MISSISSIPPI RIVER

MISSISSIPPI RIVER. One of the major rivers of North America, the Mississippi River has been a focal point in American history, commerce, agriculture, literature, and environmental awareness. The length of the Mississippi River from its source in Lake Itasca in northwestern Minnesota to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico flows 2,348 miles; it is the second longest river in the United States behind the Missouri (2,466 miles). The Mississippi River system drains the agricultural plains between the Appalachian Mountains to the east and the Rocky Mountains to the west. This drainage basin (approximately 1,234,700 square miles) covers about 40 percent of the United States and ranks as the fifth largest in the world.

Mississippi River's Course

The Mississippi River actually begins as a small stream flowing from Lake Itasca, Minnesota. The river initially flows north and then east as the means of connecting several lakes in northern Minnesota. The river begins to flow southward near Grand Rapids, Minnesota, and is joined with the Minnesota River between the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. The muddy waters of the Missouri River flow into the clear waters of the Mississippi River just north of St. Louis, Missouri. At this point, the Mississippi

becomes brown and muddy for the rest of the journey south.

At Cairo, Illinois, the Ohio River flows into the Mississippi, doubling its volume and creating the point that divides the Upper Mississippi from the Lower Mississippi. The Lower Mississippi Valley is a wide and fertile region. In this area, the river meanders its way south and over time has continuously changed its course, leaving behind numerous oxbow lakes as remnants of its past. As it flows in this southern region, the Mississippi deposits rich silt along its banks. In many areas, the silt builds up to create natural levees. South of Memphis, Tennessee, the Arkansas River junctions with the Mississippi River. Near Fort Adams, Mississippi, the Red River joins with the Mississippi, diverting with it about a quarter of the flow of the Mississippi into the Atchafalaya River.

As the Mississippi River nears the Gulf of Mexico it creates a large delta with its silt. The Mississippi River delta covers approximately 13,000 square miles. South of the city of New Orleans, the Mississippi creates several channels, known as distributaries, which then flow separately into the Gulf of Mexico. The most prominent of these are known as the North Pass, South Pass, Southwest Pass, and Main Pass. Annually, the Mississippi River discharges about 133 cubic miles of water (approximately 640,000 cubic feet per second).

History

The Mississippi River played an important role in the lives of many Native Americans who lived in the Upper Mississippi Valley, such as the Santee Dakota, the Illinois, the Kickapoo, and the Ojibwe, as well as those tribes in the southern valley, such as the Chicksaw, the Choctaw, the Tunica, and the Natchez. The name "Mississippi," meaning "great river" or "gathering of water," is attributed to the Ojibwe (Chippewa).

The first known European to travel on the Mississippi River was the Spaniard Hernando de Soto, who crossed the river near present-day Memphis in May 1541. Over a century later, in 1673, the French explorers Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette entered the Mississippi River from the Wisconsin River and traveled by canoe downriver to a point near the mouth of the Arkansas River. Less than a decade later, another Frenchman, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, explored the Mississippi River from the Illinois River to the Gulf of Mexico. La Salle declared on 9 April 1682 that the Mississippi Valley belonged to France, and he named the region Louisiana. It was not until 1718 that the French were actually established at New Orleans. They maintained control over the lower Mississippi until the end of the French and Indian War (1754–1763). In 1762 and 1763, the French made cessions that established the Mississippi River as an international boundary with Spanish territory to the west and British territory to the east.

During the American Revolution (1775–1783), the river served as the supply line for George Rogers Clark, allowing him to maintain control of the Illinois country. The Peace of Paris of 1783 outlined the new country of the United States as extending to the Mississippi River between Spanish Florida and the Canadian border. Additionally, the United States was entitled to free navigation of the Mississippi River. Spain, though not party to the treaty, controlled the mouth of the Mississippi and, through high duties, maintained actual power over the river and, in essence, over the entire Mississippi Valley. Not until Pinckney's Treaty with Spain in 1795 was the river truly free to American navigation. This freedom was short-lived, however, for when Spain ceded Louisiana back to France in 1800, the French again closed the Mississippi to American river traffic. Finally, the Louisiana Purchase (1803) made the Mississippi an American river, and it rapidly became a major route of trade and commerce for the entire Mississippi Valley.

