Mississippi River: Map

Categories: Mississippi River > Mississippi basin > Borders of Wisconsin > Borders of Minnesota > Borders of Iowa > Borders of Illinois > Borders of Missouri > Borders of Kentucky > Borders of Tennessee > Borders of Arkansas > Borders of Mississippi > Borders of Louisiana

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The Mississippi River is the second longest river in the United States

, with a length of from the source of its upper portion at Lake Itasca

in Minnesota

to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico

.

The Mississippi River is part of the Missouri

-Mississippi river system, which is the largest river system in North America and among the largest in the world: By length— —it is the fourth longest, and by its average discharge of 572,000 cu ft/s (16,200 m³/s), it is the tenth largest.

The name Mississippi is derived from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi ("Great River") or gichi-ziibi ("Big River").

Geography

From its origin at Lake Itasca

to St. Louis, Missouri

, the flow of the Mississippi River is moderated by 43 dams. Fourteen of these dams are located above Minneapolis, Minnesota

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 permit 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 Mississippi River runs through 10 states and was used to define portions of these states' borders. The middle of the riverbed at the time the borders were established was the line to define the borders between states. The river has since shifted, but the state borders of Wisconsin

, Iowa

, Illinois

, Missouri

, Kentucky

, Arkansas

, Tennessee

, and Mississippi

have not changed; they still follow the former bed of the Mississippi River as of their establishment.

The widest point of the Mississippi River is Lake Winnibigoshish

, near Grand Rapids, Minnesota

, at over across. Also of note is Lake Onalaska

, near La Crosse, Wisconsin

, where the river is over wide (created by Lock and Dam No.

) and Lake Pepin

at more than wide. However, the first two areas are lakes or reservoirs rather than free flowing water. In other areas where the Mississippi is a flowing river (other than Lake Pepin), it exceeds in width in several places in its lower course.

The Missouri River

flows from the confluence of the Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin Rivers and is the longest river in the United States. Taken together, the Jefferson, the Missouri, and the Mississippi form the longest river system in North America. If measured from the source of the Jefferson at Brower's Spring

, to the Gulf of Mexico

, the length of the Mississippi-Missouri-Jefferson combination is approximately , making the combination the 4th longest river in the world. The uppermost of this combined river are called the Jefferson, the lowest are part of the Mississippi, and the intervening are called the Missouri.

The Arkansas River

is the second-longest tributary of the Mississippi River. Measured by water volume, the largest of all Mississippi tributaries is the Ohio River.

The Mississippi River is divided into the upper Mississippi, from its source south to the Ohio River, and the lower Mississippi, from the Ohio to its mouth near New Orleans

Upper Mississippi River

The upper Mississippi River is divided into three sections: the headwaters, ; from the source to Saint Anthony Falls

; a series of man-made lakes between Minneapolis and St. Louis, Missouri

, ; and the middle Mississippi, , a relatively free-flowing river downstream of the confluence with the Missouri River at St. Louis.

Source

The source of the Upper Mississippi River is Lake Itasca

, 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

. Above the dam, the river's elevation is . Below the dam, the river's elevation is . This 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. By the time the river reaches Saint Paul, Minnesota

, below Lock and Dam #1, it has dropped more than half its original elevation and is 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 over a distance of for an average rate of . At the Ohio River confluence the Mississippi is above sea level.

Tributaries

The Mississippi is joined by the Minnesota River south of the Twin Cities

, the St. Croix River near Prescott, Wisconsin

, the Black River , La Crosse River, and Root River in La Crosse, 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

Lower Mississippi River

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.

Communities along the river

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.

Bridge crossings

The first bridge across the Mississippi River was built in 1855. It spanned the river in Minneapolis where the current Hennepin Avenue Bridge

is located.

The first railroad bridge across the Mississippi was built in 1856. It spanned the river between the Rock Island Arsenal

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 and started it on fire. Legal proceedings ensued, with Abraham Lincoln defending the railroad. The lawsuit went to the Supreme Court of the United States

and was eventually ruled in favor of the railroad.

Below is a general overview of bridges over the Mississippi which have notable engineering or landmark significance with its city. They are ordered from the source to the mouth.

