching (but not yet invading) the Great Lakes.[120] The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has designated much of the Mississippi River in the state as infested waters by the exotic species zebra mussels and Eurasian watermilfoil.[121]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Ojibwe: Misi-ziibi,[8] Dakota: Mníšošethąka,[9] Myaamia: Mihsi-siipiiwi,[10] Cheyenne: Ma'xeé'ometāā'e,[11] Kiowa: Xósáu,[12] Arapaho: Beesniicie,[13] Pawnee: Kickaátit[14]

References

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  2. ^ The Upper Mississippi River Basin: A Portrait of the Father of Waters As Seen by the Upper Mississippi River Comprehensive Basin Study. Chicago, Ill.: Army Corps of Engineers, North Central Division, 1972.
  3. ^ Heilbron, Bertha L. "Father of Waters: Four Centuries of the Mississippi". American Heritage, vol. 2, no. 1 (Autumn 1950): 40–43.
  4. ^ The United States Geological Survey recognizes two contrasting definitions of a river's source.USGS.gov June 30, 2017, at the Wayback Machine By the stricter definition, the Mississippi would share its source with its longest tributary, the Missouri, at Brower's Spring in Montana. The other definition acknowledges "somewhat arbitrary decisions" and places the Mississippi's source at Lake Itasca, which is publicly accepted as the source,USGS.gov and which had been identified as such by Brower himself.MT.gov January 18, 2012, at the Wayback Machine However, the river continues for several miles upstream from Lake Itasca to Nicolet Lake and its feeder stream.
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Further reading

  • Ambrose, Stephen. The Mississippi and the Making of a Nation: From the Louisiana Purchase to Today (National Geographical Society, 2002) heavily illustrated
  • Anfinson, John O.; Thomas Madigan; Drew M. Forsberg; Patrick Nunnally (2003). The River of History: A Historic Resources Study of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area. St. Paul, MN: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District. OCLC 53911450.
  • Anfinson, John Ogden. Commerce and conservation on the Upper Mississippi River (US Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, 1994)
  • Bartlett, Richard A. (1984). Rolling rivers: an encyclopedia of America's rivers. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-003910-0. OCLC 10807295.
  • Botkin, Benjamin Albert. A Treasury of Mississippi River folklore: stories, ballads & traditions of the mid-American river country (1984).
  • Carlander, Harriet Bell. A history of fish and fishing in the upper Mississippi River (PhD Diss. Iowa State College, 1954) online (PDF)
  • Daniel, Pete. Deep'n as it come: The 1927 Mississippi River flood (University of Arkansas Press, 1977)
  • Fremling, Calvin R. Immortal river: the Upper Mississippi in ancient and modern times (U. of Wisconsin Press, 2005), popular history
  • Milner, George R. "The late prehistoric Cahokia cultural system of the Mississippi River valley: Foundations, florescence, and fragmentation." Journal of World Prehistory (1990) 4#1 pp: 1–43.
  • Morris, Christopher. The Big Muddy: An Environmental History of the Mississippi and Its Peoples From Hernando de Soto to Hurricane Katrina (Oxford University Press; 2012) 300 pages; links drought, disease, and flooding to the impact of centuries of increasingly intense human manipulation of the river.
  • Penn, James R. (2001). Rivers of the world: a social, geographical, and environmental sourcebook. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1-57607-042-5. OCLC 260075679.
  • Smith, Thomas Ruys (2007). River of dreams: imagining the Mississippi before Mark Twain. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-3233-3. OCLC 182615621.
  • Scott, Quinta (2010). The Mississippi: A Visual Biography. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press. ISBN 978-0-8262-1840-7. OCLC 277196207.
  • Pasquier, Michael (2013). Gods of the Mississippi. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-00806-0.

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mississippi River.
 
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Mississippi River.
 
Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Mississippi River".

January 19, 2023
mississippi, river, river, eastern, ontario, ontario, other, uses, mississippi, mississippi, disambiguation, second, longest, river, chief, river, second, largest, drainage, system, north, america, second, only, hudson, drainage, system, from, traditional, sou. For the river in eastern Ontario see Mississippi River Ontario For other uses of Mississippi see Mississippi disambiguation The Mississippi River a is the second longest river and chief river of the second largest drainage system in North America second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system 15 16 From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota it flows generally south for 2 340 miles 3 770 km 16 to the Mississippi River Delta in the Gulf of Mexico With its many tributaries the Mississippi s watershed drains all or parts of 32 U S states and two Canadian provinces between the Rocky and Appalachian mountains 17 The main stem is entirely within the United States the total drainage basin is 1 151 000 sq mi 2 980 000 km2 of which only about one percent is in Canada The Mississippi ranks as the thirteenth largest river by discharge in the world The river either borders or passes through the states of Minnesota Wisconsin Iowa Illinois Missouri Kentucky Tennessee Arkansas Mississippi and Louisiana 18 19 Mississippi RiverThe Mississippi in IowaMississippi River basinEtymologyOjibwe Misi ziibi meaning Great River Nickname s Old Man River Father of Waters 1 2 3 LocationCountryUnited StatesStateMinnesota Wisconsin Iowa Illinois Missouri Kentucky Tennessee Arkansas Mississippi LouisianaCitiesSaint Cloud MN Minneapolis MN St Paul MN La Crosse WI Quad Cities IA IL St Louis MO Memphis TN Greenville MS Vicksburg MS Baton Rouge LA New Orleans LAPhysical characteristicsSourceLake Itasca traditional 4 locationItasca State Park Clearwater County MN coordinates47 14 23 N 95 12 27 W 47 23972 N 95 20750 W 47 23972 95 20750 elevation1 475 ft 450 m MouthGulf of Mexico locationPilottown Plaquemines Parish LA coordinates29 09 04 N 89 15 12 W 29 15111 N 89 25333 W 29 15111 89 25333 elevation0 ft 0 m Length2 340 mi 3 770 km Basin size1 151 000 sq mi 2 980 000 km2 Discharge locationNone Sumative representation of catchment View source max and min at Baton Rouge LA 5 average593 000 cu ft s 16 800 m3 s 5 minimum159 000 cu ft s 4 500 m3 s maximum3 065 000 cu ft s 86 800 m3 s Discharge locationVicksburg 6 average768 075 cu ft s 21 749 5 m3 s 2009 2020 water years minimum144 000 cu ft s 4 100 m3 s maximum2 340 000 cu ft s 66 000 m3 s Discharge locationSt Louis 7 average168 000 cu ft s 4 800 m3 s 7 Basin featuresTributaries leftSt Croix River Wisconsin River Rock River Illinois River Kaskaskia River Ohio River Yazoo River Big Black River rightMinnesota River Des Moines River Missouri River White River Arkansas River Ouachita River Red River Atchafalaya RiverNative Americans have lived along the Mississippi River and its tributaries for thousands of years Most were hunter gatherers but some such as the Mound Builders formed prolific agricultural and urban civilizations The arrival of Europeans in the 16th century changed the native way of life as first explorers then settlers ventured into the basin in increasing numbers 20 The river served first as a barrier forming borders for New Spain New France and the early United States and then as a vital transportation artery and communications link In the 19th century during the height of the ideology of manifest destiny the Mississippi and several western tributaries most notably the Missouri formed pathways for the western expansion of the United States Formed from thick layers of the river s silt deposits the Mississippi embayment is one of the most fertile regions of the United States steamboats were widely used in the 19th and early 20th centuries to ship agricultural and industrial goods During the American Civil War the Mississippi s capture by Union forces marked a turning point towards victory due to the river s strategic importance to the Confederate war effort Because of the substantial growth of cities and the larger ships and barges that replaced steamboats the first decades of the 20th century saw the construction of massive engineering works such as levees locks and dams often built in combination A major focus of this work has been to prevent the lower Mississippi from shifting into the channel of the Atchafalaya River and bypassing New Orleans Since the 20th century the Mississippi River has also experienced major pollution and environmental problems most notably elevated nutrient and chemical levels from agricultural runoff the primary contributor to the Gulf of Mexico dead zone Contents 1 Name and significance 2 Divisions 2 1 Upper Mississippi 2 2 Middle Mississippi 2 3 Lower Mississippi 3 Watershed 4 Outflow 4 1 Mixing with salt water 5 Course changes 5 1 Prehistoric courses 5 2 Historic course changes 5 3 New Madrid Seismic Zone 6 Length 7 Depth 8 Cultural geography 8 1 State boundaries 8 2 Communities along the river 8 3 Bridge crossings 9 Navigation and flood control 9 1 19th century 9 2 20th century 9 3 21st century 10 History 10 1 Native Americans 10 2 European exploration 10 3 Colonization 10 4 Steamboat era 10 5 Civil War 10 6 20th and 21st centuries 10 7 Future 11 Recreation 12 Ecology 12 1 Fish 12 2 Other fauna 12 3 Introduced species 13 See also 14 Notes 15 References 16 Further reading 17 External linksName and significanceThe word Mississippi itself comes from Misi zipi the French rendering of the Anishinaabe Ojibwe or Algonquin name for the river Misi ziibi Great River 21 In the 18th century the river was the primary western boundary of the young United States and since the country s expansion westward the Mississippi River has been a convenient line dividing the Western United States from the Eastern Southern and Midwestern regions This is symbolized by the Gateway Arch in St Louis and the phrase Trans Mississippi as used in the name of the Trans Mississippi Exposition Regional landmarks are often classified in relation to the river such as the highest peak east of the Mississippi 22 or the oldest city west of the Mississippi 23 The FCC also uses it as the dividing line for broadcast call signs which begin with W to the east and K to the west overlapping in media markets along the river DivisionsThe Mississippi River can be divided into three sections the Upper Mississippi