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{{short description|Major river in the United States}}
{{pp-semi-indef}}
<!-- Short description changed from "largest" as the term in correctly applied to the drainage area of the river. -->
<!--NOTE: this disambiguation notice is needed because [[The Mississippi]] redirects here-->
{{for multi|the river in eastern Ontario|Mississippi River (Ontario)|other uses of "Mississippi"|Mississippi (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Infobox river
| name = Mississippi River
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| name_other =
| name_etymology = [[Ojibwe language|Ojibwe]] ''Misi-ziibi'', meaning "Great River"
| nickname = "Old Man River," "Father of Waters"<ref>James L. Shaffer and John T. Tigges. ''The Mississippi River: Father of Waters''. Chicago, Ill.: Arcadia Pub., 2000.</ref><ref>''The Upper Mississippi River Basin: A Portrait of the Father of Waters As Seen by the Upper Mississippi River Comprehensive Basin Study''. Chicago, Ill.: Army Corps of Engineers, North Central Division, 1972.</ref><ref>Heilbron, Bertha L. "Father of Waters: Four Centuries of the Mississippi". ''American Heritage'', vol. 2, no. 1 (Autumn 1950): 40–43.</ref>
| image = File:Efmo View from Fire Point.jpg
| image_caption = The Mississippi River in [[Iowa]]
| image_size =
| map = Mississippiriver-new-01.png
| map_size =
| map_caption = Mississippi River basin
| pushpin_map =
| pushpin_map_size =
| pushpin_map_caption =
| subdivision_type1 = Country
| subdivision_name1 = United States
| subdivision_type2 = State
| subdivision_name2 = [[Minnesota]], [[Wisconsin]], [[Iowa]], [[Illinois]], [[Missouri]], [[Kentucky]], [[Tennessee]], [[Arkansas]], [[Mississippi]], [[Louisiana]]
| subdivision_type3 =
| subdivision_name3 =
| subdivision_type4 =
| subdivision_name4 =
| subdivision_type5 = Cities
| subdivision_name5 = [[Saint Cloud, Minnesota|Saint Cloud, MN]], [[Minneapolis|Minneapolis, MN]], [[Saint Paul, Minnesota|St. Paul, MN]], [[La Crosse, Wisconsin|La Crosse, WI]], [[Quad Cities|Quad Cities, IA/IL]], [[St. Louis, Missouri|St. Louis, MO]], [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis, TN]], [[Greenville, Mississippi|Greenville, MS]], [[Vicksburg, Mississippi|Vicksburg, MS]], [[Baton Rouge, Louisiana|Baton Rouge, LA]], [[New Orleans|New Orleans, LA]]
| length = {{cvt|2340|mi|km|0}}
| width_min =
| width_avg =
| width_max =
| depth_min =
| depth_avg =
| depth_max =
| discharge1_location= None (Summative representation of catchment: View source); max and min at [[Baton Rouge, Louisiana|Baton Rouge, LA]]<ref name="USGSrivers">{{cite web |first=J.C. |last=Kammerer |url=http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1987/ofr87-242/ |title=Largest Rivers in the United States |publisher=U.S. Geological Survey |date=May 1990 |access-date=February 22, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630064901/https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1987/ofr87-242/ |archive-date=June 30, 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref>
| discharge1_min = {{cvt|159000|cuft/s|m3/s}}
| discharge1_avg = {{cvt|593000|cuft/s|m3/s}}<ref name="USGSrivers" />
| discharge1_max = {{cvt|3065000|cuft/s|m3/s}}
| discharge2_location=[[Vicksburg, Mississippi|Vicksburg]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/annual/?referred_module=sw&site_no=07289000&por_07289000_79165=1872479,00060,79165,2008,2021&start_dt=2008&end_dt=2021&year_type=W&format=html_table&date_format=YYYY-MM-DD&rdb_compression=file&submitted_form=parameter_selection_list |title=USGS 07289000 Mississippi River at Vicksburg, MS |publisher=[[United States Geological Survey]] |access-date=October 6, 2021 |archive-date=October 5, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005185701/https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/annual/?referred_module=sw&site_no=07289000&por_07289000_79165=1872479,00060,79165,2008,2021&start_dt=2008&end_dt=2021&year_type=W&format=html_table&date_format=YYYY-MM-DD&rdb_compression=file&submitted_form=parameter_selection_list |url-status=live }}</ref>
| discharge2_min = {{cvt|144000|cuft/s|m3/s}}
| discharge2_avg = {{cvt|768075|cuft/s|m3/s}} (2009–2020 water years)
| discharge2_max = {{cvt|2340000|cuft/s|m3/s}}
| discharge3_location= [[St. Louis]]<ref name="fn_2">Median of the 14,610 daily streamflows recorded by the [[United States Geological Survey|USGS]] for the period 1967–2006.</ref>
| discharge3_min =
| discharge3_avg = {{cvt|168000|cuft/s|m3/s}}<ref name="fn_2" />
| discharge3_max =
| source1 = [[Lake Itasca]] (traditional)<ref>The [[United States Geological Survey]] recognizes two contrasting definitions of a river's [[Source (river or stream)|source]].[http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1987/ofr87-242/ USGS.gov] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630064901/https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1987/ofr87-242/ |date=June 30, 2017 }} By the stricter definition, the Mississippi would share its source with its longest tributary, the Missouri, at [[Brower's Spring]] in Montana. The other definition acknowledges "somewhat arbitrary decisions" and places the Mississippi's source at Lake Itasca, which is publicly accepted as the source,[http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1987/ofr87-242/ USGS.gov] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070321022627/http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1987/ofr87-242/ |date=March 21, 2007 }} and which had been identified as such by [[Jacob V. Brower|Brower]] himself.[http://fwp.mt.gov/mtoutdoors/HTML/articles/2005/MissouriSource.htm MT.gov] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118010715/http://fwp.mt.gov/mtoutdoors/HTML/articles/2005/MissouriSource.htm |date=January 18, 2012 }} However, the river continues for several miles upstream from Lake Itasca to [[Nicolet Lake]] and its feeder stream.</ref>
| source1_location = [[Itasca State Park]], [[Clearwater County, Minnesota|Clearwater County]], [[Minnesota|MN]]
| source1_coordinates = {{Coord|47|14|23|N|95|12|27|W|display=inline}}
| source1_elevation = {{cvt|1475|ft}}
| mouth = [[Gulf of Mexico]]
| mouth_location = [[Pilottown, Louisiana|Pilottown]], [[Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana|Plaquemines Parish]], [[Louisiana|LA]]
| mouth_coordinates = {{Coord|29|09|04|N|89|15|12|W|type:waterbody|display=inline,title}}
| mouth_elevation = {{cvt|0|ft}}
| progression =
| river_system =
| basin_size = {{cvt|1151000|sqmi}}
| tributaries_left = [[St. Croix River (Wisconsin–Minnesota)|St. Croix River]], [[Wisconsin River]], [[Rock River (Mississippi River)|Rock River]], [[Illinois River]], [[Kaskaskia River]], [[Ohio River]], [[Yazoo River]], [[Big Black River (Mississippi)|Big Black River]]
| tributaries_right = [[Minnesota River]], [[Iowa River]], [[Des Moines River]], [[Missouri River]], [[St. Francis River]], [[White River (Arkansas–Missouri)|White River]], [[Arkansas River]], [[Red River of the South|Red River]]
| custom_label =
| custom_data =
}}
The '''Mississippi River'''{{efn|[[Ojibwe language|Ojibwe]]: Misi-ziibi,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hirschfelder |first=Arlene B. |title=The Extraordinary Book of Native American Lists |date=2012 |publisher=Scarecrow Press, Inc |others=Paulette Fairbanks Molin |isbn=978-0-8108-7710-8 |location=Lanham, MD |oclc=794706782 |page=260}}</ref> [[Dakota language|Dakota]]: Mníšošethąka,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://zia.aisri.indiana.edu/~dictsearch/cgi-bin/testengltoxsrchNP.pl?host=zia&pass=&hasfont=0&srchlang=English&srchstring=river&database=dakot&srchtype=OR&sortlang=English&sndformat=ra&maxhits=200&find=Run_Search |title=AISRI Dictionary Database Search |access-date=June 16, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510162121/http://zia.aisri.indiana.edu/~dictsearch/cgi-bin/testengltoxsrchNP.pl?host=zia&pass=&hasfont=0&srchlang=English&srchstring=river&database=dakot&srchtype=OR&sortlang=English&sndformat=ra&maxhits=200&find=Run_Search |archive-date=May 10, 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Miami-Illinois language|Myaamia]]: Mihsi-siipiiwi,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.myaamiadictionary.org/dictionary2015/search/search.php?search=mississippi%20river&stem=stem&inflected=inflected&sentences=sentences&command=command&language=both&website=t |title=Myaamia Dictionary Search |access-date=August 19, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160828021920/https://www.myaamiadictionary.org/dictionary2015/search/search.php?search=mississippi%20river&stem=stem&inflected=inflected&sentences=sentences&command=command&language=both&website=t |archive-date=August 28, 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Cheyenne language|Cheyenne]]: Ma'xeé'ometāā'e,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cdkc.edu/cheyennedictionary/index-english/index.htm |title=English – Cheyenne |access-date=August 19, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160911181328/http://cdkc.edu/cheyennedictionary/index-english/index.htm |archive-date=September 11, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Kiowa language|Kiowa]]: Xósáu,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ou.edu/kiowadictionary/index-english/main.htm |title=English – Kiowa |access-date=August 19, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160713083927/http://www.ou.edu/kiowadictionary/index-english/main.htm |archive-date=July 13, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Arapaho language|Arapaho]]: Beesniicie,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.colorado.edu/csilw/archives/Placenames0626.xml |title=XML File of Arapaho Place Names |access-date=June 16, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160919232303/http://www.colorado.edu/csilw/archives/Placenames0626.xml |archive-date=September 19, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Pawnee language|Pawnee]]: Kickaátit<ref>{{cite web |url=http://zia.aisri.indiana.edu/~dictsearch/cgi-bin/testengltoxsrchNP.pl?host=zia&pass=&hasfont=0&srchlang=English&srchstring=river&database=south&srchtype=AND&sortlang=English&sndformat=ra&maxhits=200&find=Run_Search |title=Southband Pawnee Dictionary |access-date=May 26, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117053713/http://zia.aisri.indiana.edu/~dictsearch/cgi-bin/testengltoxsrchNP.pl?host=zia&pass=&hasfont=0&srchlang=English&srchstring=river&database=south&srchtype=AND&sortlang=English&sndformat=ra&maxhits=200&find=Run_Search |archive-date=January 17, 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref>}} is the [[main stem|primary river]], and [[List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem)|second-longest river]], of the largest drainage basin in the [[United States]].{{efn|Arguably, the Mississippi basin is the second-largest [[Drainage system (geomorphology)|drainage system]] in [[North America]], second only to the [[Hudson Bay]] drainage system, although Hudson Bay may rather be considered an arm of the ocean.}}<ref>[[United States Geological Survey]] Hydrological Unit Code: 08-09-01-00- Lower Mississippi-New Orleans Watershed</ref><ref name=USGSlongest>{{cite web |title=Lengths of the major rivers |publisher=United States Geological Survey |access-date=March 14, 2009 |url=http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/riversofworld.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090305045437/http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/riversofworld.html |archive-date=March 5, 2009 |df=mdy-all}}</ref> From its traditional source of [[Lake Itasca]] in northern [[Minnesota]], it flows generally south for {{convert|2340|mi|km|0}}<ref name=USGSlongest /> to the [[Mississippi River Delta]] in the [[Gulf of Mexico]]. With its many [[Tributary|tributaries]], the Mississippi's [[Drainage basin|watershed]] drains all or parts of 32 [[U.S. state]]s and two [[Provinces and territories of Canada|Canadian provinces]] between the [[Rocky Mountains|Rocky]] and [[Appalachian Mountains|Appalachian]] mountains.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/miss/riverfacts.htm |title=Mississippi River Facts – Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (U.S. National Park Service) |website=www.nps.gov |language=en |access-date=November 16, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117213831/https://www.nps.gov/miss/riverfacts.htm |archive-date=November 17, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Mainstem (hydrology)|main stem]] is entirely within the United States; the total [[drainage basin]] is {{cvt|1151000|mi2|km2}}, of which only about one&nbsp;percent is in Canada. The Mississippi ranks as the [[List of rivers by discharge|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]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ducksters.com/geography/us_states/us_rivers.php |title=United States Geography: Rivers |website=www.ducksters.com |language=en |access-date=June 30, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190428015106/https://www.ducksters.com/geography/us_states/us_rivers.php |archive-date=April 28, 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/states-bordering-the-mississippi-river-1435742 |title=The 10 States That Border the Mississippi |work=ThoughtCo |access-date=June 30, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170907170552/https://www.thoughtco.com/states-bordering-the-mississippi-river-1435742 |archive-date=September 7, 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]] have lived along the Mississippi River and its tributaries for thousands of years. Most were [[hunter-gatherer]]s, 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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/places/united-states-and-canada/us-physical-geography/mississippi-river-us |title=Mississippi (river US) facts, information, pictures {{!}} Encyclopedia.com articles about Mississippi (river US) |website=www.encyclopedia.com |language=en |access-date=June 30, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170618035236/http://www.encyclopedia.com/places/united-states-and-canada/us-physical-geography/mississippi-river-us |archive-date=June 18, 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> 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 River|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 of the Mississippi|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 (American Civil War)|Union]] forces marked [[turning point of the American Civil War|a turning point towards victory]], due to the river's strategic importance to the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] war effort. Because of the substantial growth of cities and the larger ships and [[barge]]s that replaced steamboats, the first decades of the 20th century saw the construction of massive [[River engineering|engineering works]] such as [[levee]]s, [[Lock (water navigation)|locks]] and [[dam]]s, 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]].

