Interesting Facts and History on the Mississippi River

The father of waters, the Mississippi River, is one of the longest in the world. According to the United States Army Corps of Engineers, if it is measured from the Upper Red Rock Reservoir which leads to its longest branch, the Missouri the Mississippi flows 3,658 miles to the Head of Passes in the delta. From Lake Itasca in Minnesota to the Passes the Mississippi measures 2,550 miles. The upper Mississippi River is 1,401 miles long. The drainage basin extends from western Pennsylvania to Idaho, embraces two fifths of the continental United States, not including Alaska. It is third in size only to the Amazon and Congo River basins. The greater part of this vast region is enormously fertile, which makes the Mississippi Valley an agricultural empire second to none.
The Little Stream Becomes a Great River
As it issues from the cool clear waters of Lake Itasca, the Mississippi is only a little stream, 10 or 12 feet wide, and about two feet deep. …