MISSISSIPPI RIVER 



3852 



MISSISSIPPI RIVER 



low New Orleans the depth is from thirty to 

 sixty-two feet. Improvements are constantly in 

 progress, and the tendency is everywhere to in- 

 crease the minimum depth. 



As to the volume of water poured by the 

 Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico, that is 

 almost beyond conception. Every second dur- 

 ing high-water season about 2,300,000 cubic feet 

 are poured out, and the annual average is 675,- 

 000 cubic feet per second. Water is not the 

 only thing carried down by the stream; it is 

 estimated that in a year the Mississippi emp- 

 ties into the Gulf about 400,000,000 cubic yards 

 of solid matter. No wonder it has built for 

 itself one of the most extensive deltas in the 

 world. Except the dust which is blown into 

 the Missouri in the semiarid region, all the 

 sediment *is scoured off the higher slopes where 

 the current is swift. In the prairie region, 

 where the current is comparatively slow, the 

 water cannot carry the sediment and must 

 therefore drop and flow around it, thereby mak- 

 ing the loops of the lower reaches. 



Character of the River. Is the Mississippi a 

 sluggish or a rapid stream? Are its waters 

 limpid or muddy, its banks low or steep? In 

 so long a river there is a chance for endless 

 variations, and these the Mississippi shows in 

 abundance; but most of its scenic beauties are 

 to be found in its upper course, before it re- 

 ceives the muddy Missouri. At Minneapolis 

 the river leaves its clay banks and flows be- 

 tween towering bluffs, and here, where it leaps 

 over the Falls of Saint Anthony, used to be one 

 of the beauty spots of the region; but commer- 

 cial enterprise, making use of the water power, 

 has destroyed the picturesque setting. Between 

 Saint Paul and Saint Louis the river shows 

 many and varied beauties. Its valley, from one 

 to three miles wide, is bordered here and there 

 by bluffs of sandstone or of limestone, and the 

 river in its windings touches now the eastern, 

 now the western bluff. The bluffs are for the 

 most part heavily wooded, but here and there, 

 especially in the Saint Louis region, they form 

 veritable rugged palisades. 



In its northern course the river is clear and 

 placid, and when the Missouri pours in its 

 waters a curious thing may be observed. For 

 miles the two streams flow side by side, their 

 waters scarcely mingling, the red, muddy waters 

 of the western stream presenting a distinct con- 

 trast to the clearer water from the north; in 

 time they mix, and through the rest of its 

 course the Mississippi is turbid. Its lower 

 course, too, is between flat shores formed by its 



own silt an alluvial valley as rich as that of 

 the Nile. It twists and winds, forms bayous 

 and lakes, and frequently changes its channel; 

 and through much of this region the surface of 

 the river at high water is above that of the 

 bordering flood plain, and the waters are con- 

 fined only by the banks which they have built. 

 Finally, through its varying channel which be- 

 comes narrower below the Yazoo, the river 

 reaches the delta a marshy stretch of fine sedi- 

 ment which in places is impassable. Here it di- 

 vides into several arms, and pours its vast 

 store of water into the Gulf. See illustration, 

 under the title JETTY. 



Floods. It is impossible to describe the 

 Mississippi without referring to its floods, with 

 which man has waged war for many years, and 

 not always successfully. Heavy, and long-con- 

 tinued rains swell its tributaries, and since in 



DRAINAGE BASINS 



The approximate limits of the drainage basins 

 of the rivers whose waters reach the Gulf through 

 the Mississippi. The area of each basin and its 

 percentage of the entire system appear in the fol- 

 lowing table : 



the lower stretches much of the surrounding 

 country is but slightly higher than the surface 

 of the river at low water, the result is disaster. 

 Such floods occur in the spring, when the river 

 is normally highest, and there have been many 

 in the history of the river; but the greatest and 

 most destructive was that of 1912. About $42,- 

 000,000 worth of property was destroyed, and 

 some lives were lost. In the following year oc- 

 curred another great flood, but the levees stood 

 the strain better and not so much damage was 

 done. See LEVEE. 