the river from its headwaters to the confluence with the Missouri River the Middle Mississippi which is downriver from the Missouri to the Ohio River and the Lower Mississippi which flows from the Ohio to the Gulf of Mexico Upper Mississippi Main article Upper Mississippi River The source of the Mississippi River at Lake Itasca The first bridge and only log bridge over the Mississippi about 25 feet south of its source at Lake Itasca Former head of navigation St Anthony Falls Minneapolis Minnesota Confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers viewed from Wyalusing State Park in Wisconsin The Upper Mississippi runs from its headwaters to its confluence with the Missouri River at St Louis Missouri It is divided into two sections The headwaters 493 miles 793 km from the source to Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis Minnesota and A navigable channel formed by a series of man made lakes between Minneapolis and St Louis Missouri some 664 miles 1 069 km The source of the Upper Mississippi branch is traditionally accepted as Lake Itasca 1 475 feet 450 m above sea level in Itasca State Park in Clearwater County Minnesota The name Itasca was chosen to designate the true head of the Mississippi River as a combination of the last four letters of the Latin word for truth veritas and the first two letters of the Latin word for head caput 24 However the lake is in turn fed by a number of smaller streams From its origin at Lake Itasca to St Louis Missouri the waterway s flow is moderated by 43 dams Fourteen of these dams are located above Minneapolis in the headwaters region and serve multiple purposes including power generation and recreation The remaining 29 dams beginning in downtown Minneapolis all contain locks and were constructed to improve commercial navigation of the upper river Taken as a whole these 43 dams significantly shape the geography and influence the ecology of the upper river Beginning just below Saint Paul Minnesota and continuing throughout the upper and lower river the Mississippi is further controlled by thousands of wing dikes that moderate the river s flow in order to maintain an open navigation channel and prevent the river from eroding its banks The head of navigation on the Mississippi is the St Anthony Falls Lock 25 Before the Coon Rapids Dam in Coon Rapids Minnesota was built in 1913 steamboats could occasionally go upstream as far as Saint Cloud Minnesota depending on river conditions The uppermost lock and dam on the Upper Mississippi River is the Upper St Anthony Falls Lock and Dam in Minneapolis Above the dam the river s elevation is 799 feet 244 m Below the dam the river s elevation is 750 feet 230 m This 49 foot 15 m drop is the largest of all the Mississippi River locks and dams The origin of the dramatic drop is a waterfall preserved adjacent to the lock under an apron of concrete Saint Anthony Falls is the only true waterfall on the entire Mississippi River The water elevation continues to drop steeply as it passes through the gorge carved by the waterfall After the completion of the St Anthony Falls Lock and Dam in 1963 the river s head of navigation moved upstream to the Coon Rapids Dam However the Locks were closed in 2015 to control the spread of invasive Asian carp making Minneapolis once again the site of the head of navigation of the river 25 The Upper Mississippi has a number of natural and artificial lakes with its widest point being Lake Winnibigoshish near Grand Rapids Minnesota over 11 miles 18 km across Lake Onalaska created by Lock and Dam No 7 near La Crosse Wisconsin is more than 4 miles 6 4 km wide Lake Pepin a natural lake formed behind the delta of the Chippewa River of Wisconsin as it enters the Upper Mississippi is more than 2 miles 3 2 km wide 26 By the time the Upper Mississippi reaches Saint Paul Minnesota below Lock and Dam No 1 it has dropped more than half its original elevation and is 687 feet 209 m above sea level From St Paul to St Louis Missouri the river elevation falls much more slowly and is controlled and managed as a series of pools created by 26 locks and dams 27 The Upper Mississippi River is joined by the Minnesota River at Fort Snelling in the Twin Cities the St Croix River near Prescott Wisconsin the Cannon River near Red Wing Minnesota the Zumbro River at Wabasha Minnesota the Black La Crosse and Root rivers in La Crosse Wisconsin the Wisconsin River at Prairie du Chien Wisconsin the Rock River at the Quad Cities the Iowa River near Wapello Iowa the Skunk River south of Burlington Iowa and the Des Moines River at Keokuk Iowa Other major tributaries of the Upper Mississippi include the Crow River in Minnesota the Chippewa River in Wisconsin the Maquoketa River and the Wapsipinicon River in Iowa and the Illinois River in Illinois The Upper Mississippi River at its confluence with the Missouri River north of St Louis The Upper Mississippi is largely a multi thread stream with many bars and islands From its confluence with the St Croix River downstream to Dubuque Iowa the river is entrenched with high bedrock bluffs lying on either side The height of these bluffs decreases to the south of Dubuque though they are still significant through Savanna Illinois This topography contrasts strongly with the Lower Mississippi which is a meandering river in a broad flat area only rarely flowing alongside a bluff as at Vicksburg Mississippi The confluence of the Mississippi left and Ohio right rivers at Cairo Illinois the demarcation between the Middle and the Lower Mississippi River Middle Mississippi The Mississippi River is known as the Middle Mississippi from the Upper Mississippi River s confluence with the Missouri River at St Louis Missouri for 190 miles 310 km to its confluence with the Ohio River at Cairo Illinois 28 29 The Middle Mississippi is relatively free flowing From St Louis to the Ohio River confluence the Middle Mississippi falls 220 feet 67 m over 180 miles 290 km for an average rate of 1 2 feet per mile 23 cm km At its confluence with the Ohio River the Middle Mississippi is 315 feet 96 m above sea level Apart from the Missouri and Meramec rivers of Missouri and the Kaskaskia River of Illinois no major tributaries enter the Middle Mississippi River Lower Mississippi Main article Lower Mississippi River Lower Mississippi River at Algiers Point in New Orleans The Mississippi River is called the Lower Mississippi River from its confluence with the Ohio River to its mouth at the Gulf of Mexico a distance of about 1 000 miles 1 600 km At the confluence of the Ohio and the Middle Mississippi the long term mean discharge of the Ohio at Cairo Illinois is 281 500 cubic feet per second 7 970 cubic meters per second 30 while the long term mean discharge of the Mississippi at Thebes Illinois just upriver from Cairo is 208 200 cu ft s 5 900 m3 s 31 Thus by volume the main branch of the Mississippi River system at Cairo can be considered to be the Ohio River and the Allegheny River further upstream rather than the Middle Mississippi In addition to the Ohio River the major tributaries of the Lower Mississippi River are the White River flowing in at the White River National Wildlife Refuge in east central Arkansas the Arkansas River joining the Mississippi at Arkansas Post the Big Black River in Mississippi and the Yazoo River meeting the Mississippi at Vicksburg Mississippi Deliberate water diversion at the Old River Control Structure in Louisiana allows the Atchafalaya River in Louisiana to be a major distributary of the Mississippi River with 30 of the combined flow of the Mississippi and Red Rivers flowing to the Gulf of Mexico by this route rather than continuing down the Mississippi s current channel past Baton Rouge and New Orleans on a longer route to the Gulf 32 33 34 35 Although the Red River was once an additional tributary its water now flows separately into the Gulf of Mexico through the Atchafalaya River 36 Watershed Map of the Mississippi River watershed source source source source source source source source source source source source source source An animation of the flows along the rivers of the Mississippi watershed See also List of drainage basins by area The Mississippi River has the world s fourth largest drainage basin watershed or catchment The basin covers more than 1 245 000 square miles 3 220 000 km2 including all or parts of 32 U S states and two Canadian provinces The drainage basin empties into the Gulf of Mexico part of the Atlantic Ocean The total catchment of the Mississippi River covers nearly 40 of the landmass of the continental United States The highest point within the watershed is also the highest point of the Rocky Mountains Mount Elbert at 14 440 feet 4 400 m 37 Sequence of NASA MODIS images showing the outflow of fresh water from the Mississippi arrows into the Gulf of Mexico 2004 In the United States the Mississippi River drains the majority of the area between the crest of the Rocky Mountains and the crest of the Appalachian Mountains except for various regions drained to Hudson Bay by the Red River of the North to the Atlantic Ocean by the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence River and to the Gulf of Mexico by the Rio Grande the Alabama and Tombigbee rivers the Chattahoochee and Appalachicola rivers and various smaller coastal waterways along the Gulf The Mississippi River empties into the Gulf of Mexico about 100 miles 160 km downstream from New Orleans Measurements of the length of the Mississippi from Lake Itasca to the Gulf of Mexico vary somewhat but the United States Geological Survey s number is 2 340 miles 3 770 km The retention time from Lake Itasca to the Gulf is typically about 90 days 38 The stream gradient of the entire river is 0 01 a drop of 450 m over 3 766 km OutflowThe Mississippi River discharges at an annual average rate of between 200 and 700 thousand cubic feet per second 6 000 and 20 000 m3 s 39 The Mississippi is the fourteenth largest river in the world by volume On average the Mississippi has 8 the flow of the Amazon River 40 which moves nearly 7 million cubic feet per second 200 000 m3 s during wet seasons Before 1900 the Mississippi River transported an estimated 440 million short tons 400 million metric tons of sediment per year from the interior of the United States to coastal Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico During the last two decades this number was only 160 million short tons 145 million metric tons per year The reduction in sediment transported down the Mississippi River is the result of engineering modification of the Mississippi Missouri and Ohio rivers and their tributaries by dams meander cutoffs