The Mississippi River is the most important river in
North America. It provided a major highway for early explorers of North
America. Many cities grew up along it. Furs and farm goods traveled from these
settlements down the river to markets. Today, more freight travels on the
Mississippi than on any other waterway within the continent.
FATHER OF WATERS
The Mississippi is known as the Father of Waters.
It splits the United States from north to south in the nation’s heartland. The
Mississippi gathers waters from rivers that lie between the Appalachian
Mountains in the East and the Rocky Mountains in the West.
The Ohio River flows into the Mississippi at
Cairo, Illinois. The Missouri River empties into it near St. Louis, Missouri.
The Illinois and Arkansas are other major rivers that flow into the
Mississippi.
LARGEST BUT NOT LONGEST
The Mississippi is the largest river in North
America. This means that it carries more water than any other North American
river. But the Mississippi is not the longest river. That honor goes to the
Missouri. The Missouri is 200 miles (320 kilometers) longer.
The Mississippi starts at Lake Itasca in northern
Minnesota. It flows southward through the central United States for 2,340 miles
(3,770 kilometers). In southeastern Louisiana, the river empties into the Gulf
of Mexico. Along the way, the Mississippi borders ten states.
CITIES ON THE RIVER
A number of important cities are located on the
Mississippi River. Before railroads and roads were available, these cities
shipped and received goods by keelboats, steamboats, and other vessels on the
river. Today, coal, oil, grain, and other goods travel on barges along the river.
The biggest cities along the Mississippi are St.
Paul and Minneapolis in Minnesota, St. Louis in Missouri, Memphis in Tennessee,
and New Orleans in Louisiana.
CLAIMING THE RIVER
Native Americans lived along the Mississippi before
European settlers arrived. Algonquian Indians gave the river its name. The name
means “big water” in the Algonquian language.
Traders and colonists from France were the first
Europeans to settle along the river. In 1682, French explorer René-Robert
Cavelier, sieur de La Salle, claimed all the land drained by the Mississippi
for France. In 1803, the United States bought the land west of the Mississippi
from France. It was called the Louisiana Territory.
FLOODING
Heavy rains and melting snow sometimes cause the
Mississippi to overflow its banks. It can cause severe flooding of nearby
plains. A flood along the Mississippi in 1993 ranks among the nation’s worst
disasters. Towns and farms from Minnesota to Missouri were flooded.
Levees, or high walls of dirt, line much of the
Mississippi River. They help keep it from spilling over.
