234 MISSISSIPPI-MISSOURI 



MISSISSIPPI SCHKMK 



feet wide, tit the city of Minm-aplis it plunges 

 over tlic Kill In of St Anthony. This pint is th.' 

 hca<l of river-navigation, though i" various reaches 

 alxjve small steamlioiiis |ilv. After receiving the 

 Si Croix. tin- Mississippi i become* the booadan 

 lie! ween tin- stales of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, 

 Arkansas, anil Louisiana on the right, ami Wis- 

 consin. Illinois, Kentucky, Tenm- and Missis 



sippi on the left. Its frequent rapids within 

 Minnesota are due to the granite Ix-d, hut sand- 

 slum- prevails farther down, to Rock Island, 

 Illinois. On tin- Wisconsin lioundary the river 

 expands into Lake I'epin, ami thereafter, fully a 

 mile wide. How* between hinds 200 and 300 feet 

 high, ami sometimes through dense forests. At 

 Kock Island there are rapids with 22 feet of fall, 

 and 125 miles farther down are the Dea Moines 

 rapids with -24 feet of fall. Around those obstruc- 

 tions to navigation the United States government 

 has const rui-tfd ship-canals. The entrance of the 

 tnrhid Missouri produces a marked change in the 

 character of the river ; for several miles the diverse 

 waters refuse to mingle, the Missouri's muddy 

 tribute taking the right liank and the Upper 

 Mi--i-sip;ii's clear -IHMIII tin- li-i't. When tin- 

 union is complete, the whole river has henceforth 

 a light yellowish colour, modified somewhat by the 

 I duo's greenish water and more hy the reddish 

 wator of tin- Arkansas and Ked. From the mouth 

 of the Ohio the trough of tin- Mississippi is aliout 

 4470 feet wide. Imt as it approaches tin; Ked it is 

 narrowed to 3000 feet, and at New Orleans is -.'.'.(K) 

 feet The usual depth of the channel southward 

 from the < >hio is from 1~> to 100 feet, and its surface 

 is sometimes higher than the country beyond its 

 hanks. In fact, from the Missouri to '.lie (iiilf the 

 Mississippi rolls in serpentine course through vast 

 alluvial tracts or 'bottoms,' whose width varies 

 from 30 to 150 miles. Their total area, including 

 those along tributary streams, is variously esti- 

 mated from 29,790 to 41,193 sq. in. Though of 

 unsurpassed fertility, scarcely one-tenth of these 

 lands are cultivated owing to the dangers of the 

 annual overflow. The melting of the ice and snow 

 i?i the upper basin swells the lower current from 

 .March to .Mine. Levees or embankments, largely 

 built by the government, now extend for more than 

 1GOO niiles. Between the Ohio and the Ked rivers 

 extraordinary Moods, rising from 47 to 51 feet, 

 occur alMiut once in ten years, making 'crevasses' 

 in the levees, and doing immense damage. In these 

 great floods the river has been known to spread over 

 a tract of l.">0 miles. llelow the Ked Kiver the 

 waters are discharged through numerous ' liayons ' 

 into the Hull" of Mexico. The main channel runs 

 south-east ward, nnd finally divides into live or six 

 wH, the principal Iwing the south, the north- 

 t, and the south west ; the last is in 28 68'5'N. 

 lat. and HIT 10' W. long. 



The mean velocity of the Lower Mississippi i- -^ 

 miles per hour. The yearly discharge into t In- 

 gulf is nearly 14"' cubic miles; the sedimentary 

 matter carriiil with this would form a prism 1 mile 

 square and 263 feet high, while the nmount pushed 

 along the bottom of tin- channel would make 

 another 1 mile square and 27 feet high. These vast 

 di-|M(sits and tin- constant changes caused by floods 

 tend to embarrass the entrance to the great river. 

 To keep an open channel, at least 20 feet deep, 

 Captain Bads (q.v.) contracted with the United 

 Slat<-s giiveinmi-iit to erect and maintain a system 

 of jetties at the South I 'ass. The construction was 

 begun in 1N75, and has proved highly successful, a 

 depth exceeding 30 feet having been maintained. 

 The month of tin- Mississippi is essentially tideless. 