river training structures and bank revetments and soil erosion control programs in the areas drained by them 41 Mixing with salt water Denser salt water from the Gulf of Mexico forms a salt wedge along the river bottom near the mouth of the river while fresh water flows near the surface In drought years with less fresh water to push it out salt water can travel many miles upstream 64 miles 103 km in 2022 contaminating drinking water supplies and requiring the use of desalination The United States Army Corps of Engineers constructed saltwater sills or underwater levees to contain this 1988 1999 2012 and 2022 This consists of a large mound of sand spanning the width of the river 55 feet below the surface allowing fresh water and large cargo ships to pass over 42 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 MODIS show a large plume of fresh water which appears as a dark ribbon against the lighter blue surrounding waters These 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 Straits of Florida and entered the Gulf Stream The Mississippi River water rounded the tip of Florida and traveled up the southeast coast to the latitude of Georgia before finally mixing in so thoroughly with the ocean that it could no longer be detected by MODIS Course changesOver geologic time the Mississippi River has experienced numerous large and small changes to its main course as well as additions deletions and other changes among its numerous tributaries and the lower Mississippi River has used different pathways as its main channel to the Gulf of Mexico across the delta region Through a natural process known as avulsion or delta switching the lower Mississippi River has shifted its final course to the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico 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 Gulf of Mexico The abandoned distributaries diminish in volume and form what are known as bayous 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 24 to 80 km The currently active delta lobe is called the Birdfoot Delta after its shape or the Balize Delta after La Balize Louisiana the first French settlement at the mouth of the Mississippi Prehistoric courses The current form of the Mississippi River basin was largely shaped by the Laurentide Ice Sheet of the most recent Ice Age The southernmost extent of this enormous glaciation extended well into the present day United States and Mississippi basin When the ice sheet began to recede hundreds of feet of rich sediment were deposited creating the flat and fertile landscape of the Mississippi Valley During the melt giant glacial rivers found drainage paths into the Mississippi watershed creating such features as the Minnesota River James River and Milk River valleys When the ice sheet completely retreated many of these temporary rivers found paths to Hudson Bay or the Arctic Ocean leaving the Mississippi Basin with many features over sized for the existing rivers to have carved in the same time period Ice sheets during the Illinoian Stage about 300 000 to 132 000 years before present blocked the Mississippi near Rock Island Illinois diverting it to its present channel farther to the west the current western border of Illinois The Hennepin Canal roughly follows the ancient channel of the Mississippi downstream from Rock Island to Hennepin Illinois South of Hennepin to Alton Illinois the current Illinois River follows the ancient channel used by the Mississippi River before the Illinoian Stage 43 44 View along the former riverbed at the Tennessee Arkansas state line near Reverie Tennessee 2007 Timeline of outflow course changes 45 c 5000 BC The last ice age ended world sea level became what it is now c 2500 BC Bayou Teche became the main course of the Mississippi c 800 BC The Mississippi diverted further east c 200 AD Bayou Lafourche became the main course of the Mississippi c 1000 AD The Mississippi s present course took over Before c 1400 AD The Red River of the South flowed parallel to the lower Mississippi to the sea 15th century Turnbull s Bend in the lower Mississippi extended so far west that it captured the Red River of the South The Red River below the captured section became the Atchafalaya River 1831 Captain Henry M Shreve dug a new short course for the Mississippi through the neck of Turnbull s Bend 1833 to November 1873 The Great Raft a huge logjam in the Atchafalaya River was cleared The Atchafalaya started to capture the Mississippi and to become its new main lower course 1963 The Old River Control Structure was completed controlling how much Mississippi water entered the Atchafalaya Historic course changes In March 1876 the Mississippi suddenly changed course near the settlement of Reverie Tennessee leaving a small part of Tipton County Tennessee attached to Arkansas and separated from the rest of Tennessee by the new river channel Since this event was an avulsion rather than the effect of incremental erosion and deposition the state line still follows the old channel 46 The town of Kaskaskia Illinois once stood on a peninsula at the confluence of the Mississippi and Kaskaskia Okaw Rivers Founded as a French colonial community it later became the capital of the Illinois Territory and was the first state capital of Illinois until 1819 Beginning in 1844 successive flooding caused the Mississippi River to slowly encroach east A major flood in 1881 caused it to overtake the lower 10 miles 16 km of the Kaskaskia River forming a new Mississippi channel and cutting off the town from the rest of the state Later flooding destroyed most of the remaining town including the original State House Today the remaining 2 300 acres 930 ha island and community of 14 residents is known as an enclave of Illinois and is accessible only from the Missouri side 47 New Madrid Seismic Zone The New Madrid Seismic Zone along the Mississippi River near New Madrid Missouri between Memphis and St Louis is related to an aulacogen failed rift that formed at the same time as the Gulf of Mexico This area is still quite active seismically Four great earthquakes in 1811 and 1812 estimated at 8 on the Richter magnitude scale had tremendous local effects in the then sparsely settled area and were felt in many other places in the Midwestern and eastern U S These earthquakes created Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee from the altered landscape near the river LengthWhen measured from its traditional source at Lake Itasca the Mississippi has a length of 2 340 miles 3 770 km When measured from its longest stream source most distant source from the sea Brower s Spring in Montana the source of the Missouri River it has a length of 3 710 miles 5 970 km making it the fourth longest river in the world after the Nile Amazon and Yangtze 48 When measured by the largest stream source by water volume the Ohio River by extension the Allegheny River would be the source and the Mississippi would begin in Pennsylvania citation needed DepthAt its source at Lake Itasca the Mississippi River is about 3 feet 0 91 m deep The average depth of the Mississippi River between Saint Paul and Saint Louis is between 9 and 12 feet 2 7 3 7 m deep the deepest part being Lake Pepin which averages 20 32 feet 6 10 m deep and has a maximum depth of 60 feet 18 m Between where the Missouri River joins the Mississippi at Saint Louis Missouri and Cairo Illinois the depth averages 30 feet 9 m Below Cairo where the Ohio River joins the depth averages 50 100 feet 15 30 m deep The deepest part of the river is in New Orleans where it reaches 200 feet 61 m deep 49 50 Cultural geographyState boundaries The Mississippi River runs through or along 10 states from Minnesota to Louisiana and is used to define portions of these states borders with Wisconsin Illinois Kentucky Tennessee and Mississippi along the east side of the river and Iowa Missouri and Arkansas along its west side Substantial parts of both Minnesota and Louisiana are on either side of the river although the Mississippi defines part of the boundary of each of these states In all of these cases the middle of the riverbed at the time the borders were established was used as the line to define the borders between adjacent states 51 52 In various areas the river has since shifted but the state borders have not changed still following the former bed of the Mississippi River as of their establishment leaving several small isolated areas of one state across the new river channel contiguous with the adjacent state Also due to a meander in the river a small part of western Kentucky is contiguous with Tennessee but isolated from the rest of its state Lake Pepin the widest naturally occurring part of the Mississippi is part of the Minnesota Wisconsin border The Mississippi River in downtown Baton Rouge Communities along the river Metro Area PopulationMinneapolis Saint Paul 3 946 533St Louis 2 916 447Memphis 1 316 100New Orleans 1 214 932Baton Rouge 802 484Quad Cities IA IL 387 630St Cloud MN 189 148La Crosse WI 133 365Cape Girardeau Jackson MO IL 96 275Dubuque IA 93 653 In Minnesota the Mississippi River runs through the Twin Cities 2007 Community of boathouses on the Mississippi River in Winona MN 2006 The Mississippi River at the Chain of Rocks just north of St Louis 2005 A low water dam deepens the pool above the Chain of Rocks Lock near St Louis 2006 Many of the communities along the Mississippi River are listed below most have either historic significance or cultural lore connecting them to the river They are sequenced from the source of the river to its end Bemidji Minnesota Grand Rapids Minnesota Jacobson Minnesota Palisade Minnesota Aitkin Minnesota Riverton Minnesota Brainerd Minnesota Fort Ripley Minnesota Little Falls Minnesota Sartell Minnesota St Cloud Minnesota Monticello Minnesota Anoka Minnesota Coon Rapids Minnesota Brooklyn Park Minnesota Brooklyn Center Minnesota Minneapolis Minnesota Saint Paul Minnesota Nininger Minnesota Hastings Minnesota Prescott Wisconsin Prairie Island Minnesota Diamond Bluff Wisconsin Red Wing Minnesota Hager City Wisconsin Maiden Rock Wisconsin Stockholm Wisconsin Lake City Minnesota Maple Springs Minnesota Camp Lacupolis Minnesota Pepin Wisconsin Reads Landing Minnesota Wabasha Minnesota Nelson Wisconsin Alma Wisconsin Buffalo City Wisconsin Weaver Minnesota Minneiska Minnesota Fountain City Wisconsin Winona Minnesota Homer Minnesota Trempealeau Wisconsin Dakota Minnesota Dresbach Minnesota La Crescent Minnesota La Crosse Wisconsin Brownsville Minnesota Stoddard Wisconsin Genoa Wisconsin Victory Wisconsin Potosi Wisconsin De Soto Wisconsin Lansing Iowa Ferryville Wisconsin Lynxville Wisconsin Prairie du Chien Wisconsin