==Name and significance==
The word Mississippi itself comes from {{lang|fr|Misi zipi}}, the French rendering of the [[Anishinaabe]] ([[Ojibwe language|Ojibwe]] or [[Algonquin language|Algonquin]]) name for the river, {{lang|alg|Misi-ziibi}} (Great River).<ref>{{Cite web |title=mississippi {{!}} Origin and meaning of the name mississippi by Online Etymology Dictionary |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/mississippi |access-date=2021-06-22 |website=www.etymonline.com |language=en |archive-date=April 18, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230418143238/https://www.etymonline.com/word/mississippi |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the 18th century, the river was set by the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]] as, for the most part, the western border of the new United States. With the [[Louisiana Purchase]] and the country's westward expansion, it became a convenient boundary line between the western and eastern halves of the country.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Jay–Gardoqui Negotiations (1785–1786) |encyclopedia=The Louisiana Purchase: A Historical and Geographical Encyclopedia |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, California |last=Rodriguez |first=Junius P. |editor-last=Rodriguez |editor-first=Junius P. |date=2003 |isbn=978-1-57607-188-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qs7GAwwdzyQC&pg=PA157 |via=Google Books |access-date=August 16, 2023 |archive-date=August 16, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230816203717/https://books.google.com/books?id=Qs7GAwwdzyQC&pg=PA157 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Mississippi River |encyclopedia=The American Midwest: An Interpretive Encyclopedia |publisher=Indiana University Press |last=Schroeder |first=Walter |editor1-last=Cayton |editor1-first=Andrew R. L. |editor2-last=Sisson |editor2-first=Richard |editor3-last=Zacher |editor3-first=Chris |publication-place=Bloomington, Indiana |publication-date=2006 |pages=164–165 |isbn=9780253003492 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n3Xn7jMx1RYC&pg=PA164 |via=Google Books |access-date=August 16, 2023 |archive-date=August 16, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230816203714/https://books.google.com/books?id=n3Xn7jMx1RYC&pg=PA164 |url-status=live }}</ref> This is reflected in the [[Gateway Arch]] in St. Louis, which was designed to symbolize the opening of the West,<ref>{{Cite news |date=2013-05-25 |title=Gateway Arch 'Biography' Reveals Complex History Of An American Icon |work=Weekend Edition Saturday |publisher=[[National Public Radio]]}}</ref> and the focus on the "[[Trans-Mississippi]]" region in the [[Trans-Mississippi Exposition]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Trans-Mississippi & International Exposition |url=https://omahalibrary.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16747coll1 |access-date=2023-08-16 |website=Omaha Public Library |archive-date=August 16, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230816203717/https://omahalibrary.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16747coll1 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Regional landmarks are often classified in relation to the river, such as "the [[Mount Mitchell|highest peak east of the Mississippi]]"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://traveltips.usatoday.com/10-tallest-mountains-east-mississippi-104158.html |access-date=March 1, 2015 |title=The 10 Tallest Mountains East of the Mississippi |author=Ethan Shaw |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150309093046/http://traveltips.usatoday.com/10-tallest-mountains-east-mississippi-104158.html |archive-date=March 9, 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> or "the oldest city west of the Mississippi".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://newmadridmuseum.com/city_history.html |access-date=March 1, 2015 |title=New Madrid – 220+ Years Old and Counting |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141102004728/http://newmadridmuseum.com/city_history.html |archive-date=November 2, 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The [[Federal Communications Commission|FCC]] also uses it as the dividing line for [[call sign|broadcast call-sign]]s, which begin with W to the east and K to the west, overlapping in [[media market]]s along the river.

