Get To Know 79 River Mississippi Facts That You Might Not Know

Have you ever wondered about the history and importance of the River Mississippi?The Mississippi River in length is the second-longest in North America and the headwaters of the continent’s one of the largest (second to Hudson Bay) drainage systems. Mississippi River flows through 31 US states and two Canadian provinces including important landmarks like Itasca State Park, Downtown Minneapolis, Baton Rouge, South Louisiana, and New Orleans.Read on to know more about the entire length of the great river and the different fish species native to it.HistoryHere are some important aspects related to the history of the Mississippi River:The Mississippi River is wholly inside the boundaries of the United States.It has its source in Minnesota’s Lake Itasca and flows across the continent, collecting water from its principal tributaries namely the Missouri River and the Ohio River.From its origins at Lake Itasca, the Mississippi River travels its entire length of 2,350 mi (3,782 km) through the heart of the United States to drain at the Gulf of Mexico.It flows south for roughly 3,000 mi (4,828 km)from its traditional source in northern Minnesota’s Lake Itasca to its Delta located in the Gulf of Mexico.Between the Rocky and Appalachian ranges, the watershed of Mississippi drains entirely or portions of around 32 states of the United States and two Canadian provinces.The main stem is wholly within the country of the United States, and the drainage basin as a whole is spread out across a broad area, with only around 1% in Canada.In terms of discharge, the Mississippi is the world’s 13th largest river.Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana are all either on the river’s banks or run through them.The name Mississippi is derived from Messipi, a French version of Misi-ziibi (meaning Great River), the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe or Algonquin) name of the river.Mississippi River originates from Lake Itasca and ends its journey at the Gulf of Mexico.Lake Itasca was named Omashkoozo-zaaga’igan (Elk Lake) by the Ojibwe, as was the river that flows out of it, Omashkoozo-ziibi (Elk River).All through French Louisiana, the Mississippi was recognized as the Rivière Saint-Louis and was phrased as Mississipi or Missispi.Around 50,000 years ago in human history, an inland sea covered the Central part of the United States that was emptied into the Gulf of Mexico by the Mississippi and its tributaries, generating huge floodplains and stretching the continent further south.Following that, it was discovered that the soil in places like Louisiana was extremely rich.The Mississippi River region was first occupied by Native Americans who hunted and gathered food, and it is one of the few autonomous sites of cultivation in human civilization.Early evidence of sunflower, goosefoot, marsh elder, and indigenous squash cultivation dates back to the fourth century BC.Between roughly 200 and 500 AD, a network of trade routes known as the Hopewell interaction sphere operated along the waterways, transmitting shared cultural practices across the surrounding place between both the Gulf of Mexico as well as the Great Lakes.Following this time of increasingly isolated tribes, agriculture centered upon the Three Sisters (maize, beans, and squash) imported from Mesoamerica gradually began to dominate.The great river is credited as an important part of the history of the US linking prominent US presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Abraham Lincoln with the noted writer Mark Twain mentioning the river in the famous novel ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’.Mark Twain (born Samuel Clemens), whose pen name was inspired from a riverman’s expression for water described to be two fathoms deep, is inextricably linked with the river.Twain grew and was raised in Hannibal, Missouri, near the Mississippi River, and the Mississippi is almost a portrait of a character in his novels ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’ (1876) and ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ (1879). Twain described its shape to ‘a long, pliant apple-paring’ in a more lyrical way. The sunlight glinting off the braided strip of water is still one of the most recognizable sights on an intercontinental flight today.ImportanceHere are some essential facts related to the importance of the Mississippi River:The Mississippi River is now one of the world’s leading waterways as the principal river artery of a highly industrialized nation.Agricultural commodities and the massive agribusiness sector that has evolved in the basin account for 92% of the country’s agricultural exports, 78% of global feed grain and soybean exports, and the majority of livestock and pigs produced in the country.The Mississippi embayment, developed from multiple slabs of the river’s silt accumulation, is among the most fertile areas of the United States, and steamboats were regularly employed to convey agricultural and manufacturing goods in the 19th and 20th centuries.Because of the river’s symbolic significance to the Civil War effort, the Mississippi’s conquest by Union forces represented a turning point toward victory during the American Civil War.The first decades of the 20th century witnessed the construction of major engineering projects such as levees, locks, and dams, frequently in combination, due to the rapid rise of settlements and the bigger ships and vessels that replaced steamboats.Furthermore, the river’s singular contribution to American history and literature has braided it like a shining thread across North American mythology and national