Marquette Iowa McGregor Iowa Wyalusing Wisconsin Guttenberg Iowa Cassville Wisconsin Dubuque Iowa Galena Illinois Bellevue Iowa Savanna Illinois Sabula Iowa Fulton Illinois Clinton Iowa Cordova Illinois Port Byron Illinois LeClaire Iowa Rapids City Illinois Hampton Illinois Bettendorf Iowa East Moline Illinois Moline Illinois Davenport Iowa Rock Island Illinois Buffalo Iowa Muscatine Iowa New Boston Illinois Keithsburg Illinois Oquawka Illinois Burlington Iowa Dallas City Illinois Fort Madison Iowa Nauvoo Illinois Keokuk Iowa Warsaw Illinois Quincy Illinois Hannibal Missouri Louisiana Missouri Clarksville Missouri Grafton Illinois Portage Des Sioux Missouri Alton Illinois St Louis Missouri Ste Genevieve Missouri Kaskaskia Illinois Chester Illinois Grand Tower Illinois Cape Girardeau Missouri Thebes Illinois Commerce Missouri Cairo Illinois Wickliffe Kentucky Columbus Kentucky Hickman Kentucky New Madrid Missouri Tiptonville Tennessee Caruthersville Missouri Osceola Arkansas Reverie Tennessee Memphis Tennessee West Memphis Arkansas Tunica Mississippi Helena West Helena Arkansas Napoleon Arkansas historical Arkansas City Arkansas Greenville Mississippi Mayersville Mississippi Vicksburg Mississippi Waterproof Louisiana Natchez Mississippi Morganza Louisiana St Francisville Louisiana New Roads Louisiana Baton Rouge Louisiana Donaldsonville Louisiana Lutcher Louisiana Destrehan Louisiana New Orleans Louisiana Pilottown Louisiana La Balize Louisiana historical Bridge crossings See also List of crossings of the Upper Mississippi River and List of crossings of the Lower Mississippi River The Stone Arch Bridge the Third Avenue Bridge and the Hennepin Avenue Bridge in Minneapolis 2004 The road crossing highest on the Upper Mississippi is a simple steel culvert through which the river locally named Nicolet Creek flows north from Lake Nicolet under Wilderness Road to the West Arm of Lake Itasca within Itasca State Park 53 The earliest bridge across the Mississippi River was built in 1855 It spanned the river in Minneapolis where the current Hennepin Avenue Bridge is located 54 No highway or railroad tunnels cross under the Mississippi River The first railroad bridge across the Mississippi was built in 1856 It spanned the river between the Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois and Davenport Iowa Steamboat captains 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 setting it on fire Legal proceedings ensued with Abraham Lincoln defending the railroad The lawsuit went to the Supreme Court of the United States which ruled in favor of the railroad 55 Below is a general overview of selected Mississippi bridges that have notable engineering or landmark significance with their cities or locations They are sequenced from the Upper Mississippi s source to the Lower Mississippi s mouth Stone Arch Bridge Former Great Northern Railway now pedestrian bridge at Saint Anthony Falls connecting downtown Minneapolis with the historic Marcy Holmes neighborhood I 35W Saint Anthony Falls Bridge In Minneapolis opened in September 2008 replacing the I 35W Mississippi River bridge which had collapsed catastrophically on August 1 2007 killing 13 and injuring over 100 Eisenhower Bridge Mississippi River In Red Wing Minnesota opened by Dwight D Eisenhower in November 1960 I 90 Mississippi River Bridge Connects La Crosse Wisconsin and Winona County Minnesota located just south of Lock and Dam No 7 Black Hawk Bridge Connects Lansing in Allamakee County Iowa and rural Crawford County Wisconsin locally referred to as the Lansing Bridge and documented in the Historic American Engineering Record The Dubuque Wisconsin Bridge 2004 Dubuque Wisconsin Bridge Connects Dubuque Iowa and Grant County Wisconsin Julien Dubuque Bridge Joins the cities of Dubuque Iowa and East Dubuque Illinois listed in the National Register of Historic Places Savanna Sabula Bridge A truss bridge and causeway connecting the city of Savanna Illinois and the island city of Sabula Iowa The bridge carries U S Highway 52 over the river and is the terminus of both Iowa Highway 64 and Illinois Route 64 Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999 Fred Schwengel Memorial Bridge A 4 lane steel girder bridge that carries Interstate 80 and connects LeClaire Iowa and Rapids City Illinois Completed in 1966 Clinton Railroad Bridge A swing bridge that connects Clinton Iowa and Fulton Albany Illinois Known as the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad Bridge I 74 Bridge Connects Bettendorf Iowa and Moline Illinois originally known as the Iowa Illinois Memorial Bridge Government Bridge Connects Rock Island Illinois and Davenport Iowa adjacent to Lock and Dam No 15 the fourth crossing in this vicinity built in 1896 Rock Island Centennial Bridge Connects Rock Island Illinois and Davenport Iowa opened in 1940 Sergeant John F Baker Jr Bridge Connects Rock Island Illinois and Davenport Iowa opened in 1973 Norbert F Beckey bridge at Muscatine Iowa with LED lighting Norbert F Beckey Bridge Connects Muscatine Iowa and Rock Island County Illinois became first U S bridge to be illuminated with light emitting diode LED lights decoratively illuminating the facade of the bridge Great River Bridge A cable stayed bridge connecting Burlington Iowa to Gulf Port Illinois Fort Madison Toll Bridge Connects Fort Madison Iowa and unincorporated Niota Illinois also known as the Santa Fe Swing Span Bridge at the time of its construction the longest and heaviest electrified swing span on the Mississippi River Listed in the National Register of Historic Places since 1999 Keokuk Hamilton Bridge Connects Keokuk Iowa and Hamilton Illinois opened in 1985 replacing an older bridge which is still in use as a railroad bridge Bayview Bridge A cable stayed bridge bringing westbound U S Highway 24 over the river connecting the cities of West Quincy Missouri and Quincy Illinois Quincy Memorial Bridge Connects the cities of West Quincy Missouri and Quincy Illinois carrying eastbound U S 24 the older of these two U S 24 bridges Clark Bridge A cable stayed bridge connecting West Alton Missouri and Alton Illinois also known as the Super Bridge as the result of an appearance on the PBS program Nova built in 1994 carrying U S Route 67 across the river This is the northernmost river crossing in the St Louis metropolitan area replacing the Old Clark Bridge a truss bridge built in 1928 named after explorer William Clark The Chain of Rocks Bridge at St Louis Missouri Chain of Rocks Bridge Located on the northern edge of St Louis notable for a 22 degree bend occurring at the middle of the crossing necessary for navigation on the river formerly used by U S Route 66 to cross the Mississippi Replaced for road traffic in 1966 by a nearby pair of new bridges now a pedestrian bridge Eads Bridge A combined road and railway bridge connecting St Louis and East St Louis Illinois When completed in 1874 it was the longest arch bridge in the world with an overall length of 6 442 feet 1 964 m The three ribbed steel arch spans were considered daring as was the use of steel as a primary structural material it was the first such use of true steel in a major bridge project Chester Bridge A truss bridge connecting Route 51 in Missouri with Illinois Route 150 between Perryville Missouri and Chester Illinois The bridge can be seen at the beginning of the 1967 film In the Heat of the Night In the 1940s the main span was destroyed by a tornado Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge Connecting Cape Girardeau Missouri and East Cape Girardeau Illinois completed in 2003 and illuminated by 140 lights Caruthersville Bridge A single tower cantilever bridge carrying Interstate 155 and U S Route 412 across the Mississippi River between Caruthersville Missouri and Dyersburg Tennessee The Hernando de Soto Bridge in Memphis Tennessee 2009 Hernando de Soto Bridge A through arch bridge carrying Interstate 40 across the Mississippi between West Memphis Arkansas and Memphis Tennessee Harahan Bridge A cantilevered through truss bridge carrying two rail lines of the Union Pacific Railroad across the river between West Memphis Arkansas and Memphis Tennessee Frisco Bridge A cantilevered through truss bridge carrying a rail line across the river between West Memphis Arkansas and Memphis Tennessee previously known as the Memphis Bridge When it opened on May 12 1892 it was the first crossing of the Lower Mississippi and the longest span in the U S Listed as a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark Memphis amp Arkansas Bridge A cantilevered through truss bridge carrying Interstate 55 between Memphis and West Memphis listed on the National Register of Historic Places Helena Bridge Greenville Bridge Vicksburg Bridge Old Vicksburg Bridge Vicksburg Bridge Natchez Vidalia Bridge John James Audubon Bridge The second longest cable stayed bridge in the Western Hemisphere connects Pointe Coupee and West Feliciana Parishes in Louisiana It is the only crossing between Baton Rouge and Natchez This bridge was opened a month ahead of schedule in May 2011 due to the 2011 floods Huey P Long Bridge A truss cantilever bridge carrying US 190 Airline Highway and one rail line between East Baton Rouge and West Baton Rouge Parishes in Louisiana Horace Wilkinson Bridge A cantilevered through truss bridge carrying six lanes of Interstate 10 between Baton Rouge and Port Allen in Louisiana It is the highest bridge over the Mississippi River Sunshine Bridge Gramercy Bridge Hale Boggs Memorial Bridge Huey P Long Bridge In Jefferson Parish Louisiana the first Mississippi River span built in Louisiana Crescent City Connection Connects the east and west banks of New Orleans Louisiana the fifth longest cantilever bridge in the world Navigation and flood control Mississippi River levels at Memphis Tennessee Major flood stage Moderate flood stage Flood stage Action stage River levels Minimum operating limit 12 feet Downbound barge rates In late 2022 there was low river levels that caused two backups on the Lower Mississippi River that held up over 100 tow boats with 2 000 barge units and caused barge rates to soar 56 57 Main article List of locks and dams of the Upper Mississippi River Towboat and barges at Memphis Tennessee Ships on the lower part of the Mississippi A clear channel is needed for the barges and other vessels that make the main stem Mississippi one of the great commercial waterways of the world The task of maintaining a navigation channel is the responsibility of the United States Army Corps of Engineers which was established in 1802 58 Earlier projects began as early as 1829 to remove snags close off secondary channels and excavate