Stone Arch Bridge former Great Northern Railway (now pedestrian) bridge at Saint Anthony Falls in downtown Minneapolis.
I-35W Mississippi River bridge this bridge collapsed catastrophically on August 1, 2007, killing 13 and injuring over 100. It was replaced by the I-35W Saint Anthony Falls Bridge , which opened in September 2008, ahead of schedule and on budget.
I-90 Mississippi River Bridge connects La Crosse, Wisconsin to Winona County, Minnesota , located just south of Lock and Dam No. 7 .
Black Hawk Bridge connects Lansing in Allamakee County, Iowa , to rural Crawford County, Wisconsin , locally referred to as the Lansing Bridge and documented in the Historic American Engineering Record.
Julien Dubuque Bridge joins the cities of Dubuque, Iowa , and East Dubuque, Illinois and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Savanna-Sabula Bridge truss bridge and causeway that connects the city of Savanna, Illinois with the island city of Sabula, Iowa . The bridge carries U.S. Highway 52 over the river. It is also 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 4-lane steel girder bridge that connects Le Claire, Iowa and Rapids City, Illinois . Completed in 1966.
I-74 Bridge originally known as the Iowa-Illinois Memorial Bridge, connects Bettendorf, Iowa and Moline, Illinois .
Government Bridge connects Rock Island, Illinois and Davenport, Iowa , adjacent to Lock and Dam No. 15 and the fourth crossing in this vicinity, having been built in 1896.
Rock Island Centennial Bridge connects Rock Island, Illinois and Davenport, Iowa , opened in 1940.
Norbert F. Beckey Bridge connects Muscatine, Iowa to Rock Island County, Illinois , became the country's first bridge to be illuminated with light-emitting diode lights decoratively illuminating the facade of the bridge.
Great River Bridge cable-stayed bridge connecting Burlington, Iowa to Gulf Port, Illinois .
Fort Madison Toll Bridge also known as the Santa Fe Swing Span Bridge. At the time of its construction, it was the longest and heaviest electrified swing span on the river. It connects Fort Madison, Iowa and unincorporated Niota, Illinois . Listed in the National Register of Historic Places since 1999.
Bayview Bridge cable-stayed bridge bringing westbound U.S. Highway 24 over the river, connecting the cities of West Quincy, Missouri and Quincy, Illinois . Eastbound U.S. 24 is served by the older Quincy Memorial Bridge .
Clark Bridge also known as the Super Bridge as the result of an appearance on the PBS program, Nova. This cable-stayed bridge connects West Alton, Missouri and Alton, Illinois and was built in 1994 and carries U.S. Route 67 across the river. It is the northernmost river crossing in the St. Louis metropolitan area and replaces the Old Clark Bridge , a truss bridge built in 1928, named after explorer William Clark.
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 and was the route used by U.S. Route 66 to cross over the Mississippi.
Eads Bridge 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 . The 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 truss bridge connecting Route 51 in Missouri with Illinois Route 150, between Perryville, Missouri and Chester, Illinois . The bridge can be seen in the beginning of the 1967 film, In the Heat of the Night. In the 1940s, the main span was destroyed by a tornado.
Hernando de Soto Bridge through arch bridge carrying Interstate 40 across the river between West Memphis, Arkansas and Memphis, Tennessee . It is often called the "M Bridge" as the arches resemble the letter M.
Frisco Bridge previously known as the Memphis Bridge, it is a cantilevered through truss bridge, carrying a rail line across the river between West Memphis, Arkansas and Memphis, Tennessee . It was the first crossing of the Lower Mississippi and the longest span in the U.S., when it opened on May 12, 1892. It is listed as a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.
Memphis & Arkansas Bridge – the longest Warren truss bridge in the United States, which carries Interstate 55 to connect Memphis and West Memphis; also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Huey P. Long Bridge Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, the first Mississippi River span built in Louisiana.
Crescent City Connection connects the east and west banks of New Orleans ; the 5th-longest cantilever bridge in the world.

Watershed

Mississippi watershed (2005)

The Mississippi River has the third largest drainage basin or "catchment" in the world. The basin covers more than , including all or parts of 31 states and two Canadian

provinces. The drainage basin empties into the Gulf of Mexico.

Major tributaries of the Mississippi:

Big Black River in Mississippi
Yazoo River in Mississippi
Red River in Louisiana
White River in Arkansas
Arkansas River in Arkansas
Ohio River in Kentucky
Big Muddy River in Illinois
Kaskaskia River in Illinois
Missouri River in Missouri
Illinois River in Illinois
Des Moines River in Iowa
Skunk River in Iowa
Iowa River in Iowa
Rock River in Illinois
Maquoketa River in Iowa
Wapsipinicon River in Iowa
Wisconsin River in Wisconsin
Chippewa River in Wisconsin
St. Croix River in Minnesota and Wisconsin
Minnesota River in Minnesota
Crow River in Minnesota

Drainage area and basin

The Mississippi River drains the majority of the area between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains

, except for the areas drained to the Hudson Bay

via the Red River of the North

, by the Saint Lawrence River

and the Great Lakes

, the Rio Grande

(and numerous other rivers in Texas

), the Alabama River-Tombigbee River, and the Chattahoochee River-Apalachicola River

.

The Mississippi River empties into the Gulf of Mexico about 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 . The retention time from Lake Itasca to the Gulf is about 90 days.

Outflow

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 to the right show a large plume of fresh water, which appears as a dark ribbon against the lighter-blue surrounding waters.

The 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.

