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Mississippi River facts for kids

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Mississippi River
Efmo View from Fire Point.jpg
Mississippi River near Fire Point in Effigy Mounds National Monument, Iowa
Mississippiriver-new-01.png
Mississippi River basin
Country United States
State Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana
Cities Saint Cloud, MN, Minneapolis, MN, St. Paul, MN, La Crosse, WI, Quad Cities, IA/IL, St. Louis, MO, Memphis, TN, Greenville, MS, Vicksburg, MS, Baton Rouge, LA, New Orleans, LA
Physical characteristics
Main source Lake Itasca (traditional)
Itasca State Park, Clearwater County, MN
1,475 ft (450 m)
47°14′23″N 95°12′27″W / 47.23972°N 95.20750°W / 47.23972; -95.20750
River mouth Gulf of Mexico
Pilottown, Plaquemines Parish, LA
0 ft (0 m)
29°09′04″N 89°15′12″W / 29.15111°N 89.25333°W / 29.15111; -89.25333
Length 2,340 mi (3,770 km)
Discharge
(location 2)
  • Location:
    Vicksburg
  • Minimum rate:
    144,000 cu ft/s (4,100 m3/s)
  • Average rate:
    768,075 cu ft/s (21,749.5 m3/s) (2009-2020 water years)
  • Maximum rate:
    2,340,000 cu ft/s (66,000 m3/s)
Discharge
(location 3)
  • Average rate:
    168,000 cu ft/s (4,800 m3/s)
Basin features
Basin size 1,151,000 sq mi (2,980,000 km2)
Tributaries

The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system on the North American continent, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it flows generally south for 2,340 miles (3,770 km) to the Mississippi River Delta in the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains all or parts of 32 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces between the Rocky and Appalachian mountains. The main stem is entirely within the United States; the total drainage basin is 1,151,000 sq mi (2,980,000 km2), of which only about one percent is in Canada. The Mississippi ranks as the thirteenth-largest river by discharge in the world. The river either borders or passes through the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

Native Americans have lived along the Mississippi River and its tributaries for thousands of years. Most were hunter-gatherers, but some, such as the Mound Builders, formed prolific agricultural and urban civilizations. The arrival of Europeans in the 16th century changed the native way of life as first explorers, then settlers, ventured into the basin in increasing numbers. The river served first as a barrier, forming borders for New Spain, New France, and the early United States, and then as a vital transportation artery and communications link. In the 19th century, during the height of the ideology of manifest destiny, the Mississippi and several western tributaries, most notably the Missouri, formed pathways for the western expansion of the United States.

Formed from thick layers of the river's silt deposits, the Mississippi embayment is one of the most fertile regions of the United States; steamboats were widely used in the 19th and early 20th centuries to ship agricultural and industrial goods. During the American Civil War, the Mississippi's capture by Union forces marked a turning point towards victory, due to the river's strategic importance to the Confederate war effort. Because of the substantial growth of cities and the larger ships and barges that replaced steamboats, the first decades of the 20th century saw the construction of massive engineering works such as levees, locks and dams, often built in combination. A major focus of this work has been to prevent the lower Mississippi from shifting into the channel of the Atchafalaya River and bypassing New Orleans.

Since the 20th century, the Mississippi River has also experienced major pollution and environmental problems – most notably elevated nutrient and chemical levels from agricultural runoff, the primary contributor to the Gulf of Mexico dead zone.

Transportation

The Mississippi has been very important for transportation in the history of the United States. In the 1800s, many steamboats traveled on the Mississippi River. St. Louis, Missouri, Memphis, Tennessee, and New Orleans were important port cities.

Tributaries

The Mississippi has many large tributaries, or rivers that flow into it. The watershed of the Mississippi covers much of the United States. This means that the Mississippi and its tributaries drain much of the United States.

Some important tributaries of the Mississippi are (listed from the source to the mouth of the river):

River
the Minnesota River
the St. Croix River
the Wisconsin River
the Illinois River
the Missouri River
the Ohio River
the Arkansas River

The Mississippi River in books

A big part of the book Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is set on the Mississippi River. Twain also wrote a book called Life on the Mississippi, which had some stories about how he used to work on a steamboat.

Images for kids

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Río Misisipi para niños

National Hispanic Heritage Month on Kiddle
Prominent Hispanic scientists
Severo Ochoa
Sarah Stewart
Mario J. Molina
Rodolfo Llinás
F. J. Duarte
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