==Divisions==
The Mississippi River can be divided into three sections: the [[Upper Mississippi]], the river from its headwaters to the confluence with the Missouri River; the Middle Mississippi, which is downriver from the Missouri to the Ohio River; and the [[Lower Mississippi]], which flows from the Ohio to the Gulf of Mexico.

===Upper Mississippi===
{{Main|Upper Mississippi River}}
[[File:Mississippi Headwaters at Lake Itasca.jpg|thumb|The source of the Mississippi River at [[Lake Itasca]]]]
[[File:First Bridge over the Mississippi River.jpg|alt=A log bridge over a very small river on an autumnal, cloudy day with flurries of snow|thumb|The first bridge (and only [[log bridge]]) over the Mississippi, about 25 feet south of its source at [[Lake Itasca]]]]
[[File:Saint Anthony Falls aerial.jpg|thumb|alt=St. Anthony Falls|Former head of navigation, St. Anthony Falls, Minneapolis, Minnesota]]
[[File:WyalusingStateParkWisconsinRiverIntoMississippiRiver.jpg|thumb|Confluence of the [[Wisconsin River|Wisconsin]] and Mississippi rivers, viewed from [[Wyalusing State Park]] in Wisconsin]]

The Upper Mississippi runs from its headwaters to its confluence with the Missouri River at St. Louis, Missouri. It is divided into two sections:
# The headwaters, {{convert|493|mi|km}} from the source to [[Saint Anthony Falls]] in [[Minneapolis|Minneapolis, Minnesota]]; and
# A navigable channel, formed by a series of man-made lakes between Minneapolis and St. Louis, Missouri, some {{convert|664|mi|km}}.
[[File:Barge on Mississippi.webm|thumb|center|Barge on [[Upper Mississippi River|Upper Mississippi]] North of [[Lock and Dam No. 8]]]]
The source of the Upper Mississippi branch is traditionally accepted as [[Lake Itasca]], {{convert|1475|ft|m}} above sea level in [[Itasca State Park]] in [[Clearwater County, Minnesota]]. The name ''Itasca'' was chosen to designate the "true head" of the Mississippi River as a combination of the last four letters of the Latin word for truth ({{lang|la|ver'''itas'''}}) and the first two letters of the Latin word for head ({{lang|la|'''ca'''put}}).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mnplaces.mnhs.org/upham/waterway.cfm?PlaceNameID=1481&BookCodeID=30&County=31&SendingPage=Results.cfm |title=Minnesota Place Names: A Geographical Encyclopedia |author-link=Warren Upham |last=Upham |first=Warren |publisher=[[Minnesota Historical Society]] |access-date=August 14, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110108092148/http://mnplaces.mnhs.org/upham/waterway.cfm?PlaceNameID=1481&BookCodeID=30&County=31&SendingPage=Results.cfm |archive-date=January 8, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> However, the lake is in turn fed by a number of smaller streams.

From its origin at Lake Itasca to [[St. Louis, Missouri]], the waterway's flow is moderated by 43 dams. Fourteen of these dams are located above [[Minneapolis]] in the [[headwater]]s region and serve multiple purposes, including power generation and recreation. The remaining 29 dams, beginning in downtown Minneapolis, all contain locks and were constructed to improve commercial navigation of the upper river. Taken as a whole, these 43 dams significantly shape the geography and influence the ecology of the upper river. Beginning just below [[Saint Paul, Minnesota]], and continuing throughout the upper and lower river, the Mississippi is further controlled by thousands of [[Wing Dike|wing dike]]s that moderate the river's flow in order to maintain an open navigation channel and prevent the river from eroding its banks.