rocks and sandbars Oil tanker on the Lower Mississippi near the Port of New Orleans Barge on the Lower Mississippi River A series of 29 locks and dams on the upper Mississippi most of which were built in the 1930s is designed primarily to maintain a 9 foot deep 2 7 m channel for commercial barge traffic 59 60 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 wing dams The scope and scale of the levees built along either side of the river to keep it on its course has often been compared to the Great Wall of China 32 On the lower Mississippi from Baton Rouge to the mouth of the Mississippi the navigation depth is 45 feet 14 m allowing container ships and cruise ships to dock at the Port of New Orleans and bulk cargo ships shorter than 150 foot 46 m air draft that fit under the Huey P Long Bridge to traverse the Mississippi to Baton Rouge 61 There is a feasibility study to dredge this portion of the river to 50 feet 15 m to allow New Panamax ship depths 62 19th century Lock and Dam No 11 north of Dubuque Iowa 2007 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 Des Moines River at Keokuk Iowa The Rock Island Rapids were between Rock Island and Moline Illinois Both rapids were considered virtually impassable In 1848 the Illinois and Michigan Canal was built to connect the Mississippi River to Lake Michigan via the Illinois River near Peru Illinois The canal allowed shipping between these important waterways In 1900 the canal was replaced by the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal The second canal in addition to shipping also allowed Chicago to address specific health issues typhoid fever cholera 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 Corps of Engineers recommended the excavation of a 5 foot deep 1 5 m channel at the Des Moines Rapids but work did not begin until after Lieutenant Robert E Lee 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 deep 1 4 m channel to be obtained by building wing dams that 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 St Paul Minnesota and Prairie du Chien Wisconsin 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 Lock and Dam No 2 near Hastings Minnesota 2007 Lock and Dam No 15 is the largest roller dam in the world Davenport Iowa Rock Island Illinois 1990 20th century In 1907 Congress authorized a 6 foot deep 1 8 m channel project on the Mississippi River which was not complete when it was abandoned in the late 1920s in favor of the 9 foot deep 2 7 m channel project In 1913 construction was complete on Lock and Dam No 19 at Keokuk Iowa the first dam below St Anthony Falls Built by a private power company Union Electric Company of St Louis to generate electricity originally for streetcars in St Louis 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 Lock and Dam No 1 was completed in Minneapolis Minnesota in 1917 Lock and Dam No 2 near Hastings Minnesota was completed in 1930 Before the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 the Corps s 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 to be so wrong that communities threatened by the flood began to create their own levee breaks to relieve the force of the rising river 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 feet deep and 400 feet 120 m wide to accommodate multiple barge tows 63 64 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 Formation of the Atchafalaya River and construction of the Old River Control Structure Project design flood flow capacity for the Mississippi river in thousands of cubic feet per second 65 Until the 1950s there was no dam below Lock and Dam 26 at Alton Illinois Chain of Rocks Lock Lock and Dam No 27 which consists of a low water dam and an 8 4 mile long 13 5 km 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 U S government scientists determined in the 1950s that the Mississippi River was starting to switch to the Atchafalaya River 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 U S Congress authorized a project called the Old River Control Structure which has prevented the Mississippi River from leaving its current channel that drains into the Gulf via New Orleans 66 Because the large scale of high energy water flow threatened to damage the structure an auxiliary flow control station was built adjacent to the standing control station This 300 million project was completed in 1986 by the Corps of Engineers Beginning in the 1970s the Corps applied hydrological transport models to analyze flood flow and water quality of the Mississippi 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 Soldiers of the Missouri Army National Guard sandbag the River in Clarksville Missouri June 2008 following flooding 21st century The Corps now actively creates and maintains spillways and floodways to divert periodic water surges into backwater channels and lakes as well as route part of the Mississippi s flow into the Atchafalaya Basin and from there to the Gulf of Mexico bypassing Baton Rouge and New Orleans The main structures are the Birds Point New Madrid Floodway in Missouri the Old River Control Structure and the Morganza Spillway in Louisiana which direct excess water down the west and east sides respectively of the Atchafalaya River and the Bonnet Carre Spillway also in Louisiana which directs floodwaters to Lake Pontchartrain see diagram Some experts blame urban sprawl for increases in both the risk and frequency of flooding on the Mississippi River 67 Some of the pre 1927 strategy remains in use today with the Corps actively cutting the necks of horseshoe bends allowing the water to move faster and reducing flood heights 68 HistoryApproximately 50 000 years ago the Central United States was covered by an inland sea which was drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries into the Gulf of Mexico creating large floodplains and extending the continent further to the south in the process The soil in areas such as Louisiana was thereafter found to be very rich 69 Native Americans Main articles Woodland period Hopewell tradition and Mississippian culture The area of the Mississippi River basin was first settled by hunting and gathering Native American peoples and is considered one of the few independent centers of plant domestication in human history 70 Evidence of early cultivation of sunflower a goosefoot a marsh elder and an indigenous squash dates to the 4th millennium BC The lifestyle gradually became more settled after around 1000 BC during what is now called the Woodland period with increasing evidence of shelter construction pottery weaving and other practices A network of trade routes referred to as the Hopewell interaction sphere was active along the waterways between about 200 and 500 AD spreading common cultural practices over the entire area between the Gulf of Mexico and the Great Lakes A period of more isolated communities followed and agriculture introduced from Mesoamerica based on the Three Sisters maize beans and squash gradually came to dominate After around 800 AD there arose an advanced agricultural society today referred to as the Mississippian culture with evidence of highly stratified complex chiefdoms and large population centers The most prominent of these now called Cahokia was occupied between about 600 and 1400 AD 71 and at its peak numbered between 8 000 and 40 000 inhabitants larger than London England of that time At the time of first contact with Europeans Cahokia and many other Mississippian cities had dispersed and archaeological finds attest to increased social stress 72 73 74 Modern American Indian nations inhabiting the Mississippi basin include Cheyenne Sioux Ojibwe Potawatomi Ho Chunk Fox Kickapoo Tamaroa Moingwena Quapaw and Chickasaw The word Mississippi itself comes from Messipi the French rendering of the Anishinaabe Ojibwe or Algonquin name for the river Misi ziibi Great River 75 76 The Ojibwe called Lake Itasca Omashkoozo zaaga igan Elk Lake and the river flowing out of it Omashkoozo ziibi Elk River After flowing into Lake Bemidji the Ojibwe called the river Bemijigamaag ziibi River from the Traversing Lake After flowing into Cass Lake the name of the river changes to Gaa miskwaawaakokaag ziibi Red Cedar River and then out of Lake Winnibigoshish as Wiinibiigoonzhish ziibi Miserable Wretched Dirty Water River Gichi ziibi Big River after the confluence with the Leech Lake River then finally as Misi ziibi Great River after the confluence with the Crow Wing River 77 After the expeditions by Giacomo Beltrami and Henry Schoolcraft the longest stream above the juncture of the Crow Wing River and Gichi ziibi was named Mississippi River The Mississippi River Band of Chippewa Indians known as the Gichi ziibiwininiwag are named after the stretch of the Mississippi River known as the Gichi ziibi The Cheyenne one of the earliest inhabitants of the upper Mississippi River called it the Maʼxe eʼometaaʼe Big Greasy River in the Cheyenne language The Arapaho name for the river is Beesniicie 78 The Pawnee name is Kickaatit 79 The Mississippi was spelled Mississipi or Missisipi during French Louisiana and was also known as the Riviere Saint Louis 80 81 82 European exploration Discovery of the Mississippi by De Soto A D 1541 by William Henry Powell depicts Hernando de Soto and Spanish Conquistadores seeing the Mississippi River for the first time Map of the French settlements blue in North America in 1750 before the French and Indian War 1754 to 1763 Ca 1681 map of Marquette and Jolliet s 1673 expedition Route of the Marquette Jolliete Expedition of 1673 In 1519 Spanish explorer Alonso Alvarez de Pineda became the first recorded European to reach the Mississippi River followed by Hernando de Soto who reached the river on May 8 1541 and called it Rio del Espiritu Santo River of the Holy Spirit in the area of what is now Mississippi 83 In Spanish the river is called Rio Mississippi 84 French explorers Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette began exploring the Mississippi in the 17th century Marquette traveled with a Sioux Indian who named it Ne Tongo Big river in Sioux language in 1673 Marquette proposed calling it the River of the Immaculate Conception When Louis Jolliet explored the Mississippi Valley in the 17th century natives guided him to a quicker way to return to French Canada via the Illinois River When he found the Chicago Portage he remarked that a canal of only half a league less than 2 miles or 3 kilometers would join the Mississippi and the Great Lakes 85 In 1848 the continental divide separating the waters of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi Valley was breached by the Illinois and Michigan canal via the Chicago River 86 This