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Mississippi River

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: North American Geography

                        Mississippi River
   Map of the Mississippi River

                        Map of the Mississippi River

   Origin           Lake Itasca
   Mouth            Gulf of Mexico
   Basin countries  United States (98.5%)
                    Canada (1.5%)
   Length           3,733 km (2,320 mi)
   Source elevation 450 m (1,476 ft)
   Avg. discharge   Minneapolis  : 210 m³/s (7,460 ft³/s)
                    Saint Louis  : 5,150 m³/s (182,000 ft³/s )
                    Vicksburg  : 17,050 m³/s (602,000 ft³/s)
                    Baton Rouge  : 12,740 m³/s (450,000 ft³/s)
   Basin area       2,980,000 km² (1,151,000 mi²)

   The Mississippi River, derived from the old Ojibwe word misi-ziibi
   meaning 'great river' (gichi-ziibi 'big river' at its headwaters), is
   the second-longest river in the United States; the longest is the
   Missouri River, which flows into the Mississippi. Taken together, they
   form the largest river system in North America. If measured from the
   head of the Missouri, the length of the Missouri-Mississippi
   combination is approximately 3,900 miles (6,300 km), making the
   combination the 4th longest river in the world. Apart from the
   Missouri, the largest of the many large Mississippi tributaries is the
   Ohio River. The Mississippi River is the main river that supports much
   of the American civilization.

Geography

   The source of the Mississippi River on the edge of Lake Itasca
   Enlarge
   The source of the Mississippi River on the edge of Lake Itasca

   the Mississippi is a river in mississippi. With its source Lake Itasca
   at 1,475 feet (450 m) above sea level in Itasca State Park located in
   Clearwater County, Minnesota, the river falls to 725 feet (220 m) just
   below Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis. The Mississippi is joined by
   the Illinois River and the Missouri River near St. Louis, Missouri, and
   by the Ohio River at Cairo, Illinois. The Arkansas River joins the
   Mississippi in the state of Arkansas. The Atchafalaya River in
   Louisiana is a major distributary of the Mississippi.

   The Mississippi drains most of the area between the Rocky Mountains and
   the Appalachian Mountains, except for the areas drained by the Great
   Lakes and the Rio Grande. It runs through two states — Minnesota and
   Louisiana — and was used to define the borders of eight states (the
   river has since shifted) — Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri,
   Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi — before emptying into
   the Gulf of Mexico about 100 miles (160 km) downstream from New
   Orleans. Measurements of the length of the Mississippi from Lake Itasca
   to the Gulf of Mexico vary, but the EPA's number is 2,320 miles (3,733
   km). The retention time from Lake Itasca to the Gulf is about 90 days.
   Confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers at Cairo, Illinois.
   Enlarge
   Confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers at Cairo, Illinois.

   The 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. The upper Mississippi is further 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.

   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 9 foot
   (2.7 m) 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.

   Through a natural process known as deltaic switching the lower
   Mississippi River has shifted its final course to the ocean every
   thousand years or so. This occurs because the deposits of silt and
   sediment raise the river's level causing it to eventually find a
   steeper route to the Gulf of Mexico. The abandoned distributary
   diminishes in volume and forms 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).

   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, and eventually the
   Atchafalaya River would capture the Mississippi River and become its
   main channel to the Gulf of Mexico. 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. Because of the large scale of
   high energy water flow through the Old River Control Structure
   threatening to damage the structure, an auxiliary flow control station
   was built adjacent to the standing control station. This US$300 million
   project was completed in 1996 by the Army Corp Of Engineers. k0
   Looking down on the Great River Road in Wisconsin, with Minnesota in
   the distance across the Mississippi River
   Enlarge
   Looking down on the Great River Road in Wisconsin, with Minnesota in
   the distance across the Mississippi River

Course changes

   The Illinoian Glacier, about 200,000 to 125,000 years before present,
   blocked the Mississippi near Rock Island, diverting it to its present
   channel farther to the west (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, the current
   Illinois River is actually following the ancient channel of the
   Mississippi River to Alton before the Illinoian glaciation.