The [[head of navigation]] on the Mississippi is the St. Anthony Falls Lock.<ref name=":0" /> Before the Coon Rapids Dam in [[Coon Rapids, Minnesota]], was built in 1913, steamboats could occasionally go upstream as far as [[Saint Cloud, Minnesota]], depending on river conditions.

The uppermost lock and dam on the Upper Mississippi River is the Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam in Minneapolis. Above the dam, the river's elevation is {{convert|799|ft|m}}. Below the dam, the river's elevation is {{convert|750|ft|m}}. This {{convert|49|ft|m|adj=mid}} drop is the largest of all the Mississippi River locks and dams. The origin of the dramatic drop is a waterfall preserved adjacent to the lock under an apron of concrete. [[Saint Anthony Falls]] is the only true waterfall on the entire Mississippi River. The water elevation continues to drop steeply as it passes through the [[Mississippi Gorge Regional Park|gorge]] carved by the waterfall.

After the completion of the St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam in 1963, the river's head of navigation moved upstream, to the [[Coon Rapids Dam]]. However, the Locks were closed in 2015 to control the spread of invasive [[Asian carp in North America|Asian carp]], making Minneapolis once again the site of the head of navigation of the river.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |url=http://www.mvp.usace.army.mil/Home/Projects/tabid/18156/Article/571138/upper-st-anthony-falls-lock-closure.aspx |publisher=US Army Corps of Engineers |title=Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock Closure |year=2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150610065909/http://www.mvp.usace.army.mil/Home/Projects/tabid/18156/Article/571138/upper-st-anthony-falls-lock-closure.aspx |archive-date=June 10, 2015}}</ref>

The Upper Mississippi has a number of natural and artificial lakes, with its widest point being [[Lake Winnibigoshish]], near [[Grand Rapids, Minnesota]], over {{convert|11|mi|km}} across. [[Lake Onalaska]], created by [[Lock and Dam No. 7]], near [[La Crosse, Wisconsin]], is more than {{convert|4|mi|km}} wide. [[Lake Pepin]], a natural lake formed behind the delta of the [[Chippewa River (Wisconsin)|Chippewa River]] of Wisconsin as it enters the Upper Mississippi, is more than {{convert|2|mi|km}} wide.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/miss/riverfacts.htm |title=Mississippi River Facts |publisher=Nps.gov |access-date=November 6, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090106103328/http://www.nps.gov/miss/riverfacts.htm |archive-date=January 6, 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref>

By the time the Upper Mississippi reaches [[Saint Paul, Minnesota|Saint Paul]], Minnesota, below Lock and Dam No. 1, it has dropped more than half its original elevation and is {{convert|687|ft|m}} above sea level. From St. Paul to St. Louis, Missouri, the river elevation falls much more slowly and is controlled and managed as a series of pools created by 26 locks and dams.<ref>2001 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Upper Mississippi River Navigation Chart</ref>

The Upper Mississippi River is joined by the [[Minnesota River]] at [[Fort Snelling]] in the [[Minneapolis–Saint Paul|Twin Cities]]; the [[St. Croix River (Wisconsin-Minnesota)|St. Croix River]] near [[Prescott, Wisconsin]]; the [[Cannon River (Minnesota)|Cannon River]] near [[Red Wing, Minnesota]]; the [[Zumbro River]] at [[Wabasha, Minnesota]]; the [[Black River (Wisconsin)|Black]], [[La Crosse River|La Crosse]], and [[Root River (Minnesota)|Root]] rivers in [[La Crosse, Wisconsin]]; the [[Wisconsin River]] at [[Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin]]; the [[Rock River (Mississippi River)|Rock River]] at the [[Quad Cities]]; the [[Iowa River]] near [[Wapello, Iowa]]; the [[Skunk River]] south of [[Burlington, Iowa]]; and the [[Des Moines River]] at [[Keokuk, Iowa]]. Other major tributaries of the Upper Mississippi include the [[Crow River (Minnesota)|Crow River]] in Minnesota, the [[Chippewa River (Wisconsin)|Chippewa River]] in Wisconsin, the [[Maquoketa River]] and the [[Wapsipinicon River]] in Iowa, and the [[Illinois River]] in Illinois.

[[File:Dubois n Mississippi River P7280468 Missouri n Mississippi River.JPG|thumb|The Upper Mississippi River at its confluence with the Missouri River north of St. Louis]]

The Upper Mississippi is largely a multi-thread stream with many [[bar (river morphology)|bars]] and islands. From its confluence with the St. Croix River downstream to [[Dubuque, Iowa]], the river is entrenched, with high bedrock bluffs lying on either side. The height of these bluffs decreases to the south of Dubuque, though they are still significant through [[Savanna, Illinois]]. This topography contrasts strongly with the Lower Mississippi, which is a meandering river in a broad, flat area, only rarely flowing alongside a bluff (as at [[Vicksburg, Mississippi]]).
[[File:CairoIL from space annotated.jpg|thumb|The [[confluence]] of the Mississippi (left) and Ohio (right) rivers at [[Cairo, Illinois|Cairo]], Illinois, the demarcation between the Middle and the Lower Mississippi River]]

===Middle Mississippi===
The Mississippi River is known as the Middle Mississippi from the Upper Mississippi River's confluence with the [[Missouri River]] at [[St. Louis, Missouri]], for {{convert|190|mi|km}} to its confluence with the [[Ohio River]] at [[Cairo, Illinois]].<ref name="Corps Middle Mississippi">{{cite book |title=Middle Mississippi River Regional Corridor: Collaborative Planning Study (July 2007 update) |year=2007 |publisher=U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis District |location=St. Louis, MO |page=28}}</ref><ref name=MMRP>{{cite web |title=MMRP: Middle Mississippi River Partnership |url=http://www.swircd.org/mmrp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090328005434/http://www.swircd.org/mmrp |archive-date=March 28, 2009 |publisher=Middle Mississippi River Partnership |access-date=May 25, 2011}}</ref>

The Middle Mississippi is relatively free-flowing. From St. Louis to the Ohio River confluence, the Middle Mississippi falls {{convert|220|ft}} over {{convert|180|mi|km}} for an average rate of {{convert|1.2|ft/mi}}. At its confluence with the Ohio River, the Middle Mississippi is {{convert|315|ft}} above sea level. Apart from the Missouri and [[Meramec River|Meramec]] rivers of Missouri and the [[Kaskaskia River]] of Illinois, no major tributaries enter the Middle Mississippi River.