both accelerated the development and forever changed the ecology of the Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes In 1682 Rene Robert Cavelier Sieur de La Salle and Henri de Tonti claimed the entire Mississippi River valley for France calling the river Colbert River after Jean Baptiste Colbert and the region La Louisiane for King Louis XIV On March 2 1699 Pierre Le Moyne d Iberville rediscovered the mouth of the Mississippi following the death of La Salle 87 The French built the small fort of La Balise there to control passage 88 In 1718 about 100 miles 160 km upriver New Orleans was established along the river crescent by Jean Baptiste Le Moyne Sieur de Bienville with construction patterned after the 1711 resettlement on Mobile Bay of Mobile the capital of French Louisiana at the time In 1727 Etienne Perier begins work using enslaved African laborers on the first levees on the Mississippi River Colonization See also Flood of 1851 A Home on the Mississippi 1871 Following Britain s victory in the Seven Years War the Mississippi became the border between the British and Spanish Empires The Treaty of Paris 1763 gave Great Britain rights to all land east of the Mississippi and Spain rights to land west of the Mississippi Spain also ceded Florida to Britain to regain Cuba which the British occupied during the war Britain then divided the territory into East and West Florida Article 8 of the Treaty of Paris 1783 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 American Revolutionary War Britain also ceded West Florida back to Spain to regain the Bahamas which Spain had occupied during the war Initial disputes around the ensuing claims of the U S and Spain were resolved when Spain was pressured into signing Pinckney s Treaty in 1795 However in 1800 under duress from Napoleon of France Spain ceded an undefined portion of West Florida to France in the secret Treaty of San Ildefonso The United States then secured effective control of the river when it bought the Louisiana Territory from France in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 This triggered a dispute between Spain and the U S on which parts of West Florida Spain had ceded to France in the first place which would decide which parts of West Florida the U S had bought from France in the Louisiana Purchase versus which were unceded Spanish property Due to ongoing U S colonization creating facts on the ground and U S military actions Spain ceded both West and East Florida in their entirety to the United States in the Adams Onis Treaty of 1819 The last serious European challenge to U S control of the river came at the conclusion of the War of 1812 when British forces mounted an attack on New Orleans just 15 days after the signing of the Treaty of Ghent The attack was repulsed by an American army under the command of General Andrew Jackson In the Treaty of 1818 the U S and Great Britain agreed to fix the border running from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains along the 49th parallel north In effect the U S ceded the northwestern extremity of the Mississippi basin to the British in exchange for the southern portion of the Red River basin So many settlers traveled westward through the Mississippi river basin as well as settled in it that Zadok Cramer wrote a guidebook called The Navigator detailing the features dangers and navigable waterways of the area It was so popular that he updated and expanded it through 12 editions over 25 years Shifting sand bars made early navigation difficult The colonization of the area was barely slowed by the three earthquakes in 1811 and 1812 estimated at 8 on the Richter magnitude scale that were centered near New Madrid Missouri Steamboat era Main article Steamboats of the Mississippi Mark Twain s book Life on the Mississippi covered the steamboat commerce which took place from 1830 to 1870 before more modern ships replaced the steamer Harper s Weekly first published the book as a seven part serial in 1875 James R Osgood amp Company published the full version including a passage from the then unfinished Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and works from other authors in 1885 The first steamboat to travel the full length of the Lower Mississippi from the Ohio River to New Orleans was the New Orleans in December 1811 Its maiden voyage occurred during the series of New Madrid earthquakes in 1811 12 The Upper Mississippi was treacherous unpredictable and to make traveling worse the area was not properly mapped out or surveyed Until the 1840s only two trips a year to the Twin Cities landings were made by steamboats which suggests it was not very profitable 89 Steamboat transport remained a viable industry both in terms of passengers and freight until the end of the first decade of the 20th century Among the several Mississippi River system steamboat companies was the noted Anchor Line which from 1859 to 1898 operated a luxurious fleet of steamers between St Louis and New Orleans Italian explorer Giacomo Beltrami wrote about his journey on the Virginia which was the first steamboat to make it to Fort St Anthony in Minnesota He referred to his voyage as a promenade that was once a journey on the Mississippi The steamboat era changed the economic and political life of the Mississippi as well as of travel itself The Mississippi was completely changed by the steamboat era as it transformed into a flourishing tourist trade 90 Civil War Main article Mississippi River in the American Civil War Battle of Vicksburg ca 1888 Mississippi River from Eunice Arkansas a settlement destroyed by gunboats during the Civil War Control of the river was a strategic objective of both sides in the American Civil War forming a part of the U S Anaconda Plan In 1862 Union forces coming down the river successfully cleared Confederate defenses at Island Number 10 and Memphis Tennessee while Naval forces coming upriver from the Gulf of Mexico captured New Orleans Louisiana One of the last major Confederate strongholds was on the heights overlooking the river at Vicksburg Mississippi the Union s Vicksburg Campaign December 1862 July 1863 and the fall of Port Hudson completed control of the lower Mississippi River The Union victory ended the Siege of Vicksburg on July 4 1863 and was pivotal to the Union s final victory of the Civil War 20th and 21st centuries See also Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 Great Flood of 1951 Mississippi flood of 1973 and Great Mississippi and Missouri Rivers Flood of 1993 The Big Freeze of 1918 19 blocked river traffic north of Memphis Tennessee preventing transportation of coal from southern Illinois This resulted in widespread shortages high prices and rationing of coal in January and February 91 In the spring of 1927 the river broke out of its banks in 145 places during the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and inundated 27 000 sq mi 70 000 km2 to a depth of up to 30 feet 9 1 m In 1930 Fred Newton was the first person to swim the length of the river from Minneapolis to New Orleans The journey took 176 days and covered 1 836 miles 92 93 In 1962 and 1963 industrial accidents spilled 3 5 million US gallons 13 000 m3 of soybean oil into the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers The oil covered the Mississippi River from St Paul to Lake Pepin creating an ecological disaster and a demand to control water pollution 94 On October 20 1976 the automobile ferry MV George Prince was struck by a ship traveling upstream as the ferry attempted to cross from Destrehan Louisiana to Luling Louisiana Seventy eight passengers and crew died only eighteen survived the accident In 1988 the water level of the Mississippi fell to 10 feet 3 0 m below zero on the Memphis gauge The remains of wooden hulled water craft were exposed in an area of 4 5 acres 1 8 ha on the bottom of the Mississippi River at West Memphis Arkansas They dated to the late 19th to early 20th centuries The State of Arkansas the Arkansas Archeological Survey and the Arkansas Archeological Society responded with a two month data recovery effort The fieldwork received national media attention as good news in the middle of a drought 95 The Great Flood of 1993 was another significant flood primarily affecting the Mississippi above its confluence with the Ohio River at Cairo Illinois Two portions of the Mississippi were designated as American Heritage Rivers in 1997 the lower portion around Louisiana and Tennessee and the upper portion around Iowa Illinois Minnesota Missouri and Wisconsin The Nature Conservancy s project called America s Rivershed Initiative announced a report card assessment of the entire basin in October 2015 and gave the grade of D The assessment noted the aging navigation and flood control infrastructure along with multiple environmental problems 96 Campsite at the river in Arkansas In 2002 Slovenian long distance swimmer Martin Strel swam the entire length of the river from Minnesota to Louisiana over the course of 68 days In 2005 the Source to Sea Expedition 97 paddled the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers to benefit the Audubon Society s Upper Mississippi River Campaign 98 99 Future Geologists believe that the lower Mississippi could take a new course to the Gulf Either of two new routes through the Atchafalaya Basin or through Lake Pontchartrain might become the Mississippi s main channel if flood control structures are overtopped or heavily damaged during a severe flood 100 101 102 103 104 Failure of the Old River Control Structure the Morganza Spillway or nearby levees would likely re route the main channel of the Mississippi through Louisiana s Atchafalaya Basin and down the Atchafalaya River to reach the Gulf of Mexico south of Morgan City in southern Louisiana This route provides a more direct path to the Gulf of Mexico than the present Mississippi River channel through Baton Rouge and New Orleans 102 While the risk of such a diversion is present during any major flood event such a change has so far been prevented by active human intervention involving the construction maintenance and operation of various levees spillways and other control structures by the U S Army Corps of Engineers The Old River Control Structure complex View is to the east southeast looking downriver on the Mississippi with the three dams across channels of the Atchafalaya River to the right of the Mississippi Concordia Parish Louisiana is in the foreground on the right and Wilkinson County Mississippi is in the background across the Mississippi on the left The Old River Control Structure between the present Mississippi River channel and the Atchafalaya Basin