   Other changes in the course of the river have occurred because of
   earthquakes along the New Madrid Fault Zone, which lies near the cities
   of Memphis and St. Louis. Three earthquakes in 1811 and 1812, estimated
   at approximately 8 on the Richter Scale, were said to have temporarily
   reversed the course of the Mississippi. 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.

Watershed

   The Mississippi River has the third largest drainage basin ("
   catchment") in the world, exceeded in size only by the watersheds of
   the Amazon River and Congo River. It drains 41% of the 48 contiguous
   states of the United States. The basin covers more than 1,245,000
   square miles ( 3,225,000 km²), including all or parts of 31 states and
   two Canadian provinces.

   Major tributaries of the Mississippi:
     * Big Black River in Mississippi
     * Red River in Louisiana
     * White River in Arkansas
     * Arkansas River in Arkansas
     * Ohio River in Illinois and 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
     * Rock River in Illinois
     * Maquoketa River in Iowa
     * Wisconsin River in Wisconsin
     * Chippewa River in Wisconsin
     * St. Croix River in Wisconsin
     * Minnesota River in Minnesota

Outflow

   Sequence of NASA MODIS images showing the outflow of fresh water from
   the Mississippi (marked by arrows) into the Gulf of Mexico.
   Enlarge
   Sequence of NASA MODIS images showing the outflow of fresh water from
   the Mississippi (marked by arrows) into the Gulf of Mexico.

   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.

   The Mississippi river discharges at an annual average rate of between
   200,000 and 700,000 Cubic Feet per Second. Although it is the 4th
   longest river in the world, this flow is a mere fraction of the output
   of the Amazon, which moves nearly 7 million cfs during wet seasons.

History

Nomenclature

   The word Mississippi comes from the Ojibwa name for the river,
   "Messipi" (or Misi-ziibi in contemporary spelling), which means great
   river, or from the Algonquin Missi Sepe, "great river," poetically,
   "father of waters." 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
   Bemijigamaa-ziibi (River from the Traversing Lake). After flowing into
   Cass Lake, the name of the river again changed to Miskwaawaakokaa-ziibi
   (Red Cedar River) and then to Gichi-ziibi (Big River) after flowing
   into Lake Winnibigoshish. The Ojibwe name Misi-ziibi applied only to
   the portion below the Crow Wing River, but the ever-changing names of
   the river seemed illogical to the English speakers, so after the
   expedition by Henry Schoolcraft, the longest stream above the juncture
   of the Crow Wing River and Gichi-ziibi was named "Mississippi River".

Early American

   On May 8, 1541, Hernando de Soto became the first recorded European to
   reach the Mississippi River, which he called "Rio de Espiritu Santo"
   (River of the Holy Spirit). French explorers Louis Joliet and Jacques
   Marquette began exploring the Mississippi. He traveled with a Sioux
   named "Ne Tongo" (which in Sioux means big river) in 1673. In 1682,
   René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle and Henri de Tonty claimed the
   entire Mississippi River Valley for France, calling the river Colbert
   River after Jean-Baptiste Colbert and the region Louisiana, for King
   Louis XIV. In 1718, New Orleans was established by Jean-Baptiste Le
   Moyne de Bienville.

   France lost all its territories on the North American mainland as a
   result of the French and Indian War. The Treaty of Paris (1763) gave
   the Kingdom of Great Britain rights to all land in the valley east of
   the Mississippi and Spain rights to land west of the Mississippi. Spain
   also ceded Florida to England to regain Cuba, which the English
   occupied during the war. Britain then divided the territory into East
   Florida and West Florida.

   In the second Treaty of Paris, which ended the American Revolution,
   Britain 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. 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.

   The river was noted for the number of bandits which called its islands
   and shores home, including John Murrell who was a well-known murderer,
   horse stealer and slave "re-trader". His notoriety was such that author
   Mark Twain devoted an entire chapter to him in his book Life on the
   Mississippi, and Murrell was rumored to have an island headquarters on
   the river at Island 37.
   Shifting sand bars in the Mississippi, such as these in Arkansas and
   Mississippi, made navigation in the river difficult.
   Enlarge
   Shifting sand bars in the Mississippi, such as these in Arkansas and
   Mississippi, made navigation in the river difficult.