Western settlers and traders traversed the Mississippi in flatboats (on which farmers floated their produce downstream to market) and keelboats (which could be pushed upstream with great effort). Certainly the most significant change in river transportation on the Mississippi came in 1811 when the steamboat New Orleans made its legendary trip from Pittsburgh to New Orleans. This event opened the Mississippi River to two-way traffic, essentially doubling the carrying capacity of the river. By 1860, more than 1,000 steamboats were actively engaged in transport along the Mississippi River system, and the cities of Cincinnati (Ohio), Louisville, (Kentucky), St. Louis, Memphis, and New Orleans became important cities in the movement west.

During the Civil War (1861–1865) both the Union and the Confederacy recognized the importance of the Mississippi River, and the fight over its control was a major part of the war. A decisive victory for the Union came with the fall of Vicksburg, Mississippi (1863), which essentially gave the Union full possession of the river, reopening the trade routes down the Mississippi from the Ohio Valley and splitting the Confederacy.

Following the war, life on the Mississippi did not return to the golden years so richly described in Mark Twain's writings. The faster and more convenient railroads replaced much of the commercial traffic on the Mississippi. In 1879, the U.S. Congress established the Mississippi River Commission as a means of maintaining and improving the river as a commercial waterway. In the years that followed, the commission deepened and widened several channels along the river, making it more navigable for larger boats and barges. These changes promoted increased transport on the Mississippi, particularly of heavy and bulky freight.

At the turn of the twenty-first century, the Mississippi River carried more than half of the freight transported on American inland water. Nearly 460 million short tons of freight were transported on the Mississippi River each year. Most of this freight was carried on large barges pushed by tugboats. The upper Mississippi traffic was predominantly composed of agricultural products such as wheat, corn, and soybeans. Coal and steel freight traveled down the Ohio River and onto the lower Mississippi River. At Baton Rouge, Louisiana, petroleum, petrochemical products, and aluminum joined the freight being moved south. It is at this point that the depth of the Mississippi River increases, allowing for larger ships to traverse upriver to this point.

Flooding

People living along the Mississippi River are well aware of the flooding potential of the river. During de Soto's exploration of the Mississippi, he noted much flooding. Evidence from Native American Mississippi Valley settlement locations (on higher land) and the creation of mounds on which they placed their dwellings indicate Native American awareness of and adaptation to flooding of the Mississippi. Significant flooding of the Mississippi Valley in 1927 prompted national discussion of flood control along the Mississippi. Other severe flooding events occurred in 1937, 1965, 1973, 1982, and 1993. The severe flooding in 1993 is considered to be the most devastating in recorded U.S. history. It affected the upper and middle Mississippi Valley from late June until mid-August 1993 with record levels on the Mississippi River and most of its tributaries from Minnesota to Missouri. At St. Louis, the river remained above flood stage for over two months and crested at 49.6 feet (19 feet above flood stage). Industry and transportation along the Mississippi were virtually at a standstill during the summer months of 1993. In all, over 1,000 of the 1,300 levees in the Mississippi River system failed, over 70,000 people were displaced, nearly 50,000 homes were either destroyed or damaged, 12,000 square miles of agricultural land was unable to be farmed, and 52 people died. Fortunately, larger cities along the Mississippi remained protected by floodwalls. The cost of the flood was enormous. Most estimates of total flood damage run to nearly $20 billion. Flood events are certain to remain a part of life along the Mississippi River.

