22 Facts About Mississippi Valley

Mississippi Valley 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 Valley 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.

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

Upper Mississippi Valley 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 Valley 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.

Related searches

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

From St Louis to the Ohio River confluence, the Middle Mississippi Valley falls 220 feet over 180 miles for an average rate of 1.

The reduction in sediment transported down the Mississippi Valley River is the result of engineering modification of the Mississippi Valley, 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 Valley 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 Valley River has used different pathways as its main channel to the Gulf of Mexico across the delta region.

In March 1876, the Mississippi Valley 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 Valley defines part of the boundary of each of these states.

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

Road crossing highest on the Upper Mississippi Valley 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 Valley River, called it the Ma'xe-e'ometaa'e in the Cheyenne language.

Mississippi Valley 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 Valley, covered the steamboat commerce, which took place from 1830 to 1870, before more modern ships replaced the steamer.

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

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

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

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