Discharge

The Mississippi river discharges at an annual average rate of between 200 and 700 thousand cubic feet per second (7,000–20,000 m³/s). Although it is the 5th largest river in the world by volume, this flow is a mere fraction of the output of the Amazon, which moves nearly 7 million cubic feet per second (200,000 m³/s) during wet seasons. On average, the Mississippi has only 9% the flow of the Amazon River, but is nearly twice that of the Columbia River and almost 6 times the volume of the Colorado River

History

Course changes

The Illinoian Glacier, 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. South of Hennepin, Illinois

, the current Illinois River is actually following the ancient channel of the Mississippi River to Alton, Illinois

, before the Illinoian glaciation.

Other changes in the course of the river have occurred because of earthquakes along the New Madrid Seismic Zone

, which lies between Memphis and St. Louis. Three earthquakes in 1811 and 1812, estimated at approximately 8 on the Richter magnitude scale, were said to have temporarily reversed the course of the Mississippi. The settlement of Reverie, Tennessee

was cut off from Tipton County, Tennessee

, during the 1811 and 1812 earthquakes and placed on the western side of the Mississippi River, the Arkansas side. These earthquakes also created Reelfoot Lake

in Tennessee from the altered landscape near the river. The faulting is related to an aulacogen (geologic term for a failed rift) that formed at the same time as the Gulf of Mexico.

Through a natural process known as 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 (25–80 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.

Native Americans

The area of the Mississippi valley was first settled by Native American tribes, such as the Cheyenne, Sioux, Ojibwe, Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk, Fox, Kickapoo, Tamaroa, Moingwena, Quapaw and Chickasaw.

The Cheyenne, one of the earliest inhabitants of the upper Mississippi River, called it the Máˀxe-éˀometaaˀe (Big Greasy River) in the Cheyenne language. However, the word Mississippi comes from Messipi, the French rendering of the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe or Algonquin) name for the river, Misi-ziibi (Great River).

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 Wiinibiigoozhish-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. 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.

European exploration

On May 8, 1541, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto became the first recorded European to reach the Mississippi River, which he called Río del Espíritu Santo ("River of the Holy Spirit"), in the area of what is now Mississippi. In Spanish, the river is called Río Mississippi.

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

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. The French built the small fort of La Balise

there to control passage.

In 1718, about 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.

18th century

Following Britain's victory in the Seven Years War the Mississippi became the border between the British and Spanish Empires. The Treaty of Paris 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 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. Spain then had control over the river, south of 32°30' north latitude and in what is known as the Spanish Conspiracy, hoped to gain greater control of Louisiana and all of the west. These hopes ended when Spain was pressured into signing Pinckney's Treaty in 1795.

19th century

France reacquired 'Louisiana' from Spain in the secret Treaty of San Ildefonso in 1800. The United States bought the territory from France in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. In 1815, the U.S. defeated Britain at the Battle of New Orleans

, part of the War of 1812, securing American control of the river.

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

Steamboat commerce

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

The first steamboat to travel the full length of the 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 earthquake in 1811–12.

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.

Civil War

Battle of Vicksburg (ca. 1888)

The river played a decisive role in the American Civil War. The Union's Vicksburg Campaign

called for Union control of the lower Mississippi River. The Union victory at the Battle of Vicksburg

in Warren County, Mississippi

in 1863 was pivotal to the Union's final victory of the Civil War.

20th century

In the spring of 1927, the river broke out of its banks in 145 places, during the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and inundated to a depth of up to .

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, record low water levels provided an opportunity and obligation to examine the climax of the wooden-hulled age. The Mississippi fell to below zero on the Memphis gauge. Four and a half acres of water craft remains were exposed 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.

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 and Missouri.

Campsite at the river in Arkansas

21st century

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 [2928] paddled the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers to benefit the Audubon Society's Upper Mississippi River Campaign.

On August 1, 2007, the I-35W Mississippi River bridge

in Minneapolis collapsed during the evening rush hour.

Recreation

Water skiing

The sport of water skiing was invented on the river in a wide region between Minnesota and Wisconsin known as Lake Pepin

. 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 by a Curtiss flying boat later that year.

National parks

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):

Navigation history

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. Earlier projects began as early as 1829 to remove snags, close off secondary channels and excavate rocks and sandbar.

Steamboats entered trade in the 1820s, so the period 1830 1850 became the golden age of steamboats. As there were few roads or rails in the lands of the Louisiana Purchase, river traffic was an ideal solution. Cotton, timber and food came down the river, as did Appalachia coal. The port of New Orleans boomed as it was the trans-shipment point to deep sea ocean vessels. As a result, the image of the twin stacked, wedding cake Mississippi steamer entered into American mythology. Steamers worked the entire route from the trickles of Montana, to the Ohio river; down the Missouri and Tennessee. To the main channel of the Mississippi. Only the arrival of the railroads in the 1880s did steamboat traffic diminish. Steamboats remained a feature until the 1920s. Most have been superseded by pusher tugs. A few survive as icons—the Delta Queen

and the River Queen for instance.

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 deep channel for commercial barge traffic. 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.