1800s

   Twain's book also extensively covered the steamboat races which took
   place from 1830 to 1870 on the river before more modern boating methods
   replaced the steamer. It was published first in serial form in Harper's
   Weekly in seven parts in 1875 and was intended to chronicle the rapidly
   disappearing steamboat culture. The full version, including a passage
   from the unfinished Huckleberry Finn and works from other authors, was
   published by James R. Osgood & Co. in 1885. The first steamboat to
   travel the full length of the Mississippi from the Ohio River to New
   Orleans, Louisiana, was the New Orleans in December 1811. Its maiden
   voyage occurred during the series of New Madrid earthquakes in 1811–12.

   In 1815, America retained control over the Mississippi by scoring a
   decisive victory over the British at the Battle of New Orleans, part of
   the War of 1812.

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

   In 1848, the Illinois and Michigan Canal was built to connect the
   Mississippi River to Lake Michigan via the Illinois River near Peru,
   Illinois. In 1900, the canal was replaced by the Chicago Sanitary and
   Ship Canal. The canal allowed Chicago to address specific health issues
   ( typhoid, cholera and other waterborne diseases) by sending its waste
   down the Illinois and Mississippi river systems rather than polluting
   its water source of Lake Michigan. The canal also provided a shipping
   route between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi.

   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 80 miles per hour (128 km/h) by a
   Curtiss flying boat later that year.

1900s

   In the spring of 1927, the river broke out of its banks in 145 places
   during the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and inundated 27,000 square
   miles (70,000 km²) to a depth of up to 30 feet (10 m).

   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.

   The Great Flood of 1993 was another significant flood, although it
   primarily affected the Mississippi above its confluence with the Ohio
   River at Cairo, Illinois.

   Two portions of the Mississippi were designated as some of the American
   Heritage Rivers in 1997: The lower portion around Louisiana and
   Tennessee, and the upper portion around Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and
   Missouri.

Present

   In 2002 the 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 paddled the Mississippi and
   Atchafalaya rivers to benefit the Audubon Society's Upper Mississippi
   River Campaign.

Navigation

   The task of maintaining a navigation channel on the Mississippi is the
   responsibility of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which began as
   early as 1829 removing snags, closing off secondary channels and
   excavating rocks and sandbars. In 1829, the Corps surveyed the two
   major obstacles on the upper Mississippi, the Des Moines Rapids and the
   Rock Island Rapids, where the river was shallow and the riverbed was
   rock. The Des Moines Rapids were about 11 miles (18 km) long and just
   above the mouth of the Des Moines River at Keokuk, Iowa. The Rock
   Island Rapids were between Rock Island and Moline, Illinois. Both
   rapids were considered virtually impassable.

   On a side note, it is at this area of the Mississippi River that the
   river flows East to West as opposed to its normal course North to
   South. The area of the Quad Cities is known for this fast fact.
   The Lock & Dam at Dubuque, Iowa.
   Enlarge
   The Lock & Dam at Dubuque, Iowa.
   River traffic in New Orleans.
   Enlarge
   River traffic in New Orleans.

   The Corps recommended excavation of a 5 foot (1.5 m) deep channel at
   the Des Moines Rapids, but work did not begin until after Lieutenant
   Robert E. Lee endorsed the project in 1837. The Corps later also began
   excavating the Rock Island Rapids. By 1866, it had become evident that
   excavation was impractical, and it was decided to build a canal around
   the Des Moines Rapids. The canal opened in 1877, but the Rock Island
   Rapids remained an obstacle.

   In 1878, Congress authorized the Corps to establish a 4.5 foot (1.4 m)
   channel deep to be obtained by building wing dams which direct the
   river to a narrow channel causing it to cut a deeper channel, by
   closing secondary channels and by dredging. The channel project was
   complete when the Moline Lock, which bypassed the Rock Island Rapids,
   opened in 1907.