===Lower Mississippi===
{{Main|Lower Mississippi River}}
[[File:Mississipi River - New Orleans.JPG|thumb|Lower Mississippi River at Algiers Point in New Orleans]]
The Mississippi River is called the Lower Mississippi River from its confluence with the Ohio River to its mouth at the Gulf of Mexico, a distance of about {{convert|1000|mi|km}}. At the confluence of the Ohio and the Middle Mississippi, the long-term mean discharge of the Ohio at Cairo, Illinois is {{convert|281500|cuft/s|m3/s|abbr=off|sp=us}},<ref>Frits van der Leeden, Fred L. Troise, David Keith Todd: ''The Water Encyclopedia'', 2nd edition, p. 126, Chelsea, Mich. (Lewis Publishers), 1990, {{ISBN|0-87371-120-3}}</ref> while the long-term mean discharge of the Mississippi at Thebes, Illinois (just upriver from Cairo) is {{cvt|208200|cuft/s|m3/s}}.<ref>USGS stream gage [http://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?07022000 07022000 Mississippi River at Thebes, IL] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111105035721/http://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?07022000 |date=November 5, 2011 }}</ref> Thus, by volume, the main branch of the [[Mississippi River system]] at Cairo can be considered to be the Ohio River (and the [[Allegheny River]] further upstream), rather than the Middle Mississippi.

In addition to the [[Ohio River]], the major tributaries of the Lower Mississippi River are the [[White River (Arkansas)|White River]], flowing in at the [[White River National Wildlife Refuge]] in east-central Arkansas; the [[Arkansas River]], joining the Mississippi at [[Arkansas Post National Memorial|Arkansas Post]]; the [[Big Black River (Mississippi)|Big Black River]] in Mississippi; and the [[Yazoo River]], meeting the Mississippi at [[Vicksburg, Mississippi]].

Deliberate water diversion at the [[Old River Control Structure]] in [[Louisiana]] allows the [[Atchafalaya River]] in Louisiana to be a major [[distributary]] of the Mississippi River, with 30% of the combined flow of the Mississippi and Red Rivers flowing to the Gulf of Mexico by this route, rather than continuing down the Mississippi's current channel past [[Baton Rouge]] and [[New Orleans]] on a longer route to the Gulf.<ref name="NewYorker1987">{{cite magazine |last=McPhee |first=John |title=The Control of Nature: Atchafalaya |magazine=The New Yorker |date=February 23, 1987 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1987/02/23/1987_02_23_039_TNY_CARDS_000347146 |access-date=May 12, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513171926/http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1987/02/23/1987_02_23_039_TNY_CARDS_000347146 |archive-date=May 13, 2011 |url-status=live}} Republished in {{cite book |author=McPhee, John |title=The Control of Nature |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |year=1989 |isbn=0-374-12890-1 |page=272}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Old River Control |work=The Mighty Mississippi River |author=Angert, Joe and Isaac |url=http://users.stlcc.edu/jangert/oldriver/oldriver.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090515010700/http://users.stlcc.edu/jangert/oldriver/oldriver.html |archive-date=May 15, 2009 |access-date=May 12, 2011}} Includes map and pictures.</ref><ref name="kemp">{{cite web |url=http://www.tulane.edu/~bfleury/envirobio/enviroweb/FloodControl.htm |title=The Mississippi Levee System and the Old River Control Structure |first=Katherine |last=Kemp |date=January 6, 2000 |access-date=May 25, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513162258/http://www.tulane.edu/~bfleury/envirobio/enviroweb/FloodControl.htm |archive-date=May 13, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=USACE Brochure: Old River Control, Jan 2009 |url=https://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/Portals/56/docs/PAO/Brochures/OldRiverControlBrochure.pdf |publisher=US Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District |access-date=April 26, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190516032359/https://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/Portals/56/docs/PAO/Brochures/OldRiverControlBrochure.pdf |archive-date=May 16, 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Although the [[Red River of the South|Red River]] was once an additional tributary, its water now flows separately into the Gulf of Mexico through the Atchafalaya River.<ref>{{cite web |title=Louisiana Old River Control Structure and Mississippi river flood protection |url=http://www.americaswetlandresources.com/background_facts/detailedstory/LouisianaRiverControl.html |work=America's Wetland Resource Center |publisher=Loyola University's Center for Environmental Communication |access-date=June 24, 2011 |archive-date=March 10, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310124727/http://www.americaswetlandresources.com/background_facts/detailedstory/LouisianaRiverControl.html |url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Watershed==
[[File:Mississippi River Watershed Map North America.png|thumb|Map of the Mississippi River watershed]]
[[File:The Rivers of the Mississippi Watershed.webm|thumb|left|An animation of the flows along the rivers of the Mississippi watershed]]
{{See also|List of drainage basins by area}}

The Mississippi River has the world's fourth-largest [[drainage basin]] ("watershed" or "catchment"). The basin covers more than {{convert|1245000|sqmi|abbr=out}}, including all or parts of 32 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. The drainage basin empties into the [[Gulf of Mexico]], part of the Atlantic Ocean. The total catchment of the Mississippi River covers nearly 40% of the landmass of the continental United States. The highest point within the watershed is also the highest point of the [[Rocky Mountains]], [[Mount Elbert]] at {{convert|14440|ft}}.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mount Elbert, Colorado |url=http://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=5736 |publisher=Peakbagger |access-date=May 21, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140410210818/http://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=5736 |archive-date=April 10, 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:MississippiRiver GulfMex MODIS 2004jul-aug.jpg|thumb|Sequence of NASA [[Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer|MODIS]] images showing the outflow of fresh water from the Mississippi (arrows) into the Gulf of Mexico (2004)]]

In the United States, the Mississippi River drains the majority of the area between the crest of the [[Rocky Mountains]] and the crest of the [[Appalachian Mountains]], except for various regions drained to [[Hudson Bay]] by the [[Red River of the North]]; to the Atlantic Ocean by the [[Great Lakes]] and the [[Saint Lawrence River]]; and to the Gulf of Mexico by the [[Rio Grande]], the [[Alabama River|Alabama]] and [[Tombigbee River|Tombigbee]] rivers, the [[Chattahoochee River|Chattahoochee]] and [[Apalachicola River|Appalachicola]] rivers, and various smaller coastal waterways along the Gulf.

The Mississippi River empties into the Gulf of Mexico about {{convert|100|mi|km}} downstream from New Orleans. Measurements of the length of the Mississippi from Lake Itasca to the Gulf of Mexico vary somewhat, but the [[United States Geological Survey]]'s number is {{convert|2340|mi|km|0}}. The retention time from Lake Itasca to the Gulf is typically about 90 days;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/miss/features/factoids/ |title=General Information about the Mississippi River |publisher=National Park Service |work=Mississippi National River and Recreation Area |year=2004 |access-date=July 15, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060613194952/http://www.nps.gov/miss/features/factoids/ |archive-date=June 13, 2006}}</ref> while speed varies along the course of the river, this gives an overall average of around {{cvt|26|mi|km}} per day, or {{cvt|1|mi|km}} per hour.