sits at the normal water elevation and is ordinarily used to divert 30 of the Mississippi flow to the Atchafalaya River There is a steep drop here away from the Mississippi s main channel into the Atchafalaya Basin If this facility were to fail during a major flood there is a strong concern the water would scour and erode the river bottom enough to capture the Mississippi s main channel The structure was nearly lost during the 1973 flood but repairs and improvements were made after engineers studied the forces at play In particular the Corps of Engineers made many improvements and constructed additional facilities for routing water through the vicinity These additional facilities give the Corps much more flexibility and potential flow capacity than they had in 1973 which further reduces the risk of a catastrophic failure in this area during other major floods such as that of 2011 Because the Morganza Spillway is slightly higher and well back from the river it is normally dry on both sides 105 Even if it failed at the crest during a severe flood the floodwaters would have to erode to normal water levels before the Mississippi could permanently jump channel at this location 106 107 During the 2011 floods the Corps of Engineers opened the Morganza Spillway to 1 4 of its capacity to allow 150 000 cubic feet per second 4 200 m3 s of water to flood the Morganza and Atchafalaya floodways and continue directly to the Gulf of Mexico bypassing Baton Rouge and New Orleans 108 In addition to reducing the Mississippi River crest downstream this diversion reduced the chances of a channel change by reducing stress on the other elements of the control system 109 Some geologists have noted that the possibility for course change into the Atchafalaya also exists in the area immediately north of the Old River Control Structure Army Corps of Engineers geologist Fred Smith once stated The Mississippi wants to go west 1973 was a forty year flood The big one lies out there somewhere when the structures can t release all the floodwaters and the levee is going to have to give way That is when the river s going to jump its banks and try to break through 110 Another possible course change for the Mississippi River is a diversion into Lake Pontchartrain near New Orleans This route is controlled by the Bonnet Carre Spillway built to reduce flooding in New Orleans This spillway and an imperfect natural levee about 12 20 ft 3 7 6 1 m high are all that prevents the Mississippi from taking a new shorter course through Lake Pontchartrain to the Gulf of Mexico 111 Diversion of the Mississippi s main channel through Lake Pontchartrain would have consequences similar to an Atchafalaya diversion but to a lesser extent since the present river channel would remain in use past Baton Rouge and into the New Orleans area Recreation Great River Road in Wisconsin near Lake Pepin 2005 The sport of water skiing was invented on the river in a wide region between Minnesota and Wisconsin known as Lake Pepin 112 Ralph Samuelson of Lake City Minnesota 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 mph 130 km h by a Curtiss flying boat later that year 112 There are seven National Park Service sites along the Mississippi River The Mississippi National River and Recreation Area is the National Park Service site dedicated to protecting and interpreting the Mississippi River itself The other six National Park Service sites along the river are listed from north to south Effigy Mounds National Monument Gateway Arch National Park includes Gateway Arch Vicksburg National Military Park Natchez National Historical Park New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and PreserveEcologyFurther information Mississippi River System Ecology The American paddlefish is an ancient relict from the Mississippi The Mississippi basin is home to a highly diverse aquatic fauna and has been called the mother fauna of North American freshwater 113 Fish About 375 fish species are known from the Mississippi basin far exceeding other North Hemisphere river basins exclusively within temperate subtropical regions 113 except the Yangtze 114 Within the Mississippi basin streams that have their source in the Appalachian and Ozark highlands contain especially many species Among the fish species in the basin are numerous endemics as well as relicts such as paddlefish sturgeon gar and bowfin 113 Because of its size and high species diversity the Mississippi basin is often divided into subregions The Upper Mississippi River alone is home to about 120 fish species including walleye sauger largemouth bass smallmouth bass white bass northern pike bluegill crappie channel catfish flathead catfish common shiner freshwater drum and shovelnose sturgeon 115 116 Other fauna A large number of reptiles are native to the river channels and basin including American alligators several species of turtle aquatic amphibians 117 and cambaridae crayfish are native to the Mississippi basin 118 In addition approximately 40 of the migratory birds in the US use the Mississippi River corridor during Spring and Fall migrations 60 of all migratory birds in North America 326 species use the river basin as their flyway 119 Introduced species Numerous introduced species are found in the Mississippi and some of these are invasive Among the introductions are fish such as Asian carp including the silver carp that have become infamous for out competing native fish and their potentially dangerous jumping behavior They have spread throughout much of the basin even approaching but not yet invading the Great Lakes 120 The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has designated much of the Mississippi River in the state as infested waters by the exotic species zebra mussels and Eurasian watermilfoil 121 See alsoAtchafalaya Basin Capes on the Mississippi River Chemetco Great River Road List of crossings of the Lower Mississippi River List of crossings of the Upper Mississippi River List of locks and dams of the Upper Mississippi River List of tributaries of the Mississippi River List of longest rivers of the United States by main stem Mississippi embayment Mississippi River floods Mississippi River System The Waterways Journal Weekly Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish RefugeNotes Ojibwe Misi ziibi 8 Dakota Mnisosethaka 9 Myaamia Mihsi siipiiwi 10 Cheyenne Ma xee ometaa e 11 Kiowa Xosau 12 Arapaho Beesniicie 13 Pawnee Kickaatit 14 References James L Shaffer and John T Tigges The Mississippi River Father of Waters Chicago Ill Arcadia Pub 2000 The Upper Mississippi River Basin A Portrait of the Father of Waters As Seen by the Upper Mississippi River Comprehensive Basin Study Chicago Ill Army Corps of Engineers North Central Division 1972 Heilbron Bertha L Father of Waters Four Centuries of the Mississippi American Heritage vol 2 no 1 Autumn 1950 40 43 The United States Geological Survey recognizes two contrasting definitions of a river s source USGS gov Archived June 30 2017 at the Wayback Machine By the stricter definition the Mississippi would share its source with its longest tributary the Missouri at Brower s Spring in Montana The other definition acknowledges somewhat arbitrary decisions and places the Mississippi s source at Lake Itasca which is publicly accepted as the source USGS gov and which had been identified as such by Brower himself MT gov Archived January 18 2012 at the Wayback Machine However the river continues for several miles upstream from Lake Itasca to Nicolet Lake and its feeder stream a b Kammerer J C May 1990 Largest Rivers in the United States U S Geological Survey Archived from the original on June 30 2017 Retrieved February 22 2011 USGS 07289000 Mississippi River at Vicksburg MS United States Geological Survey Retrieved October 6 2021 a b Median of the 14 610 daily streamflows recorded by the USGS for the period 1967 2006 decolonialatlas January 12 2015 The Headwaters of the amazing Mississippi River in Ojibwe Archived from the original on October 13 2016 Retrieved August 19 2016 AISRI Dictionary Database Search Archived from the original on May 10 2017 Retrieved June 16 2016 Myaamia Dictionary Search Archived from the original on August 28 2016 Retrieved August 19 2016 English Cheyenne Archived from the original on September 11 2016 Retrieved August 19 2016 English Kiowa Archived from the original on July 13 2016 Retrieved August 19 2016 XML File of Arapaho Place Names Archived from the original on September 19 2016 Retrieved June 16 2016 Southband Pawnee Dictionary Archived from the original on January 17 2013 Retrieved May 26 2012 United States Geological Survey Hydrological Unit Code 08 09 01 00 Lower Mississippi New Orleans Watershed a b Lengths of the major rivers United States Geological Survey Archived from the original on March 5 2009 Retrieved March 14 2009 Mississippi River Facts Mississippi National River and Recreation Area U S National Park Service www nps gov Archived from the original on November 17 2018 Retrieved November 16 2018 United States Geography Rivers www ducksters com Archived from the original on April 28 2019 Retrieved June 30 2017 The 10 States That Border the Mississippi ThoughtCo Archived from the original on September 7 2017 Retrieved June 30 2017 Mississippi river US facts information pictures Encyclopedia com articles about Mississippi river US www encyclopedia com Archived from the original on June 18 2017 Retrieved June 30 2017 mississippi Origin and meaning of the name mississippi by Online Etymology Dictionary www etymonline com Retrieved June 22 2021 Ethan Shaw The 10 Tallest Mountains East of the Mississippi Archived from the original on March 9 2015 Retrieved March 1 2015 New Madrid 220 Years Old and Counting Archived from the original on November 2 2014 Retrieved March 1 2015 Upham Warren Minnesota Place Names A Geographical Encyclopedia Minnesota Historical Society Archived from the original on January 8 2011 Retrieved August 14 2007 a b Upper St Anthony Falls Lock Closure US Army Corps of Engineers 2015 Archived from the original on June 10 2015 Mississippi River Facts Nps gov Archived from the original on January 6 2009 Retrieved November 6 2010 2001 U S Army Corps of Engineers Upper Mississippi River Navigation Chart Middle Mississippi River Regional Corridor Collaborative Planning Study July 2007 update St Louis MO U S Army Corps of Engineers St Louis District 2007 p 28 MMRP Middle Mississippi River Partnership Middle Mississippi River Partnership Archived from the original on March 28 2009 Retrieved May 25 2011 Frits van der Leeden Fred L Troise David Keith Todd The Water Encyclopedia 2nd edition p 126 Chelsea Mich