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MTSSISSIPPI. 



MISSISSIPPI. 



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wid* ; the perpcndiouUr height ii iCi fc«L Bdow tbe fklls the riTer 

 U narrowed to about 200 yard*. There is a conaiderable rapid both 

 abore aod below the falls, making a total deaoant of more than 40 feet 

 in three-fourths of a mile. There is a portage around the falls. Boats 

 of 40 tons burden asoend to these fsUa, more than 2000 miles from the 

 mouth of the riTer. The Falls of St Antony may be oonsidered as the 

 point where the Mississippi terminates its upper course. 



From the fslls to Lake Pepin the river winds through a country of 

 prairiea, whose sor&ce is rather uudulating thnu billy, the elevationB 

 being of moderate height, and seldom attaining 200 feet above the 

 level of the water. The river itself u iuteraected with several small 

 islands ; its channel is also impeded by sand-bars, and the current is 

 rapid. At Lake Pepin oommence the bluflh, or wall-like high grounds, 

 which generally ran parallel to the course of the river, and at acme 

 diitanftt from it Lake Pepin, in most parts, nearly fills up the whole 

 space between the bluQs, which rise about 450 feet above its level 

 The lake is about 24 miles long, and from 2 to 4 miles wide. The 

 country at the back of the bluffs is rather undulating, and assumes 

 the character of a pmirie land, being only wooded in isolated spots. 

 Below Lake Pepin the vale of the Mississippi varies from 8 to 10 or 

 IS miles in width, except at Bock Island and Des Moines Rapids, 

 where it is only wide enough to receive the volume of the river. At 

 both of these rapids the bed of the Mississippi is contracted to 800 or 

 1000 yards; while in many places the river occupies half the vale, 

 ■pleading out to the width of 5 or 6 miles, and appearing to lose 

 itself among numberless islands, between which it runs in narrow 

 channels. Between Lake Pepin aod the mouth of the Missouri not 

 lew than 640 islands of considerable size hare been enumerated, which 

 ■re formed of the alluvium brought don-u by the stream, and are 

 chiefly sandy ; many of them are cuvcred with a vigorous vegetation. 

 The vale of the river is bounded by bluils, from 100 to 800 feet high, 

 whieh are generally abrupt, and often precipitous. These bluffs are 

 intersected by numerous deep ravines and watercourses, which give 

 the oonntry a hilly and broken aspect On the western side of the 

 river, above the mouth of the Wisconsin, forests cover the high grounds 

 to the distance of 6 or 8 miles frx>m the river : behind them is a 

 ptairie region of great extent The vale itself has a level surface ; but 

 in some places, and especially in the vicinity of Lake Pepin, isolated 

 knobs and bills of considerable magnitude frequently occur. The 

 level is covered with an altematiun of prairies and forests. The 

 prairisa are generally elevated a little above the floods, and richly 

 carpeted with herbage and flowers: the woodlands are subject to 

 intmdation, and sustun a dense and heavy growth of trees. I^etween 

 the Falls of St Anthony and the mouth of the Missouri Biver the 

 principal afflnents of the Mississippi from the west, are the Miimesota, 

 Chippeway, Wapaipinicon, Iowa, and Des Moines rivers; from the 

 cast it is joined by the St Croix, Wisconsin, liock, and Illinois rivers. 

 At the mouth of the Missouri the middle course of the Mississippi 

 terminates. 



Below the mouth of the Missouri, the river and the vale through 

 whieh it flows present different features. The river, though lees in 

 width, has a more imposing aspect, flowing with a comparatively 

 gentle counw, in one sheet of vrater, rarely interrupted by islands. 

 The only serions obstruction to navigation occurs about 80 miles above 

 the mouth of the Ohio, where two ban of limestone, called the Big 

 and the Little Chain, which in the low state of the river have little 

 %rater on them, extend across the bed of the river. The vale wideim 

 more and more as it proceeds southward. It consists of an alterna- 

 tiun of high lands with an undulating surface^ and of low bottoms 

 jwrtly covered with swamps. Both ore of great extent, and are 

 generally opposite to eaeh other, ao that when the high ground 

 approaches the banks of the river on one side, extensive bottonu skirt 

 them on the other side. 



The most northern of these bottoms, called the American Bottom, 

 begiiM 4 miles above the month of the Missouri ; it is noticed under 

 Iluvob. Opposite to it, on the west side of the Mississippi, the 

 liirii lands approach the river, presenting abrupt declivities, prominent 

 Moia, and in many plaoea perpendicular precipicos from 100 to 200 

 Mt high. The country at tne back is partly wooded and partly 

 prairie. These high lands continue along the right bank of the 

 Miariaaippi somewhat farther than Cape Oirardeau, north of which 

 ptaee ihitj attain their greatest elevation, which is 350 feet Between 

 thenontL of the Kaskaskia Biver and that of the Ohio are also high 

 lands of infrrior elevation ; but about 30 miles above the mouth of 

 the Ohio (he banks begin to be low, and continue so to its very month. 

 The soil oonaiets of recent alluvium, and is covered with dense forests : 

 the width is about 10 miles. 