The [[stream gradient]] of the entire river is 0.01%, a drop of 450 m over 3,766&nbsp;km.{{cn|date=September 2023}}

==Outflow==
The Mississippi River discharges at an annual average rate of between {{convert|200|and|700|e3cuft/s|m3/s|abbr=out|sigfig=1}}.<ref name="mississippirivercfs">{{cite web |url=http://www.americaswetlandresources.com/background_facts/detailedstory/MississippiRiverAnatomy.html |title=Americas Wetland: Resource Center |publisher=Americaswetlandresources.com |date=November 4, 1939 |access-date=November 6, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130426091139/http://www.americaswetlandresources.com/background_facts/detailedstory/MississippiRiverAnatomy.html |archive-date=April 26, 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The Mississippi is the fourteenth largest river in the world by volume. On average, the Mississippi has 8% the flow of the [[Amazon River]],<ref>{{cite journal |title=Hydrologie du bassin de l'Amazone |journal=Grands Bassins Fluviaux, Paris |date=November 22–24, 1993 |url=http://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/pleins_textes_6/colloques2/42687.pdf |language=fr |access-date=January 11, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161007151725/http://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/pleins_textes_6/colloques2/42687.pdf |archive-date=October 7, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>
which moves nearly {{convert|7|e6cuft/s|m3/s|abbr=out}} during wet seasons.

Before 1900, the Mississippi River transported an estimated {{convert|400|e6MT|e6ST|abbr=off|order=flip}} of [[sediment]] per year from the interior of the United States to coastal Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico. During the last two decades, this number was only {{convert|145|e6MT|e6ST|abbr=off|order=flip}} per year. The reduction in [[sediment transport]]ed down the Mississippi River is the result of engineering modification of the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio rivers and their tributaries by dams, [[meander cutoff]]s, river-training structures, and bank revetments and soil [[erosion]] control programs in the areas drained by them.<ref name="MeadelOthers1984">Meade, R. H., and J. A. Moody, 1984, ''Causes for the decline of suspended-sediment discharge in the Mississippi River system, 1940–2007'' Hydrology Processes vol. 24, pp. 35–49.</ref>

===Mixing with salt water===
Denser salt water from the Gulf of Mexico forms a [[salt wedge]] along the river bottom near the mouth of the river, while fresh water flows near the surface. In drought years, with less fresh water to push it out, salt water can travel many miles upstream—{{convert|64|mi}} in 2022—contaminating drinking water supplies and requiring the use of [[desalination]]. The [[United States Army Corps of Engineers]] constructed "saltwater sills" or "underwater levees" to contain this in 1988, 1999, 2012, and 2022. This consists of a large mound of sand spanning the width of the river 55 feet below the surface, allowing fresh water and large cargo ships to pass over.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/10/27/1131452623/saltwater-mississippi-river-drought-gulf-of-mexico |title=Saltwater is moving up the Mississippi River. Here's what's being done to stop it |website=[[NPR]] |access-date=November 4, 2022 |archive-date=November 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221104230412/https://www.npr.org/2022/10/27/1131452623/saltwater-mississippi-river-drought-gulf-of-mexico |url-status=live }}</ref>

Fresh river water flowing from the Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico does not mix into the salt water immediately. The images from [[NASA]]'s [[Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer|MODIS]] show a large plume of fresh water, which appears as a dark ribbon against the lighter-blue surrounding waters. These images demonstrate that the plume did not mix with the surrounding sea water immediately. Instead, it stayed intact as it flowed through the Gulf of Mexico, into the [[Straits of Florida]], and entered the [[Gulf Stream]]. The Mississippi River water rounded the tip of Florida and traveled up the southeast coast to the latitude of [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] before finally mixing in so thoroughly with the ocean that it could no longer be detected by MODIS.

==Course changes==
Over geologic time, the Mississippi River has experienced numerous large and small changes to its main course, as well as additions, deletions, and other changes among its numerous tributaries, and the lower Mississippi River has used different pathways as its main channel to the Gulf of Mexico across the delta region.

As Pangaea began to break up about 95 million years ago, North America passed over a volcanic "[[hotspot (geology)|hotspot]]" in the Earth's [[Mantle (geology)|mantle]] (specifically, the [[Bermuda hotspot]]) that was undergoing a period of intense activity. The upwelling of [[magma]] from the hotspot forced the further uplift to a height of perhaps 2–3&nbsp;km of part of the [[Ouachita_Mountains|Appalachian-Ouachita]] range, forming an [[anticline|arch]] that blocked southbound water flows. The uplifted land quickly eroded and, as North America moved away from the hot spot and as the hotspot's activity declined, the crust beneath the embayment region cooled, contracted and subsided to a depth of 2.6&nbsp;km, and around 80 million years ago the [[Reelfoot Rift]] formed a [[trough (geology)|trough]] that was flooded by the [[Gulf of Mexico]]. As sea levels dropped, the Mississippi and other rivers extended their courses into the [[Mississippi_embayment|embayment]], which gradually became filled with sediment with the Mississippi River at its center.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-mississippis-curious/ |title=The Mississippi's Curious Origins |last1=Van Arsdale |first1=Roy B. |last2=Cox |first2=Randel T. |date=January 2007 |website=[[Scientific American]] |language=en |access-date=September 1, 2019 |archive-date=October 16, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016205927/http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=9346CA8F-E7F2-99DF-32CD319973C0B8BC&ref=sciam&chanID=sa006 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0195667117305414 |title=A Maastrichtian birth of the Ancestral Mississippi River system: Evidence from the U-Pb detrital zircon geochronology of the McNairy Sandstone, Illinois, USA |last1=Potter-McIntyre |first1=Sally L. |last2=Breeden |first2=Jeremy R. |last3=Malone |first3=David H. |journal=[[Cretaceous Research]] |language=en |date=November 2018 |volume=91 |pages=71–79 |doi=10.1016/j.cretres.2018.05.010 |bibcode=2018CrRes..91...71P |s2cid=134158930 |access-date=April 18, 2023 |archive-date=April 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230422094143/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0195667117305414 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Through a natural process known as [[Avulsion (river)|avulsion]] or delta switching, the lower Mississippi River has shifted its final course to the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico every thousand years or so. This occurs because the deposits of silt and sediment begin to clog its channel, raising the river's level and causing it to eventually find a steeper, more direct route to the Gulf of Mexico. The abandoned distributaries diminish in volume and form what are known as [[bayou]]s. This process has, over the past 5,000 years, caused the coastline of south Louisiana to advance toward the Gulf from {{convert|15|to|50|mi|km}}. The currently active [[River delta#Formation|delta lobe]] is called the Birdfoot Delta, after its shape, or the [[Balize Delta]], after [[La Balize, Louisiana]], the first French settlement at the mouth of the Mississippi.

===Prehistoric courses===
The current form of the Mississippi River basin was largely shaped by the [[Laurentide Ice Sheet]] of the [[Last glacial period|most recent]] [[Ice age|Ice Age]]. The southernmost extent of this enormous glaciation extended well into the present-day United States and Mississippi basin. When the ice sheet began to recede, hundreds of feet of rich sediment were deposited, creating the flat and fertile landscape of the Mississippi Valley. During the melt, giant glacial rivers found drainage paths into the Mississippi watershed, creating such features as the [[Minnesota River]], [[James River (Dakotas)|James River]], and [[Milk River (Alberta–Montana)|Milk River]] valleys. When the ice sheet completely retreated, many of these "temporary" rivers found paths to [[Hudson Bay]] or the Arctic Ocean, leaving the Mississippi Basin with many features "over-sized" for the existing rivers to have carved in the same time period.