The principal cities on tin- great river are Minne- 

 apolis, St 1'aiil, La Crisp, Dubuiiue, Keokiik, 

 Quincy, Hannibal, St Louis, Memphis, and New 



Orleans, at several of which the river is crossed by 

 railway bridges. Two of these have lx;en con- 

 structed (1887-74 and 1K89-90) at St. Louis, and 

 one was opened at Memphis in IS'.i-J. 



See Humphreys fc Abbot's Phtisies and Hinlrauliri 

 of the Hfittiuippi Jtirrr i I'hila. IHIil ), and Commmt and 

 jiariiialion of the Mit$iippi ( Washington, 1888 ). 



Missoritl KlVKli ('Big Muddy'), the principal 

 blanch of the Mississippi Hjver, is formed by the 

 Confluence of the Jetlerson. (ialhitin. and Madison 

 liveis, at iiallalin City, Montana. 4132 feet aliove 

 the sea-level. These rivers rise in the Uocky 

 Mountains, close to the sources of the Columbia 

 and Colorado rivers, and to the Continental Divide. 

 The Madison has the remotest source in a small 

 lake of the same name in Yellowstone National 

 Park in Wyoming, 44" 19' N. lat. and 110 50' \V. 

 long., at an elevation of 7632 feet. This river 

 (lows north west and north to the junction of tin- 

 Three Forks. The Missouri then llows northward. 

 skirting the main range of the Kocky Mountains. 

 and, after passing through a gorge called ' The (iale 

 of the Mountains,' turns to the northeast and 

 reaches Fort Bcnton, the head of navigation. J- 

 miles from Oallatin City. Alxmt 40 miles aUn 

 Fort IJenton are the Great l-'alls, where the river 

 descends :i-27 feet in 15 miles by a series of cata- 

 racts, the highest having a perpendicular fall of 

 87 feet. From Fort IJcnton the course is easier l\ , 

 the river l>eing flanked by blult's about a mile apart 

 until it passes the rapids 400 miles lielow, when 

 the valley opens to a width of 10 miles. The Milk 

 Kiver is its first large tributary, hut at the 

 iHuiudary of North Dakota the still larger Yellow- 

 stone joins it. The Yellowstone also rises in the 

 National Park, and llows at liist over cataracts and 

 through canons until it emerges in a more level 

 country. It is 11. VJ miles long, and \\i\~. the general 

 characteristics of the Missouri. From its junction, 

 which is the head of navigation in the low watei 

 season, the Missouri llows through North Hake. la, 

 east and then south-east to Bismarck ( 1010 feel 

 aliovo sea-level), where it is crossed b\ the splendid 

 bridge.'! the Northern 1'acilic Kailioad. 'Ihiough 

 South Dakota the south easterly course continues 

 to Sioux Citx. whence (lowing south the river 

 becomes the "boundary between Nebraska and 

 Kansas on the right and Iowa and Missouri on 

 the left. On receiving the tributary Kansas the 

 si ream turns to the east, and (lowing across the 

 state of Missouri pours its muddy waters into the 

 channel of the Mississippi, -Jti miles above St Louis. 

 The Missouri in 3047 miles long, of which -.'rs-.' 

 are called navigable, hut owing to its toil nous, 

 treacherous, and obstructed channel navigation is 

 attended with great risks. The growing cities on 

 iis banks forsake the use of the rivei for commer- 

 cial pur|Hises and depend on the railways. In I Slid 

 I here were si-vent v one steamers in active service 

 in that part within the state of Missouri, but 

 twenty years later the iiiimlier had diminished to 

 seven steamers and three tow-boat. The chief 

 towns on the banks are Bismarck, Yankton, Sioux 

 City, Omaha, Council Binds, Nebraska City, St 

 .lo-.-ph. Atehison, Leavenworth, and Kansas City. 



Mississippi Sfllfllie. projected in France hy 

 .lohn Law (q.v.) of Lauriston in 1717, proposed to 

 develop the resources of the province of 1-ouisiara 

 ami the country liordering on the Mississippi. The 



t/i-.i 



company, incorporated as COII>/HII/,IH 

 OeOH&MCBto, stalled with a capital of 200,000 

 shares, of 500 livres each. Shares were eagerly 

 liought : and when, in 171!(, the company obtained 

 the monopoly of trading to the East Indies, China, 

 the Soutn Seas, and all the possessions of the 

 French Kast India Company, tlie brilliant vision 

 opened up to the public gaze was irresistible. The 