consciousness, connecting the names of two US presidents, Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant, with the famed author Mark Twain.Along the Mississippi River, there seem to be seven National Park Service locations. The Mississippi National River, as well as Recreation Zone, is a National Park Service park involved in the protection and interpretation of the Mississippi River.The Mississippi and Missouri river basin has been dubbed the ‘mother fauna’ of America’s freshwater because of its varied aquatic species.The Mississippi river system will be regarded as the third largest river system in the world if the length of the Ohio rivers and Missouri River are added to it.The Mississippi River basin has about 375 species of fish, vastly outnumbering most North Hemisphere river basins that are exclusively in temperate/subtropical climates.Several endemics, and also relics like paddlefish, sturgeon, gar, and bowfin, can be found in the basin.The Mississippi watershed is frequently separated into subregions due to its size and rich species variety.Walleye, largemouth bass, sauger, smallmouth bass, northern pike, white bass, crappie, bluegill, channel catfish, flathead catfish, freshwater drum, common shiner, and shovelnose sturgeon are among the 120 fish species found in the Upper Mississippi River.Aside from fish species, the Mississippi basin is home to a variety of turtles (including snapping, cooter, mud, musk, map, painted, and softshell turtles), an American alligator, aquatic amphibians (including hellbender, mudpuppy, three-toed amphiuma, and lesser siren), as well as Cambarid crayfish (including the red swamp crayfish).TributariesMississippi River flows through several important regions of the US including Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Here are some of the most important tributaries of the Mississippi River.The left bank tributaries of the River Mississippi are St. Croix River, Wisconsin River, Rock River, Illinois River, Kaskaskia River, Ohio River, Yazoo River, Big Black RiverThe right bank tributaries of the River Mississippi are Minnesota River, Des Moines River, Missouri River, White River, Arkansas River, Ouachita River, Red River, Atchafalaya RiverThere are many settlements located at the sides of the Mississippi River and the majority of them have historic or cultural ties to the river.In 1855, the first bridge all over the Mississippi River was constructed.It was placed where the present Hennepin Avenue Bridge spans the river in Minneapolis.In 1856, the very first railroad bridge throughout the Mississippi was completed.In between Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois & Davenport, Iowa, it crossed the river.As the unruly neighbor of some of the continent’s greatest cropland, Mississippi has been exposed to a tremendous degree of human manipulation and control.The Mississippi River has been plagued by serious pollution and other environmental issues since the 20th century.Most particularly excessive chemical pollutants and nutrient quantities from agricultural effluents, which is the principal cause of the Gulf of Mexico dead zone.Fun Facts About River MississippiOn Lake Pepin, in between Minnesota and Wisconsin, water-skiing was born.A drop of water trave ls the whole course of the River Mississippi in 90 days. The Mississippi River is inhabited by 360 fish species, 145 amphibian and reptile species, 326 bird species, and 50 mammal species. Isn’t such diversity great?The Mississippi River is indeed the world’s third-largest watershed.The Mississippi River’s deepest point is 200 ft (60.96 m) deep and is at Algiers Point downtown New Orleans.Most of the nation’s farm-raised catfish come from Mississippi’s catfish ranches.The state of Louisiana has its name called after France’s fourteenth king.President Herbert Hoover was born in the state of Iowa.The state of Missouri is characterized as ‘Show Me’.The state of Illinois has by far the most people of any of the Mississippi River states.The Mississippi River is well-known for its role in United States industrialization.The river generates hydroelectric power, supplies drinking water to millions of people, and is home to a variety of economically and ecologically valuable species of fish.As recently as 40 million years ago, the Rocky Mountains in the western part of North America were being forced upward.The Mississippi River can be said to be about 40 million years old.Glacial till and moraines formed dams that redirected the Mississippi River towards the west as during Illinoisan & Wisconsinan glacial periods (300,000 to 10,000 years ago).As the glaciers receded, the Illinois River seized the ancient Mississippi River valley.As a result, the age of the Mississippi River ranges from 5.6 to 40 million years.From December 1811 to February 1812, three significant earthquakes struck New Madrid, Missouri.Scholars believe that the New Madrid tremors were the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded east of the Rocky Mountains in North America.Boatmen claimed that the Mississippi River went backward for several hours after the February earthquake.The force of the Earth’s upheaval, 15 mi (24 km) south of New Madrid, drowned the residents of an Indian town, turned the Mississippi River backward, and destroyed hundreds of acres of virgin forest, resulting in two brief waterfalls in the Mississippi.It happened at New Madrid when a thrust fault built a large dam many feet in height close to the bed of the river loop.The Mississippi River is the home to many American Alligators and as many as 145 species of reptiles and amphibians.

Have you ever wondered about the history and importance of the River Mississippi?