Ice sheets during the [[Illinoian (stage)|Illinoian Stage]], about 300,000 to 132,000 years before present, blocked the Mississippi near Rock Island, Illinois, diverting it to its present channel farther to the west, the current western border of Illinois. The [[Hennepin Canal Parkway State Park|Hennepin Canal]] roughly follows the ancient channel of the Mississippi downstream from Rock Island to [[Hennepin, Illinois]]. South of Hennepin, to [[Alton, Illinois]], the current [[Illinois River]] follows the ancient channel used by the Mississippi River before the Illinoian Stage.<ref name="McKay2007">McKay, E.D., 2007, [http://ilrdss.sws.uiuc.edu/pubs/govconf2007/session2a/DonMcKay.pdf ''Six Rivers, Five Glaciers, and an Outburst Flood: the Considerable Legacy of the Illinois River.''] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019161927/http://ilrdss.sws.uiuc.edu/pubs/govconf2007/session2a/DonMcKay.pdf |date=October 19, 2013 }} (PDF) Proceedings of the 2007 Governor's Conference on the Management of the Illinois River System: Our continuing Commitment, 11th Biennial Conference, Oct. 2–4, 2007, 11 p.</ref><ref name="McKayOther2008">McKay, E.D., and R.C. Berg, 2008, [http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2008NC/finalprogram/abstract_137641.htm ''Optical ages spanning two glacial-interglacial cycles from deposits of the ancient Mississippi River, north-central Illinois.''] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014092427/https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2008NC/finalprogram/abstract_137641.htm |date=October 14, 2012 }} Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 40, No. 5, p. 78 with [http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/viewHandout.cgi?uploadid=295 Powerpoint presentation] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019204854/https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/viewHandout.cgi?uploadid=295 |date=October 19, 2013 }}</ref>

[[File:Reverie TN 08 former MS river S.jpg|thumb|View along the former riverbed at the [[Tennessee]]/[[Arkansas]] state line near [[Reverie, Tennessee]] (2007)]]

Timeline of outflow course changes<ref>[http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1987/02/23/atchafalaya?currentPage=all The New Yorker: Atchalafaya] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402150918/http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1987/02/23/atchafalaya?currentPage=all |date=April 2, 2015 }}, [[:File:Geomorphology of Old River.jpg]], {{cite web |url=http://www.caddohistory.com/great_raft.html |title=Historical |access-date=October 12, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828180824/http://www.caddohistory.com/great_raft.html |archive-date=August 28, 2008}}</ref>
* c. 5000 BC: The [[Last Glacial Period|last ice age]] ended; world sea level became what it is now.
* c. 2500 BC: [[Bayou Teche]] became the main course of the Mississippi.
* c. 800 BC: The Mississippi diverted further east.
* c. 200 AD: [[Bayou Lafourche]] became the main course of the Mississippi.
* c. 1000 AD: The Mississippi's present course took over.
* Before c. 1400 AD: The [[Red River of the South]] flowed parallel to the lower Mississippi to the sea
* 15th century: [[Turnbull's Bend]] in the lower Mississippi extended so far west that it captured the Red River of the South. The Red River below the captured section became the [[Atchafalaya River]].
* 1831: [[Captain Henry M. Shreve]] dug a new short course for the Mississippi through the neck of Turnbull's Bend.
* 1833 to November 1873: The [[Great Raft]] (a huge [[logjam]] in the Atchafalaya River) was cleared. The Atchafalaya started to capture the Mississippi and to become its new main lower course.
* 1963: The [[Old River Control Structure]] was completed, controlling how much Mississippi water entered the Atchafalaya.

===Historic course changes===
In March 1876, the Mississippi suddenly changed course near the settlement of [[Reverie, Tennessee]], leaving a small part of [[Tipton County, Tennessee]], attached to [[Arkansas]] and separated from the rest of [[Tennessee]] by the new river channel. Since this event was an [[Avulsion (river)|avulsion]], rather than the effect of incremental erosion and deposition, the state line still follows the old channel.<ref name="Arkansas v. Tennessee, 246 U.S. 158">{{cite web |url=http://supreme.justia.com/us/246/158/case.html |title=Arkansas v. Tennessee, 246 U.S. 158 :: Volume 246 :: 1918 |publisher=Supreme.justia.com |access-date=March 12, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130302052148/http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/246/158/case.html |archive-date=March 2, 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The town of [[Kaskaskia, Illinois]] once stood on a peninsula at the confluence of the Mississippi and [[Kaskaskia River|Kaskaskia (Okaw) Rivers]]. Founded as a French colonial community, it later became the capital of the Illinois Territory and was the first state capital of Illinois until 1819. Beginning in 1844, successive flooding caused the Mississippi River to slowly encroach east. A major flood in 1881 caused it to overtake the lower {{convert|10|mile}} of the Kaskaskia River, forming a new Mississippi channel and cutting off the town from the rest of the state. Later flooding destroyed most of the remaining town, including the original State House. Today, the remaining {{convert|2,300|acre}} island and community of 14 residents is known as an enclave of Illinois and is accessible only from the Missouri side.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Knopp |first1=Lisa |title=What the River carries: Encounters with the Mississippi, Missouri, and Platte |date=2012 |publisher=University of Missouri Press |location=Columbia, Missouri |isbn=978-0-8262-1974-9 |page=74}}</ref>

===New Madrid Seismic Zone===
The [[New Madrid Seismic Zone]], along the Mississippi River near [[New Madrid, Missouri]], between Memphis and St. Louis, is related to an [[aulacogen]] (failed rift) that formed at the same time as the Gulf of Mexico. This area is still quite active seismically. [[1812 New Madrid earthquake|Four great earthquakes in 1811 and 1812]], estimated at 8 on the [[Richter magnitude scale]], had tremendous local effects in the then sparsely settled area, and were felt in many other places in the Midwestern and eastern U.S. These earthquakes created [[Reelfoot Lake]] in Tennessee from the altered landscape near the river.

