28 Facts About Mississippi River

Mississippi River 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.

Since the 20th century, the Mississippi River has 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.

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.

Source of the Upper Mississippi River branch is traditionally accepted as Lake Itasca, 1, 475 feet above sea level in Itasca State Park in Clearwater County, Minnesota.

Uppermost lock and dam on the Upper Mississippi River is the Upper St Anthony Falls Lock and Dam in Minneapolis.

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Upper Mississippi River has a number of natural and artificial lakes, with its widest point being Lake Winnibigoshish, near Grand Rapids, Minnesota, over 11 miles across.

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.

Upper Mississippi River is largely a multi-thread stream with many bars and islands.

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 to its confluence with the Ohio River at Cairo, Illinois.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Current form of the Mississippi River basin was largely shaped by the Laurentide Ice Sheet of the most recent Ice Age.

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.

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.

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

Road crossing highest on the Upper Mississippi is a simple steel culvert, through which the river flows north from Lake Nicolet under "Wilderness Road" to the West Arm of Lake Itasca, within Itasca State Park.

The Cheyenne, one of the earliest inhabitants of the upper Mississippi River, called it the Ma'xe-e'ometaa'e in the Cheyenne language.

Mississippi River was spelled Mississipi or Missisipi during French Louisiana and was known as the Riviere Saint-Louis.

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.

Mark Twain's book, Life on the Mississippi River, covered the steamboat commerce, which took place from 1830 to 1870, before more modern ships replaced the steamer.

The Upper Mississippi River was treacherous, unpredictable and to make traveling worse, the area was not properly mapped out or surveyed.

Mississippi River referred to his voyage as a promenade that was once a journey on the Mississippi.

The Mississippi River was completely changed by the steamboat era as it transformed into a flourishing tourist trade.

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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.

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

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.