   To improve navigation between St. Paul, Minnesota, and Prairie du
   Chien, Wisconsin, the Corps constructed several dams on lakes in the
   headwaters area, including Lake Winnibigoshish and Lake Pokegama. The
   dams, which were built beginning in the 1880s, stored spring run-off
   which was released during low water to help maintain channel depth.

   In 1907, Congress authorized a 6 foot (1.8 m) deep channel project on
   the Mississippi, which was not complete when it was abandoned in the
   late 1920s in favour of the 9 foot (2.7 m) deep channel project.

   In 1913, construction was complete on a dam at Keokuk, Iowa, the first
   dam below St. Anthony Falls. Built by a private power company to
   generate electricity, the Keokuk dam was one of the largest
   hydro-electric plants in the world at the time. The dam also eliminated
   the Des Moines Rapids.
   Boats lined up at Lock and Dam No. 2, Hastings, Minnesota
   Enlarge
   Boats lined up at Lock and Dam No. 2, Hastings, Minnesota
   Lock No. 27 and the Chain of Rocks canal take traffic around this
   "chain of rocks", an exposure of bedrock in the river north of St.
   Louis.
   Enlarge
   Lock No. 27 and the Chain of Rocks canal take traffic around this
   "chain of rocks", an exposure of bedrock in the river north of St.
   Louis.

   Lock and Dam No. 1 was completed in Minneapolis in 1917 and Lock and
   Dam No. 2 at Hastings, Minnesota, was completed in 1930.

   Prior to the 1927 flood, the Corps' primary strategy was to close off
   as many side channels as possible to increase the flow in the main
   river. It was thought that the river's velocity would scour off bottom
   sediments, deepening the river and decreasing the possibility of
   flooding. The 1927 flood proved this so wrong that communities
   threatened by the flood began to make their own levee breaks to relieve
   the tension of the rising river.

   The Corps now actively creates floodways to divert periodic water
   surges into backwater channels and lakes. The main floodways are the
   Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway; the Morganza Floodway, which directs
   floodwaters down the Atchafalaya River; and the Bonnet Carré Spillway
   which directs water to Lake Pontchartrain. The Old River Control
   structure also serve as a major floodgates that can be opened to
   prevent flooding. Some of the pre-1927 strategy is still in use today;
   the Corps actively cuts the necks of horseshoe bends, allowing the
   water to move faster and reducing flood heights.

   The Rivers and Harbors Act of 1930 authorized the 9-foot channel
   project, which called for a navigation channel 9 feet deep and 400 feet
   (120 m) wide to accommodate multiple-barge tows. This was achieved by a
   series of locks and dams, and by dredging. Twenty-three new locks and
   dams were built on the upper Mississippi in the 1930s in addition to
   the three already in existence. Two new locks were built north of Lock
   and Dam No. 1 at Saint Anthony Falls in the 1960s, extending the head
   of navigation for commercial traffic several miles, but few barges go
   past the city of Saint Paul today.

   Beginning in the 1970s, the Corps applied hydrology transport models to
   analyze flood flow and water quality of the Mississippi.
   The Mississippi River just north of St. Louis
   Enlarge
   The Mississippi River just north of St. Louis

   Until the 1950s, there was no dam below Lock and Dam 26 at Alton,
   Illinois. Lock and Dam 27, which consists of a low-water dam and an 8.4
   mile (13.5 km) long canal, was added in 1953 just below the confluence
   with the Missouri River, primarily to bypass a series of rock ledges at
   St. Louis. It also serves to protect the St. Louis city water intakes
   during times of low water.

   Dam 26 at Alton, Illinois, which had structural problems, was replaced
   by the Mel Price Lock and Dam in 1990. The original Lock and Dam 26 was
   demolished.

