where does the mississippi river start

", This page was last edited on 18 December 2020, at 23:20. The colonization of the area was barely slowed by the three earthquakes in 1811 and 1812, estimated at approximately 8 on the Richter magnitude scale, that were centered near New Madrid, Missouri. 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. The abandoned distributaries diminish in volume and form what are known as bayous. This route provides a more direct path to the Gulf of Mexico than the present Mississippi River channel through Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The main stemi… The Mississippi River starts at Lake Itasca clear and clean, and pretty much stays that way as it winds through northern Minnesota's forests and wetlands. The Upper Mississippi was treacherous, unpredictable and to make traveling worse, the area was not properly mapped out or surveyed. [102], Because of its size and high species diversity, the Mississippi basin is often divided into subregions. [74][75][76], 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 other words, while Lake Itasca is the Mississippi’s cultural source, Duffield makes a case that the Minnesota River and the tiny town of Veblen, S.D., is the river’s geologic source. The Mississippi River begins at Lake Itasca, a small glacial lake in northern Minnesota, and flows southward for about 2,350 miles (3,782 km) until it reaches the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi is referred to as the Lower Mississippi for nearly a thousand miles from Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi River has the world's fourth-largest drainage basin ("watershed" or "catchment"). Frits van der Leeden, Fred L. Troise, David Keith Todd: "Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville" (bio), webpage from. "River", Southband Pawnee", "Carte de la Louisiane, cours du Mississipi et pais voisins... / par Nicolas Bellin... ; Dheulland sculpsit", "Carte de la Louisiane et du cours du Mississipi. The middle section of the Mississippi River is approximately 190 miles long, and it begins in the state of Missouri to the state of Illinois. The remaining 29 dams, beginning in downtown Minneapolis, all contain locks and were constructed to improve commercial navigation of the upper river. Marquette proposed calling it the River of the Immaculate Conception. Article 8 of the Treaty of Paris (1783) 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". Either of two new routes—through the Atchafalaya Basin or through Lake Pontchartrain—might become the Mississippi's main channel if flood-control structures are overtopped or heavily damaged during a severe flood.[91][92][93][94][95]. The sport of water skiing was invented on the river in a wide region between Minnesota and Wisconsin known as Lake Pepin. In addition to the Ohio River, the major tributaries of the Lower Mississippi River are the White River, flowing in at the White River National Wildlife Refuge in east central Arkansas; the Arkansas River, joining the Mississippi at Arkansas Post; the Big Black River in Mississippi; and the Yazoo River, meeting the Mississippi at Vicksburg, Mississippi. These earthquakes created Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee from the altered landscape near the river. This 49-foot (15 m) drop is the largest of all the Mississippi River locks and dams. Many of the communities along the Mississippi River are listed below; most have either historic significance or cultural lore connecting them to the river. The earliest bridge across the Mississippi River was built in 1855. Then, around 500 years ago, the Mississippi meandered into the Red River and overwhelmed it. The Union victory ending the Siege of Vicksburg on July 4, 1863, was pivotal to the Union's final victory of the Civil War. The basin covers more than 1,245,000 square miles (3,220,000 km2), including all or parts of 32 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. The southernmost extent of this enormous glaciation extended well into the present-day United States and Mississippi basin. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains all or parts of 32 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces between the Rocky and Appalachian mountains. [21] The FCC also uses it as the dividing line for broadcast call-signs, which begin with W to the east and K to the west, mixing together in media markets along the river. He referred to his voyage as a promenade that was once a journey on the Mississippi. In 1718, about 100 miles (160 km) 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. We'll start at the headwaters near Big Stone Lake (1) and continue on to the confluence with the Mississippi River near St. Paul, Minnesota (11). Some experts blame urban sprawl for increases in both the risk and frequency of flooding on the Mississippi River. 7, near La Crosse, Wisconsin, is more than 4 miles (6.4 km) wide. Lake Pepin, a natural lake formed behind the delta of the Chippewa River of Wisconsin as it enters the Upper Mississippi, is more than 2 miles (3.2 km) wide. Four great earthquakes in 1811 and 1812, estimated at approximately 8 on the Richter magnitude scale, had tremendous local effects in the then sparsely settled area, and were felt in many other places in the Midwestern and eastern U.S. As a result, the U.S. Congress authorized a project called the Old River Control Structure, which has prevented the Mississippi River from leaving its current channel that drains into the Gulf via New Orleans.