Lewis Publishers 1990 ISBN 0 87371 120 3 USGS stream gage 07022000 Mississippi River at Thebes IL Archived November 5 2011 at the Wayback Machine a b McPhee John February 23 1987 The Control of Nature Atchafalaya The New Yorker Archived from the original on May 13 2011 Retrieved May 12 2011 Republished in McPhee John 1989 The Control of Nature Farrar Straus and Giroux p 272 ISBN 0 374 12890 1 Angert Joe and Isaac Old River Control The Mighty Mississippi River Archived from the original on May 15 2009 Retrieved May 12 2011 Includes map and pictures Kemp Katherine January 6 2000 The Mississippi Levee System and the Old River Control Structure Archived from the original on May 13 2011 Retrieved May 25 2011 USACE Brochure Old River Control Jan 2009 PDF US Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans District Archived from the original PDF on May 16 2019 Retrieved April 26 2019 Louisiana Old River Control Structure and Mississippi river flood protection America s Wetland Resource Center Loyola University s Center for Environmental Communication Archived from the original on March 10 2016 Retrieved June 24 2011 Mount Elbert Colorado Peakbagger Archived from the original on April 10 2014 Retrieved May 21 2014 General Information about the Mississippi River Mississippi National River and Recreation Area National Park Service 2004 Archived from the original on June 13 2006 Retrieved July 15 2006 Americas Wetland Resource Center Americaswetlandresources com November 4 1939 Archived from the original on April 26 2013 Retrieved November 6 2010 Hydrologie du bassin de l Amazone PDF Grands Bassins Fluviaux Paris in French November 22 24 1993 Archived PDF from the original on October 7 2016 Retrieved January 11 2012 Meade R H and J A Moody 1984 Causes for the decline of suspended sediment discharge in the Mississippi River system 1940 2007 Hydrology Processes vol 24 pp 35 49 Saltwater is moving up the Mississippi River Here s what s being done to stop it McKay E D 2007 Six Rivers Five Glaciers and an Outburst Flood the Considerable Legacy of the Illinois River Archived October 19 2013 at the Wayback Machine PDF Proceedings of the 2007 Governor s Conference on the Management of the Illinois River System Our continuing Commitment 11th Biennial Conference Oct 2 4 2007 11 p McKay E D and R C Berg 2008 Optical ages spanning two glacial interglacial cycles from deposits of the ancient Mississippi River north central Illinois Archived October 14 2012 at the Wayback Machine Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs Vol 40 No 5 p 78 with Powerpoint presentation Archived October 19 2013 at the Wayback Machine The New Yorker Atchalafaya Archived April 2 2015 at the Wayback Machine File Geomorphology of Old River jpg 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Data Center Archived from the original PDF on July 3 2007 Retrieved April 27 2006 Mississippi Valley Trade amp Transport Council Archived from the original on February 5 2016 Retrieved August 19 2016 Corps to Study Lower Mississippi River Deepening Project International Dredging Review June 2015 Archived from the original on March 11 2016 Retrieved August 19 2016 The Mississippi and its Uses PDF Natural Resource Management Section Rock Island Engineers Archived from the original PDF on June 4 2011 Retrieved June 21 2006 Appendix E Nine foot navigation channel maintenance activities National Park Service Mississippi National River and Recreation Area Comprehensive Management Plan Archived from the original on December 15 2004 Retrieved June 21 2006 The Mississippi River amp Tributaries Project Designing the Project Flood PDF Information Paper United States Army Corps of Engineers 2008 Archived from the original PDF on June 4 2011 The Old River Control Structure on the Lower Mississippi River sjsu edu Archived from the original on December 4 2008 Retrieved June 12 2009 Jim Salter January 4 2016 Levees among possible cause of more frequent flooding Archived from the original on January 6 2016 Retrieved January 4 2016 History of the Mississippi River and Tributaries Project US Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans District Archived from the original on January 28 2006 Nicks Oran W ed 1970 This Island Earth NASA p 137 Richerson P J Boyd R Bettinger R L 2001 Was Agriculture Impossible During the Pleistocene but Mandatory during the Holocene A Climate Change Hypothesis American Antiquity 66 3 387 411 doi 10 2307 2694241 JSTOR 2694241 S2CID 163474968 Mississippian Mounds Sacred Land Film Project Sacredland org Archived from the original on February 8 2005 Pauketat Timothy R 2003 Resettled Farmers and the Making of a Mississippian Polity American Antiquity 68 1 39 66 doi 10 2307 3557032 JSTOR 3557032 S2CID 163856087 Pauketat Timothy R 1998 Refiguring the Archaeology of Greater 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Mississippi River sets all time flood records 2nd major spillway opens Weather Underground Wunderground com Archived from the original on November 8 2012 Retrieved March 12 2013 Contributing Op Ed columnist Floods are a reminder of the Mississippi River s power John Barry NOLA com Archived from the original on May 15 2011 Retrieved May 16 2011 Morganza ready for flood The Advertiser theadvertiser com May 12 2011 Retrieved May 16 2011 dead link Morganza Floodway US Army Corps of Engineers Archived from the original on January 11 2012 Retrieved May 8 2011 Letting the River Run Using Nature to Decrease Mississippi River Flooding The Nature Conservancy Retrieved October 10 2022 Estimated Inundation US Army Corps of Engineers Mark Schleifstein The Times Picayune Mississippi River flooding in New Orleans area could be massive if Morganza spillway stays closed NOLA com Archived from the original on May 14 2011 Retrieved May 16 2011 McPhee John February 23 1987 McPhee The Control of Nature Atchafalaya Newyorker com Archived from the original on May 14 2011 Retrieved May 16 2011 Bonnet Carre Spillway Norco LA Johnweeks com April 10 2008 Archived from the original on May 15 2011 Retrieved May 16 2011 a b The Beginning USA Water Ski org 2009 Archived from the original on September 27 2013 Retrieved July 30 2009 a b c Matthews W J 1998 Patterns in Freshwater Fish Ecology pp 5 and 236 ISBN 978 1 4615 4066 3 Ye S Li Z Liu J Zhang T and Xie S 2011 Distribution Endemism and Conservation Status of Fishes in the Yangtze River Basin China Ecosystems Biodiversity pp 41 66 ISBN 978 953 307 417 7 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint uses authors parameter link Fish of the Mississippi River PDF Archived from the original PDF on February 24 2013 Retrieved March 12 2014 Fish Species of the Mississippi River Archived from the original on October 12 2013 Retrieved March 12 2014 Conant R J T Collins 1998 Reptiles and Amphibians Eastern and Central North America Peterson Field Guides 3 ed ISBN 0 395 90452 8 Archived from the original on October 25 2019 Retrieved August 9 2019 Hobbs H H Jr 1989 An Illustrated Checklist of the American Crayfishes Decapoda Astacidae Cambaridae Parastacidae Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 480 480 1 236 doi 10 5479 si 00810282 480 Blvd Mailing Address 111 E Kellogg Paul Suite 105 Saint Us MN 55101 Phone 651 293 0200 This is the general phone line at the Mississippi River Visitor Center Contact Mississippi River Facts Mississippi National River and Recreation Area U S National Park Service www nps gov Retrieved July 4 2022 Matheny K December 23 2016 Invasive Asian carp less than 50 miles from Lake Michigan Detroit Free Press Archived from the original on June 25 2017 Retrieved June 13 2017 Designation of Infested Waters Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Archived from the original on June 1 2014 Retrieved May 31 2014 Further readingAmbrose Stephen The Mississippi and the Making of a Nation From the Louisiana Purchase to Today National Geographical Society 2002 heavily illustrated Anfinson John O Thomas Madigan Drew M Forsberg Patrick Nunnally 2003 The River of History A Historic Resources Study of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area St Paul MN U S Army Corps of Engineers St Paul District OCLC 53911450 Anfinson John Ogden Commerce and conservation on the Upper Mississippi River US Army Corps of Engineers St Paul District 1994 Bartlett Richard A 1984 Rolling rivers an encyclopedia of America s rivers New York McGraw Hill ISBN 0 07 003910 0 OCLC 10807295 Botkin Benjamin Albert A Treasury of Mississippi River folklore stories ballads amp traditions of the mid American river country 1984 Carlander Harriet Bell A history of fish and fishing in the upper Mississippi River PhD Diss Iowa State College 1954 online PDF Daniel Pete Deep n as it come The 1927 Mississippi River flood University of Arkansas Press 1977 Fremling Calvin R Immortal river the Upper Mississippi in ancient and modern times U of Wisconsin Press 2005 popular history Milner George R The late prehistoric Cahokia cultural system of the Mississippi River valley Foundations florescence and fragmentation Journal of World Prehistory 1990 4 1 pp 1 43 Morris Christopher The Big Muddy An Environmental History of the Mississippi and Its Peoples From Hernando de Soto to Hurricane Katrina Oxford University Press 2012 300 pages links drought disease and flooding to the impact of centuries of increasingly intense human manipulation of the river Penn James R 2001 Rivers of the world a social geographical and environmental sourcebook Santa Barbara CA ABC CLIO ISBN 1 57607 042 5 OCLC 260075679 Smith Thomas Ruys 2007 River of dreams imagining the Mississippi before Mark Twain Baton Rouge Louisiana State University Press ISBN 978 0 8071 3233 3 OCLC 182615621 Scott Quinta 2010 The Mississippi A Visual Biography Columbia MO University of Missouri Press ISBN 978 0 8262 1840 7 OCLC 277196207 Pasquier Michael 2013 Gods of the Mississippi Bloomington Indiana University Press ISBN 978 0 253 00806 0 External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mississippi River Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Mississippi River Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica article Mississippi River Mississippi River project of the American Land Conservancy Flood management in the Mississippi River Archived August 18 2018 at the Wayback Machine Friends of the Mississippi River Mississippi River Challenge annual canoe amp kayak event on the Twin Cities stretch Mississippi River Field Guide Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Mississippi River amp oldid 1129319198, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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