Where can it be found?

The Mississippi River, 3,779 km (2,348 mi) long, is the second longest river, after the Missouri, in the United States. Its triangular drainage area, covering about 40% of the country and including all or part of 31 states, is approximately 3,250,000 sq km (1,250,000 sq mi), the third largest in the world. The Mississippi rises in Minnesota and then flows south, following the boundaries between the states of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana on the west, and Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi on the east. The river, whose name means "father of waters" in the Algonquian language, has long been an important transportation artery of North America. The Mississippi rises in Minnesota and then flows south, following the Minnesota. 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. St. 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. By the time the river reaches St. Paul, Minnesota, below Lock and Dam #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. From St. Louis to the Ohio River confluence the Mississippi free falls a total of 220 feet (67 m) over a distance of 180 miles (290 km) for an average rate of 1.2 feet per mile (23 cm/km). At the Ohio River confluence the Mississippi is 315 feet (96 m) above sea level.The Mississippi rises in Minnesota and then flows south, following the, Minnesota.

What is it ? (description)

The source of the Mississippi River is Lake Itasca, 1,475 feet (450 m) above sea level in Itasca State Park located in Clearwater County, Minnesota. The name "Itasca" is 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).

The uppermost lock and dam on the Mississippi River is the Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 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. St. 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. By the time the river reaches St. Paul, Minnesota, below Lock and Dam #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.[8] From St. Louis to the Ohio River confluence the Mississippi free falls a total of 220 feet (67 m) over a distance of 180 miles (290 km) for an average rate of 1.2 feet per mile (23 cm/km). At the Ohio River confluence the Mississippi is 315 feet (96 m) above sea level.

ol style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Tributaries

The Mississippi is joined by the Minnesota River south of the Twin Cities, the St. Croix River near Prescott, Wisconsin, the Wisconsin River in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, the Rock River in the Quad Cities, the Iowa River near Wapello, Iowa, the Skunk River south of Burlington, Iowa, the Des Moines River in Keokuk, Iowa, the Illinois River and the Missouri River near St. Louis, and by the Ohio River at Cairo, Illinois.Major sub-tributaries include the Tennessee River (a tributary of the Ohio River) and the Platte River (a tributary of the Missouri River). The Arkansas River joins the Mississippi in southeastern Arkansas. The Yazoo River meets the Mississippi at Vicksburg. The Atchafalaya River in Louisiana is a major distributary of the Mississippi.Many of the communities along the Mississippi River are listed below. They have either historic significance or cultural lore connecting them to the river. They are ordered from the beginning of the river to its end.Community of boathouses on the Mississippi River in Winona, MN (2006). In Minnesota, the Mississippi River runs through the Twin Cities (2007).The Mississippi River just north of St. Louis (2005).The Mississippi River is divided into the upper and lower basin at Cairo, Illinois where the Missouri River enters as the last major tributary. The river’s drainage basin includes up to 41% of the continental United States (USACE, 2004), including a lot of fertilized agricultural area. Runoff from these agricultural plots and sediment flowing into the river from other tributaries give the Mississippi a very high sediment concentration. Deposition of this sediment on the river’s floodplain occurs during periods of high water, when more runoff and increased erosion of the banks increases the sediment and water load of the river. When the water level is high, the river deposits sediment first on its banks, building up its own natural levees. When even these natural levees fail to hold in the rising water, the river floods its banks and deposits sediment across the floodplain. This process has continuously extended the coastline and built up the surrounding floodplain.This sediment is also important for maintaining the wetlands that fringe the Louisiana coastline. These areas depend on a steady supply of sediment to provide substrate for plant growth and a current of fresh water to prevent the ocean’s salt water from encroaching and killing the freshwater plants and animals.The course and position of the mouth of the river into the gulf has changed at least seven times in the past 10,000 years (Heller, 2006). The river gradually builds up its floodplain until it is much higher than the surrounding land. Then the river would find a new, lower, shorter path to the ocean by cutting through one of its banks and eroding out a new bed for itself.