Human Influence

Humans have influenced the flow of the Mississippi and the quality of its water. Historically, the river and its tributaries meandered across the floodplain, and erosion, sedimentation, and flooding were natural processes. During the twentieth century, however, humans interrupted these processes. In the 1930s, twenty-nine navigation dams were built between St. Louis and Minneapolis. These dams impound the water to improve navigation. One cost of damming, however, is increased retention of sediment in the river. Flood-control levees have been built in order to manage the seasonal flooding. Much of the Mississippi floodplain has been converted to agriculture. This change has two serious consequences for the Mississippi River. First, the loss of prairie wetlands and floodplain forest decreases the biodiversity of the region. Second, conversion of land to agriculture often leads to increased run off of fertilizers and pesticides. The presence of high rates of nitrogen and phosphorus can be directly attributed to farming practices in the Mississippi Valley. At the end of the twentieth century, many experts suggested that agricultural pollution in the Mississippi River was directly responsible for the creation of the "dead zone," an area in the Gulf of Mexico where there is little aquatic life due to abnormally low levels of oxygen.

Industrial pollution is also a concern along the Mississippi River. Industries have contributed significant amounts of oil, aluminum, lead, and other industrial wastes such as sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and benzene to the flow of the Mississippi. A study in 2000 estimated that 58 million pounds of toxic discharge travels down the Mississippi annually. At the turn of the twenty-first century, much of the river remained unswimmable and unfishable, despite the fact that it serves as the primary source of drinking water for 18 million people. Growing awareness of environmental processes and increased concern for the state of the Mississippi River system that began during the last decade of the twentieth century may prove to have a positive influence in the life of the great river.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Badt, Karin. The Mississippi Flood of 1993. Chicago: Children's Press, 1994.

Geus, Theodor. The Mississippi. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1989.

Haites, Erik, James Mak, and Gary Walton. Western River Transportation: The Era of Early Internal Development, 1810–1860. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975.

Lauber, Patricia. Flood: Wrestling with the Mississippi. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 1996.

Janet S.Smith

See alsoMexico, Gulf of ; Missouri River ; River Navigation ; Water Pollution ; Water Supply and Conservation .

new para inserted between para-3 and para-4Mississippi River. Samuel L. Clemens, quoting Harper's magazine, pronounced the Mississippi River the “Body of the Nation.” The metaphor is appropriate, for the story of the Mississippi mirrors many central themes in American history and culture.

Draining the North American continent from its headwaters in Minnesota's Lake Itasca to the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi is home to diverse species of flora and fauna. Between A.D. 500 and 1500, mound‐building Mississippian peoples built an agrarian civilization along its banks. Beginning in 1541, Spanish and French explorers including Hernando de Soto, Jacques Marquette, and Louis Joliet, traversed the Mississippi valley. British and American explorers, traders, and adventurers eventually followed.

Events along the Mississippi form a microcosm of American history. Revolutionary War soldier George Rogers Clark fought at Kaskaskias; the Lewis and Clark expedition wintered in 1803–1804 at Wood River; Andrew Jackson defeated the British at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815; Chief Black Hawk's 1832 defeat, followed by the Cherokee's forced march across the frozen Lower Mississippi, marked the extirpation of America's woodland Indians; Ulysses S. Grant turned the tide of the Civil War at the Siege of Vicksburg in 1863; the “Steamboat Age” on the Mississippi hugely affected the nineteenth‐century economy; the twentieth century was influenced by the diesel towboat and the evolution of the Army Corps of Engineers; and American life was forever marked by the eras of Mississippi valley slavery, racial segregation, and civil‐rights activism.

Devastating floods on the lower Mississippi in 1927 left thousands homeless and hastened the migration of displaced African Americans to northern cities. Another round of flooding in 1993 stirred debate about the policy of trying to confine the river by means of levees, rather than allowing it to expand into its natural flood plain in times of high water.

Artists and writers like George Caleb Bingham, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), Hamlin Garland, William Faulkner, and Thomas Hart Benton mined the Mississippi's stories, most memorably in Clemens's autobiographical Life on the Mississippi (1883). Many forms of indigenous American music—gospel, blues, country, jazz, and rock‐and‐roll—were born or flourished along its banks. From geography to history to folk arts and crafts, the Mississippi and its people reflect the core of the American experience.
See also Canals and Waterways; Exploration, Conquest and Settlement, Era of European; Gospel Music, African American; Indian History and Culture: Migration and Pre‐Columbian Era; Indian History and Culture: From 1800 to 1900; Music: Popular Music; Music: Traditional Music.