Major cities along the river

   People live year-round in this community of boathouses on the
   Mississippi River in Winona, Minnesota.
   Enlarge
   People live year-round in this community of boathouses on the
   Mississippi River in Winona, Minnesota.
     * Minneapolis, Minnesota
     * St. Paul, Minnesota
     * La Crosse, Wisconsin
     * Bettendorf, Iowa
     * Davenport, Iowa
     * Rock Island, Illinois
     * Moline, Illinois
     * Quincy, Illinois
     * St. Louis, Missouri
     * Cairo, Illinois
     * Memphis, Tennessee
     * Greenville, Mississippi
     * Vicksburg, Mississippi
     * Natchez, Mississippi
     * Baton Rouge, Louisiana
     * New Orleans, Louisiana

Notable bridges

   The first bridge across the Mississippi River was built in 1856. It
   spanned the river between Arsenal Island at Rock Island, Illinois and
   Davenport, Iowa. Steamboat pilots 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 a young lawyer named Abraham Lincoln defending the railroad. The
   lawsuit went all the way up to the Supreme Court, and was eventually
   ruled in favour of Lincoln and the railroad.
   The Dubuque-Wisconsin Bridge. The bridge connects Dubuque, Iowa with
   Grant County, Wisconsin.
   Enlarge
   The Dubuque-Wisconsin Bridge. The bridge connects Dubuque, Iowa with
   Grant County, Wisconsin.
     * Stone Arch Bridge - a former Great Northern Railroad (now
       pedestrian) bridge in Minneapolis and National Historic Engineering
       Landmark.
     * Washington Avenue Bridge - connects the East Bank and West Bank
       portions of the University of Minnesota's Minneapolis campus.
     * Black Hawk Bridge, connecting Lansing, Allamakee County, Iowa to
       rural Crawford County, Wisconsin, locally referred to as the
       Lansing Bridge.
     * Julien Dubuque Bridge - A bridge connecting Dubuque, Iowa and East
       Dubuque, Illinois that is listed in the National Register of
       Historic Places.
     * Interstate 74 Bridge connecting Moline, Illinois to Bettendorf,
       Iowa is a twin suspension bridge, also known historically as the
       Iowa-Illinois Memorial Bridge.
     * Rock Island Government Bridge connecting Rock Island, Illinois to
       Davenport, Iowa. Located just southwest of the site of the first
       bridge across the Mississippi River, it is one of only two bridges
       in the world with two sets of railroad tracks above the auto lanes.
       It also co-located with Lock and Dam #15 - the largest roller dam
       in the world.
     * Rock Island Centennial Bridge connecting Rock Island, Illinois to
       Davenport, Iowa.
     * Santa Fe Bridge - in Fort Madison, Iowa, the largest double-deck
       swing-span bridge in the world; It is the last operating swing
       bridge over the Mississippi River for automobile traffic and is
       listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
     * Clark Bridge also known as the Super Bridge as the result of an
       appearance on PBS program Nova. This cable-stay bridge constructed
       in 1994 connects Alton, Illinois to Black Jack, Missouri. It is the
       northernmost river crossing in the St. Louis metropolitan area and
       is named after explorer William Clark.
     * Chain of Rocks Bridge - A bridge on the northern edge of St. Louis,
       Missouri; famous for a 22-degree bend halfway across and the most
       famous alignment of Historic US 66 across the Mississippi.
     * Eads Bridge - A bridge connecting St. Louis, Missouri and East St.
       Louis, Illinois; the first major steel bridge in the world, and
       also a National Historic Landmark.
     * Poplar Street Bridge - A bridge connecting downtown St. Louis,
       Missouri with East St. Louis, Illinois that carries three
       interstates and a U.S. highway; the bridge is one of the busiest on
       the river.
     * Hernando de Soto Bridge - carries Interstate 40 to connect Memphis,
       Tennessee and West Memphis, Arkansas; listed in Guinness Book of
       World Records for its unique structural "letter" shape.
     * Harahan Bridge - a trestle railroad bridge that connects Memphis,
       Tennessee to West Memphis, Arkansas
     * Frisco Bridge - was the first crossing of the Lower Mississippi and
       the longest cantilever truss steel railroad bridge in North America
       when it opened on May 12, 1892. It connects Memphis, Tennessee and
       West Memphis, Arkansas.
     * Memphis-Arkansas Memorial Bridge - the longest Warren truss- style
       bridge in the United States which carries Interstate 55 to connect
       Memphis, Tennessee and West Memphis, Arkansas; also listed on the
       National Register of Historic Places.
     * Greenville Bridge - cable-stayed bridge under construction between
       Greenville, Mississippi with Arkansas.
     * Vicksburg Bridge - connecting Vicksburg, Mississippi, with
       Tallulah, Louisiana.
     * Natchez-Vidalia Bridge - connecting Natchez, Mississippi, with
       Vidalia, Louisiana.
     * Horace Wilkinson Bridge - Baton Rouge, Louisiana; the 9th-longest
       cantilever bridge in the world.
     * Luling Bridge (Hale Boggs Memorial Bridge) - near New Orleans, a
       cable-stayed bridge carrying Interstate 310 across the Mississippi,
       connecting the towns of Luling and Destrehan, Louisiana.
     * Huey P. Long Bridge - Jefferson Parish, Louisiana.
     * Crescent City Connection - connects the east- and westbanks of New
       Orleans, Louisiana; the 5th-longest cantilever bridge in the world.