[60]. Marquette traveled with a Sioux Indian who named it Ne Tongo ("Big river" in Sioux language) in 1673. U.S. government scientists determined in the 1950s that the Mississippi River was starting to switch to the Atchafalaya River channel because of its much steeper path to the Gulf of Mexico. The Red River used to run all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, running parallel to the Mississippi River. Some of the states through which the Mississippi River flows include Iowa, Louisiana, Kentucky, and Arkansas. In the 18th century, the river was the primary western boundary of the young United States, and since the country's expansion westward, the Mississippi River has been widely considered a convenient if approximate dividing line between the Eastern, Southern, and Midwestern United States, and the Western United States. Legal proceedings ensued, with Abraham Lincoln defending the railroad. [87], 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. Hydrologists consider the Mississippi River to be the 4th longest river globally and the 15th largest by the volume of water it discharges. [62], Approximately 50,000 years ago, the Central United States was covered by an inland sea, which was drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries into the Gulf of Mexico—creating large floodplains and extending the continent further to the south in the process. In effect, the U.S. ceded the northwestern extremity of the Mississippi basin to the British in exchange for the southern portion of the Red River basin. [104][105], In addition to fish, several species of turtles (such as snapping, musk, mud, map, cooter, painted and softshell turtles), American alligator, aquatic amphibians (such as hellbender, mudpuppy, three-toed amphiuma and lesser siren),[106] and cambarid crayfish (such as the red swamp crayfish) are native to the Mississippi basin. It is located in the Itasca National Park and is 450 m (1,475 ft) above sea level. [53][54] The lakes formed are also used for recreational boating and fishing. Initial disputes around the ensuing claims of the U.S. and Spain were resolved when Spain was pressured into signing Pinckney's Treaty in 1795. A network of trade routes referred to as the Hopewell interaction sphere was active along the waterways between about 200 and 500 AD, spreading common cultural practices over the entire area between the Gulf of Mexico and the Great Lakes. In 1907, Congress authorized a 6-foot-deep (1.8 m) channel project on the Mississippi River, which was not complete when it was abandoned in the late 1920s in favor of the 9-foot-deep (2.7 m) channel project. Two weeks after the bridge opened, the steamboat Effie Afton rammed part of the bridge, setting it on fire. The river has many tributaries which allow it to have a presence in two Canadian provinces as well as 32 American states. In particular, the Corps of Engineers made many improvements and constructed additional facilities for routing water through the vicinity. Twenty-three new locks and dams were built on the upper Mississippi in the 1930s in addition to the three already in existence. ", "Dr. Jeff Masters' WunderBlog : Mississippi River sets all-time flood records; 2nd major spillway opens : Weather Underground", "Floods are a reminder of the Mississippi River's power: John Barry", "Morganza ready for flood | The Advertiser", "Mississippi River flooding in New Orleans area could be massive if Morganza spillway stays closed", "McPhee, The Control of Nature: Atchafalaya", "Invasive Asian carp less than 50 miles from Lake Michigan", Flood management in the Mississippi River, Mississippi River Challenge – annual canoe & kayak event on the Twin Cities stretch, Drafting and ratification of Constitution, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mississippi_River&oldid=995048735, Articles with dead external links from June 2016, Wikipedia indefinitely semi-protected pages, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with text in Algonquian languages, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2018, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2017, Wikipedia articles with SELIBR identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, The headwaters, 493 miles (793 km) from the source to. Mississippi Valley Division. It spanned the river in Minneapolis where the current Hennepin Avenue Bridge is located. At the confluence of the Ohio and the Middle Mississippi, the long-term mean discharge of the Ohio at Cairo, Illinois is 281,500 cubic feet per second (7,970 cubic meters per second),[28] while the long-term mean discharge of the Mississippi at Thebes, Illinois (just upriver from Cairo) is 208,200 cu ft/s (5,900 m3/s). About this segment. A period of more isolated communities followed, and agriculture introduced from Mesoamerica based on the Three Sisters (maize, beans and squash) gradually came to dominate. Control of the river was a strategic objective of both sides in the American Civil War, forming a part of the U.S. Anaconda Plan. The soil in areas such as Louisiana was thereafter found to be very rich.