Floods have been a major part of the Mississippi delta ecosystem for as long as the river has existed. They deposit sediment to build up the natural levees, increase the elevation of the surrounding floodplain, and sustain the wetlands that protect the coast from large storms and also filter the water, particularly for fertilizer, before it enters the Gulf of Mexico. This means that the disappearance of these wetlands is increasing the amount of fertilizer that flows into the Gulf of Mexico, which is responsible for the huge hypoxia zone at the mouth of the river.The crops and people settled along the banks of the river are protected from its periodic floods by levees and other flood control structures like spillways and dams. The banks of the river are also armored along several stretches to prevent further erosion and loss of developable land. Dams and large reservoirs, particularly on the Missouri and Arkansas river tributaries, have reduced the sediment load of the river by at least 50% since they were built in the 1950s (Meade, 1995). Several of these dams are filling up with sediment that is dropped by the river as it hits the dam and slows down. As a result, their capacity and effectiveness for flood control is being compromised. Currently, there is no solution to this problem other than dredging, which is expensive.The levees extend all the way into the Gulf of Mexico, channeling sediment straight out into the Gulf and over the continental shelf, where they are essentially lost to the wetlands and land-building processes. The levees also prevent the river from building up its natural banks and floodplain with sediment deposited during times of high water. Instead, the river just deposits the excess sediment it picks up during flood stages on its own bed, gradually building itself higher and higher above the surrounding floodplain. This means that the current river bed is artificially maintained because of its high elevation relative to the surrounding land. This is why, in New Orleans, people have to look up to see the ships on the river.If the river were to continue shifting positions every time it found a shorter, steeper route to the Gulf, many port cities would need to be periodically relocated. This happened often before the Army Corps of Engineers built up and monitored the levees, preventing the river from changing course (Twain, 1967). The Corps built the Old River control structure during the 1950s to prevent the Mississippi from shifting its flow entirely into the steeper, more direct route to the Gulf via the Atchafalaya river bed. The Mississippi currently empties about 30% of its water into the Atchafalaya (Sparks, 2006). The Mississippi bed is much higher than the Atchafalaya at Old River, so without the control structure, the Mississippi would send 100% of its flow down the Atchafalaya. This would leave all cities currently located along the Mississippi below Old River completely dry, and flood most of the cities currently located along the Atchafalaya.Spur dikes, or wing dams, are used to control the width and depth of a channel of flowing water (Hendrickson, 1999). They are porous barriers, usually constructed of quarried rock laid down during times of low water. The dike extends only partway out into the channel, where it slows down the water that passes through and around it, causing the river to deposit sediment and further build up the dike. If the opposite bank is armored, preventing the river from maintaining its original velocity and hydraulic radius, the spur dike serves to narrow and deepen the channel, thus increasing the river’s velocity. A higher velocity also increases the river’s carrying capacity. This means that it will pick up more sediment, and if it cannot do this by eroding the banks outward, it will cut the bed deeper.

Background of river:

Because wild donkeys were plentiful in the old Louisiana territory, donkeys were used to drag boats up the Colbert (Mississippi) River. This ingenious use of tools enabled those crazy Frenchmen in New Orleee-ans to visit their kinfolk up in Quebec (keh-bec), Canada (America North). Unfortunately, it was soon discovered that the Colbert (Mississippi) River doesn't go all the way to Canada, so the Frenchmen found themselves stranded in Saint Louis and began "trapping" animals to get into their "fur" in hopes of saving enough money to hire a Rickshaw driver to take them the rest of the way to Quebec. Soon there were so many Frenchmen in Saint Louis (Sahn Loo-ee) that the original Native American occupants kidnapped the most outspoken and annoying of the Frenchman (a very tough choice, indeed) and took him back to New Orleans to warn the others that there waren't any womenfolk left in Saint Louis, they couldn't get to Quebec that way, and please stop coming to Saint Louis. Unfortunately, the wiley Frenchman noted that the Native American kidnappers had taken the Colbert (Mississippi) river to get to New Orleans. Realizing that they could travel both ways on the Colbert (Mississippi), he commandeered a donkey hauler to drag him back to Saint Louis because he had left his friend, Pierre, in Saint Louis, and Pierre owed him money. Thus the Colbert (Mississippi) River secured its place as a critical transportation route for early American commerce.