Popular culture

Nicknames

   Mississippi River in New Orleans.
   Enlarge
   Mississippi River in New Orleans.

   Due to its size and historical significance, the Mississippi has many
   nicknames. Among these are:
     * The Father of Waters
     * The Gathering of Waters
     * The Big Muddy (more commonly associated with the Missouri River)
     * Big River
     * Old Man River
     * The Great River
     * Body of a Nation
     * The Mighty Mississippi
     * El Grande (de Soto)
     * The Muddy Mississippi
     * Old Blue

Literature and music

   Many of the works of Mark Twain deal with or take place near the
   Mississippi River. One of his first major works, Life on the
   Mississippi, is in part a history of the river, in part a memoir of
   Twain's experiences on the river, and a collection of tales that either
   take place on or are associated with the river. Twain's most famous
   work, Huckleberry Finn, is largely a journey down the river. The novel
   works as an episodic meditation on American culture with the river as
   the central metaphor.

   Herman Melville's novel The Confidence-Man portrayed a Canterbury
   Tales-style group of steamboat passengers whose interlocking stories
   are told as they travel up the Mississippi River. The novel is written
   both as cultural satire and a metaphysical treatise. Like Huckleberry
   Finn, it uses the Mississippi River as a metaphor for the larger
   aspects of American and human identity that unify the otherwise
   disparate characters. The river's fluidity is reflected by the often
   shifting personalities and identities of Melville's "confidence man."

   The 2nd chapter ("The Master of the Mississippi") of Don Rosa's famous
   comic book The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck about the "Last of the
   Clan McDucks" is set on the Mississippi. Scrooge works here for his
   Uncle Angus "Pothole" McDuck on a wheel steamer and has his first
   encounter with The Beagle Boys.

   The stage and movie musical Show Boat's central musical piece is the
   Blues-influenced ballad Ol' Man River.

   Ferde Grofe composed a set of movements for symphony orchestra based on
   the lands the river travels through in his Mississippi Suite.

   Johnny Cash song Big River deals with Mississippi.

   The song ' When the Levee Breaks', made famous in the version performed
   by Led Zeppelin on the album Led Zeppelin IV, was composed by Memphis
   Minnie McCoy in 1929 after the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.

   On May 29, 1997 Singer/Guitarist Jeff Buckley drowned when he was swept
   away by the undertow of a passing boat in the Mississippi River.

Trivia

   The Mississippi is a common tool for purpose of designating the United
   States into eastern and western sections, with places being described
   often as east or west "of the Mississippi":
     * Most FCC call signs that start with W are on the east of the river;
       those that start with K are on the west.
     * In the scheduling of games for sports leagues, "early games" start
       on the east of the river; "late" games start on the west, usually
       at the same time respective of the Eastern and Pacific time zones
       (such as 1pm ET/10am PT early; 4pm ET/1 PT late).

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_River"
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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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