[63]. Milner, George R. "The late prehistoric Cahokia cultural system of the Mississippi River valley: Foundations, florescence, and fragmentation. No flood control is intended. The "Big Freeze" of 1918–19 blocked river traffic north of Memphis, Tennessee, preventing transportation of coal from southern Illinois. The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system on the North American continent, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. [30][31][32][33] Although the Red River is commonly mistaken for an additional tributary, its water flows separately into the Gulf of Mexico through the Atchafalaya River. Parks and Trails northeast regional office: 218-328-8780. [89][90], Geologists believe that the lower Mississippi could take a new course to the Gulf. Founded as a French colonial community, it later became the capital of the Illinois Territory and was the first state capital of Illinois until 1819. Until the 1840s only two trips a year to the Twin Cities landings were made by steamboats which suggests it was not very profitable.[82]. The Corps later also began excavating the Rock Island Rapids. The upper section of the Mississippi River is divided into two parts. 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. Area: 79,610 square miles (206,190 sq km) Population: 5,611,179. [79] This both accelerated the development, and forever changed the ecology of the Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes. Finally, the Lower Mississippi runs from the junction with the Ohio River to the mouth of the river in the Mississippi River Delta. The Mississippi river starts at Lake Itasca, in the central north of Minnesota. [72] The Pawnee name is Kickaátit. 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. The Mississippi River starts at Lake Itasca in north central Minnesota and travels 2,350 miles to its endpoint at the Gulf of Mexico. The uppermost lock and dam on the Upper Mississippi River is the Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam in Minneapolis. When measured from its traditional source at Lake Itasca, the Mississippi has a length of 2,320 miles (3,730 km). On the lower Mississippi, from Baton Rouge to the mouth of the Mississippi, the navigation depth is 45 feet (14 m), allowing container ships and cruise ships to dock at the Port of New Orleans and bulk cargo ships shorter than 150-foot (46 m) air draft that fit under the Huey P. Long Bridge to traverse the Mississippi to Baton Rouge. The Cheyenne, one of the earliest inhabitants of the upper Mississippi River, called it the Máʼxe-éʼometaaʼe (Big Greasy River) in the Cheyenne language. The port of New Orleans boomed as it was the trans-shipment point to deep sea ocean vessels. Capital: St. Paul. The Corps now actively creates and maintains spillways and floodways to divert periodic water surges into backwater channels and lakes, as well as route part of the Mississippi's flow into the Atchafalaya Basin and from there to the Gulf of Mexico, bypassing Baton Rouge and New Orleans. After flowing into Lake Bemidji, the Ojibwe called the river Bemijigamaag-ziibi (River from the Traversing Lake). The Mississippi is also distinct since it provides habitat to more than 300 different species of fish. The remains of wooden-hulled water craft were exposed in an area of 4.5 acres (1.8 ha) on the bottom of the Mississippi River at West Memphis, Arkansas. As there were few roads or rails in the lands of the Louisiana Purchase, river traffic was an ideal solution. Roseman, Curtis C., and Elizabeth M. Roseman. 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. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2007. [98], Some geologists have noted that the possibility for course change into the Atchafalaya also exists in the area immediately north of the Old River Control Structure. Beginning in 1844, successive flooding caused the Mississippi River to slowly encroach east. The origin of the dramatic drop is a waterfall preserved adjacent to the lock under an apron of concrete. The steamboat era changed the economic and political life of the Mississippi, as well as the nature of travel itself. By 1866, it had become evident that excavation was impractical, and it was decided to build a canal around the Des Moines Rapids. The structure was nearly lost during the 1973 flood, but repairs and improvements were made after engineers studied the forces at play. Another possible course change for the Mississippi River is a diversion into Lake Pontchartrain near New Orleans. Brian Peterson – Star Tribune Gallery: As water flows out of Lake Itasca in northwest Minnesota, the Mississippi River begins a 2,552 mile journey to … Steamboat transport remained a viable industry, both in terms of passengers and freight until the end of the first decade of the 20th century. From St. Louis to the Ohio River confluence, the Middle Mississippi falls 220 feet (67 m) over 180 miles (290 km) for an average rate of 1.2 feet per mile (23 cm/km). The word Mississippi itself comes from Misi zipi, the French rendering of the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe or Algonquin) name for the river, Misi-ziibi (Great River). Jacobson to Aitkin. October 14, 2015. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. 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