This low alluvial tract continues south of the mouth of the Ohio 

 for about 17 milea, where the river runs at Uie base of the Iron Banks, 

 which riae neariy perpendicularly about 180 foet above the level of 

 the river, and are annually wearing away by the action of the water, 

 whidi sat* strongly against them, l-'rom the Iron Banks southward, 

 bloflb less than 200 feet high skirt the banks of the river as far 

 ■onth ■• 85* N. lat, with the exception of a swampy bottom-ground 

 about SO miles long and from 8 to 4 miles wide ; it is covered with 

 U«h tresi^ aod hence called Wood Swamp. South of it some bliifTs 

 •tiiin an •lavattoD of 800 or 800 feet, especially the four hills called 

 4a CUdtaaw BtsJk The country oppodle to this high bank, ou the 



west side of the river is low It b(«ins on the north, about 10 miles 

 below Cape Oirardeau, with the Tywapatia Bottom, a fine tract of 

 wooded country, and extends to the mouth of the St Francis River, 

 a distance of more than 160 milts in a straight Hue. Its width is 

 more than 50 miler, and its western side is skirted by bluffs of 

 moderate elevation, which, for a considerable distance, run along the 

 western banks of the Uliu:k and White rivers, nearly panll-1 to the 

 Mississippi This extensive tract is traversed in all its length by the 

 St Francis River, which is joined not fiu: from its source by an offiiet 

 of the Mississippi, by which, during the time of the freshets, a great 

 volume of water is poured towards the middle of the plain, so that 

 the greatest part of it is iuundated, and a considerable extent is a 

 swamp all the year round. This swampy tract, extending on both 

 sides of the St Francis River, is called the Great Swamp. The country 

 is unhealthy, and covered with a continuous forest 



On the south, this low region bordere on another, which is not 

 much more elevated, but is less subject to inundations. The whole 

 tract extending from the mouth of the St Francis River to 83° N. lat, 

 is quite level, without any elevations, and does not form bluSs along 

 the banks of the Mississippi It is covered with recent alluvium, aod 

 mostly wooded. Its width is above 30 miles ; and on the west it 

 bordere on a more elevated hilly region covered with pine-foreata. 

 Opposite to this region, on the left bank of the Mississippi, is an 

 immense swamp, known as the Mississippi or Yazoo Swamp, which 

 extends from opposite the month of the St Francis River to that of 

 the Yosoo River, a distance of nearly 170 miles, with a width of 

 about 60 miles in the middle, where it is widest, and an average breadth 

 of about 30 miles. This low region is generally swampy and im- 

 passable, and it is only along the watercourses which flow through it 

 that the banks are dry for several months in the year. During the 

 floods it is described as assuming the appearance of a ' marine forest' 

 On the east it is bordered by a much more elevated tract, which is 

 generally wooded on its margin, but farther inland extends in wide 

 and open prairies. 



South of the mouth of the Vazoo River, the bluffs on the eastern 

 bank of the Mississippi re-appear, and extend south of Baton Kouge 

 (about 30° 30' N. lat). In some places very narrow tracts of low 

 iuundated ground separate the bluffs from the bed of the river, 

 but their base is generally washed by its waters. As in the other 

 bluff region, the surface of this tract is intersected by numerous 

 watercourses, which give to it the aspect of a hilly coimtry ; but at 

 the distance of about 10 miles from the river it extends in an undu- 

 lating plain. The bluffs themselves rise rather steeply from 100 to 

 200 feet above the bed of the river. Opposite to this bluff region is 

 another low and generally swampy tract, which is traversed by the 

 Tensas River, another outlet for the superabundant watera of the 

 Mississippi during the floods. It is from 20 to 30 miles wide, begin- 

 ning north of 33° N. lat, and extending southward to the mouth of 

 the Red River and the efflux of the Atchafalaya branch of the Missis- 

 sippi, where it is connected with the extensive low regions of the 

 delta. This region, as well as the delta itself, which constitutes the 

 moat southern portion of the vale of the Mississippi, is more particu- 

 larly described under LotrisiAMA. The low and swamp lands of the 

 lower course of the Mississippi are estimated to cover an area of 

 40,000 square miles. About 16,000,000 acres of land are now annually 

 overflowed, which, if the overflows could be prevented, might be con- 

 verted into excellent cotton and sugar plantations. By an Act of 

 Congress, the swamp-lands along the Mississippi have been ceded to 

 the reapeetive legislatures of the states within which they lie, in order 

 to make grants to parties willing and able to reclaim them ; and the 

 state legislatures have passed acts,'varying in their provisions, but all 

 having this objeot in view. 



The Mississippi falls into the Qulf of Mexico by six mouths, after a 

 course of about 3200 miles ; but if we consider the Missouri as the 

 principal river, the whole course is 4349 miles. Through the delta 

 the Mississippi varies in width from 2200 to 5900 foet ; the average 

 width is about 3200 feet. The depth varies from 08 to 135 feet. 

 There is no tide in the Mississippi During high floods the surface of 

 the river is, according to Mr. Ellet, from 18 to 20 feet higher than a 

 great part of the actual delta. 



Under Louuiaka we have noticed the steady though gradual exten- 

 sion of the delta of the Mississippi from the enormous quantity of solid 

 matter brought down and held in deposit in its waters. From this 

 cause the channels by which it cntcra the Gulf of Mexico are con- 

 tinually shifting their position, and the bare at their mouths arc also 

 constantly changing. In the report of Mr. Ellet, who was directed 

 by the central government to survey the delta of the Mississippi, it 

 is stated that the South Pass, which had 10 feet over its bar in 1772, 

 has at the present time its entrance almost closed up by a spit of sand. 

 The North- East Pass, which in 1772 had a depth of 14 feet of water, 

 has now only 8 feet, while the bar itself has advanced about 6 mUes. 

 On the other hand the Pass h I'Outre, o subdivision of the North-East 

 Pass, which in 1838 had a depth varying from 6 to 8 feet on the bar, 

 has since been increasing in depth, and has now a minimum of 10 feet 

 on its bar. " This Pass has accordingly taken the place of the ancient 

 favourite entrance to the Mississippi fnr all inward and outward bound 

 veasols of lees than 13 feet draught, when the vrind favoura that route, 

 and (team can be obtained to help them through." The main entrance 