Soon, the Native Americans of Saint Louis were so overrun with Frenchmen that they began building enormous ships to flee. As the first ship neared completion, one of the local Frenchmen offered to charter the boat for a Spring Break booze cruise. Realizing that there was good money to be made off drunk Frenchmen, the Saint Louis indians scrapped their plans to escape Saint Louis. Instead, they established the first Indian gaming Riverboats, a profitable tradition that continues today in states throughout the Colber (Mississippi) River Watershed.

What can the river be used for ?

The Mississippi River and its valley also support many kinds of animals and plants including freshwater fishes, birds, deer, raccoons, otters, mink, and a variety of forest trees. But pollution from agriculture and industry seriously threaten the life of the Mississippi.

• The Mississippi River flows over 2,350 miles, from Lake Itasca, Minnesota, to the Gulf of Mexico.
  
• 40% of North America's ducks, geese, swan and wading bird species rely on the Mississippi River as a migration corridor.
  
• 241 fish species inhabit the Mississippi River and its tributaries.
  
• The Mississippi River serves as a shared border for 10 states.
  
• The river and its tributaries supply drinking water for more than 18 million people in central U.S.
  
• There are 29 locks and dams on the Upper Mississippi.
  
• The Upper Mississippi has over 600 water-orientated recreation sites.
  
• Annual revenue from recreational uses on the river exceeds $1.2 billion in the Upper Mississippi River alone; sport fishing and waterfowl hunting generate revenues of $100 million and $58 million respectively.
  
• Dam 15 in the Quad Cities is the largest roller dam in the world.
  
• One of the few sections of the Mississippi that actually flows east and west is located in the Quad Cities area. Mark Twain called it the Land of the Sunsets.

The physical features along the river :

family:georgia;">Waterfalls

North America’s greatest waterfall. The power of the cascading waters continually eroded the base of River Warren Falls and over the next several thousand years, the waterfall moved 15miles up the Mississippi River creating a deep gorge. Streams became Waterfalls as they leapt into the chasm.

Meanders

As it winds from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi River is in constant flux. Fast water carries sediment while slow water deposits it. Soft riverbanks are continuously eroded. Floods occasionally spread across the wide, shallow valley that flanks the river, and new channels are left behind when the water recedes.

This map of an area just north of the Atchafalaya River shows a slice of the complex history of the Mississippi. An oxbow lake-a crescent of water left behind when a meander ( bend in the river) closes itself off-remains from 1785. A satellite image from 1999 shows that the current course of the river and the old oxbow lake. Despite modern human-made changes to the landscape, traces of the past remain, with roads and fields following the contours of past channels.

The rate of change on the Mississippi slowed in the twentieth century. Levees now prevent the river from jumping its bank so often. The levees protect towns, farms and roads near the banks of the river and maintain established shipping routes and ports in the Gulf of Mexico.

The delta switching has occurred every 1,000 years or so in the past. As sediments accumulates in the main channel becomes more shallow and meandering. Eventually the river finds a shorter, steeper descent to the Gulf.

DELTAS

The Mississippi Delta is the distinct northwest section of the state of Mississippi that lies between Mississippi and the Yazoo River. Technically it is not a delta but part of an alluvial plain. This region, created by regular flooding over thousands of years, is remarkably flat and contains some of the most fertile soil in the world. It includes the following; Washington, Desoto, Humphreys, Carroll, Issaquena, Panola, Quitman, Bolivar, Coahoma, Leflore, Sunflower, Sharkey, Tunica, Tallahatchie. Holmes, Yazoo and Warren countries.

The river delta around the mouth of the Mississippi lies some 300 miles south of this area, and is referred to as the Mississippi River delta.