Bibliography

Mark Twain , Life on the Mississippi, 1883, reprint 1990.
Louis C. Hunter , Steamboats on the Western Rivers: An Economic and Technological History, 1949, reprint 1993.
Michael Allen , Western Rivermen, 1763–1861: Ohio and Mississippi and the Myth of the Alligator Horse, 1990.

Michael Allen

Mississippi River, principal river of the U.S., drains the great central basin between the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains. Having its source in northern Minnesota, and flowing through the center of the Prairie and Southern states, the river has for its chief tributaries the Missouri and Ohio rivers. Dominating the economic life of the South and Middle West until the Civil War and the coming of the railroads, the Mississippi was the focus of a distinctive type of American culture during the glamorous period of steamboats and showboats (1811–61), whose most celebrated literary interpreter has been Mark Twain, especially in Huckleberry Finn and Life on the Mississippi, although other popular treatments, respectively in poetry, the novel, and nonfiction, include John Hay's “ Jim Bludso,” Edna Ferber's Show Boat, and Ben Lucien Burman's Big River To Cross. Other writers include those associated with its principal cities, St. Louis⧫ and New Orleans. Its earlier history included discovery by De Soto, domination by the French following the explorations by Jolliet, Marquette, La Salle, and Iberville, control by Spain (1763–1800), settlement and exploitation of its valley by the U.S. after the Louisiana Purchase (1803), and the presteamboat period of keelboating whose typical folk hero was Mike Fink. By 1860 there were more than 1000 steamboats on the river, helping to tie the Middle West to the South. During the Civil War, the Northern attempts to gain control were finally successful through the siege of Vicksburg and the capture of New Orleans. The river is still of primary importance to U.S. agriculture and trade, as both a constructive and a destructive force; popular conceptions of its power have included the black's personification of “Ol' Man River” and the Indian's of the “Father of Waters.”

MISSISSIPPI RIVER

The Mississippi River is a principal United States river. It originates in central Minnesota and flows southeast and then south, eventually reaching Louisiana where it pours into the Gulf of Mexico. States lying west of the Mississippi are Iowa, Missouri, and Arkansas, Louisiana, and Minnesota; to the east are Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi. The river is 2,340 miles (3,765 kilometers) long. With the Missouri River, the Mississippi forms the world's third-longest river system. It is navigable by ocean-going vessels from the Gulf to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. North of that location, it is navigable by barges and towboats as far as Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The mighty Mississippi was first sighted by explorers in 1540–41 when Spaniard Hernando de Soto (1500?–42) ventured through the southern region. In 1672–73 the Mississippi's upper reaches were seen by French-Canadian explorer Louis Jolliet (1645–1700) and French missionary Jacques Marquette(1637–75). In 1682 French explorer Sieur de La Salle (1643–87) investigated the lower part and claimed the entire region for France, naming it Louisiana in honor of King Louis XIV (1638–1715).

After 1763, at the end of the French and Indian War, (1754–63), the river became the boundary between British possessions to the east and Spanish possessions to the west, and the river itself was ceded to Spain. Disputes between Spain and the United States over the waterway were settled in the Pinckney Treaty (1795). With the Louisiana Purchase (1803), the river passed into American control.

In 1811 the steamboat era began on the Mississippi River. Traffic along the Mississippi sped the development of the nation by providing access to the interior territories. St. Louis, Missouri; Memphis, Tennessee; and New Orleans, Louisiana, all flourished as a result of riverboat traffic. In the imagination of most U.S. citizens, the romance of the Mississippi as a steamboat waterway is probably best captured by Missouri-born writer Mark Twain (1835–1910) in his novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884).

See also: Louisiana, Missouri River, Natchez Trace, New Orleans, Pinckney Treaty, Steamboats, Steamboat Act of 1852

Mississippi river, c.100 mi (160 km) long, rising E of the Kawartha Lakes, S Ont., Canada, and flowing NE through Mississippi Lake, then N to the Ottawa River near Arnprior. It is navigable for small steamers.