== Length ==
When measured from its traditional source at [[Lake Itasca]], the Mississippi has a length of {{convert|2340|mi|km|0}}. When measured from its longest stream source (most distant source from the sea), [[Brower's Spring]] in [[Montana]], the source of the [[Missouri River]], it has a length of {{convert|3710|mi|km|0}}, making it the fourth longest river in the world after the [[Nile]], [[Amazon River|Amazon]], and [[Yangtze]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zKwx0VBB68IC&q=mississippi+missouri+river+3710+miles&pg=PA4 |title=Settlements of the Mississippi River |first=Rob |last=Bowden |date=January 27, 2005 |publisher=Heinemann-Raintree Library |via=Google Books |access-date=January 1, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181120015935/https://books.google.com/books?id=zKwx0VBB68IC&pg=PA4&lpg=PA4&dq=mississippi+missouri+river+3710+miles&source=bl&ots=wPaH9BCeO3&sig=6L5kxtiX07EMsfp1xgSxBmeHGuw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiV3dGKj7PYAhVBmeAKHbaFAbk4ChDoAQg1MAQ#v=onepage&q=mississippi+missouri+river+3710+miles&f=false |archive-date=November 20, 2018 |url-status=live |isbn=9781403457196}}</ref> When measured by the largest stream source (by water volume), the [[Ohio River]], by extension the [[Allegheny River]], would be the source, and the Mississippi would begin in [[Pennsylvania]].<ref>''Mississippi River Water Quality and the Clean Water Act: Progress, Challenges, and Opportunities''. National Academies Press, 2008, ISBN 9780309177818, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=CaNbmH0sH_QC&pg=PT38 27–29] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230418143238/https://books.google.com/books?id=CaNbmH0sH_QC&pg=PT38 |date=April 18, 2023 }}</ref>

== Depth ==
At its source at [[Lake Itasca]], the Mississippi River is about {{convert|3|feet}} deep. The average depth of the Mississippi River between Saint Paul and Saint Louis is between {{convert|9|and(-)|12|ft}} deep, the deepest part being [[Lake Pepin]], which averages {{convert|20|–|32|ft|0}} deep and has a maximum depth of {{convert|60|ft}}. Between where the Missouri River joins the Mississippi at Saint Louis, Missouri, and Cairo, Illinois, the depth averages {{convert|30|ft|0}}. Below Cairo, where the Ohio River joins, the depth averages {{convert|50|–|100|ft}} deep. The deepest part of the river is in New Orleans, where it reaches {{convert|200|ft}} deep.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://mississippivalleytraveler.com/mississippi-river-geology/ |title=Geology of the Mississippi River |access-date=December 30, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181230081157/https://mississippivalleytraveler.com/mississippi-river-geology/ |archive-date=December 30, 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/areas/fisheries/lakecity/pepin.html |title=Lake Pepin |access-date=December 30, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181230081300/https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/areas/fisheries/lakecity/pepin.html |archive-date=December 30, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Cultural geography==
===State boundaries===
The Mississippi River runs through or along 10 states, from [[Minnesota]] to [[Louisiana]], and is used to define portions of these states borders, with [[Wisconsin]], [[Illinois]], [[Kentucky]], [[Tennessee]], and [[Mississippi]] along the east side of the river, and [[Iowa]], [[Missouri]], and [[Arkansas]] along its west side. Substantial parts of both Minnesota and Louisiana are on either side of the river, although the Mississippi defines part of the boundary of each of these states.

In all of these cases, the middle of the riverbed at the time the borders were established was used as the line to define the borders between adjacent states.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=2546 |title=encyclopediaofarkansas.net |publisher=encyclopediaofarkansas.net |date=April 28, 2010 |access-date=November 6, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101102215918/http://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=2546 |archive-date=November 2, 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20011110141308/http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/diplomacy/spain/sp1795.htm Yale.edu] "''[[Pinckney's Treaty|Treaty of Friendship, Limits, and Navigation]]''", Avalon project at the [[Yale Law School]]</ref> In various areas, the river has since shifted, but the state borders have not changed, still following the former bed of the Mississippi River as of their establishment, leaving several small isolated areas of one state across the new river channel, contiguous with the adjacent state. Also, due to a meander in the river, a [[Kentucky Bend|small part of western Kentucky]] is contiguous with Tennessee but isolated from the rest of its state.
{{wide image|Lake Pepin Panorama.jpg|800px|[[Lake Pepin]], the widest naturally occurring part of the Mississippi, is part of the [[Minnesota]]–[[Wisconsin]] border.}}
{{wide image|Mississippi_River_Panoramic.jpg|800px|The Mississippi River in downtown [[Baton Rouge]]}}

===Communities along the river===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Metro Area
! Population
|-
| [[Minneapolis–Saint Paul]]
| 3,946,533
|-
| [[Greater St. Louis|St. Louis]]
| 2,916,447
|-
| [[Memphis metropolitan area|Memphis]]
| 1,316,100
|-
| [[New Orleans metropolitan area|New Orleans]]
|1,214,932
|-
| [[Baton Rouge metropolitan area|Baton Rouge]]
| 802,484
|-
| [[Quad Cities|Quad Cities, IA-IL]]
| 387,630
|-
| [[St. Cloud metropolitan area|St. Cloud, MN]]
| 189,148
|-
| [[La Crosse Metropolitan Area|La Crosse, WI]]
| 133,365
|-
| [[Cape Girardeau – Jackson metropolitan area|Cape Girardeau–Jackson MO-IL]]
| 96,275
|-
| [[Dubuque County, Iowa|Dubuque, IA]]
| 93,653
|}
[[File:Missrivermpls.jpg|thumb|In Minnesota, the Mississippi River runs through the [[Minneapolis – Saint Paul|Twin Cities]] (2007)]]
[[File:WinonaMNboathouses2006-05-09.JPG|thumb|Community of boathouses on the Mississippi River in [[Winona, Minnesota|Winona, MN]] (2006)]]
[[File:Miss R dam 27.jpg|thumb|The Mississippi River at the Chain of Rocks just north of St. Louis (2005)]]
[[File:Dam -27.JPG|thumb|upright|A low-water dam deepens the pool above the [[Chain of Rocks Lock]] near St. Louis (2006)]]

Many of the communities along the Mississippi River are listed below; most have either historic significance or cultural lore connecting them to the river. They are sequenced from the source of the river to its end.

{{colbegin|colwidth=18em}}
* [[Bemidji, Minnesota]]
* [[Grand Rapids, Minnesota]]
* [[Jacobson, Minnesota]]
* [[Palisade, Minnesota]]
* [[Aitkin, Minnesota]]
* [[Riverton, Minnesota]]
* [[Brainerd, Minnesota]]
* [[Fort Ripley, Minnesota]]
* [[Little Falls, Minnesota]]
* [[Sartell, Minnesota]]
* [[St. Cloud, Minnesota]]
* [[Monticello, Minnesota]]
* [[Anoka, Minnesota]]
* [[Coon Rapids, Minnesota]]
* [[Brooklyn Park, Minnesota]]
* [[Brooklyn Center, Minnesota]]
* [[Minneapolis|Minneapolis, Minnesota]]
* [[Saint Paul, Minnesota]]
* [[Nininger, Minnesota]]
* [[Hastings, Minnesota]]
* [[Prescott, Wisconsin]]
* [[Prairie Island Indian Community|Prairie Island, Minnesota]]
* [[Diamond Bluff, Wisconsin]]
* [[Red Wing, Minnesota]]
* [[Hager City, Wisconsin]]
* [[Maiden Rock, Wisconsin]]
* [[Stockholm, Wisconsin]]
* [[Lake City, Minnesota]]
* [[Maple Springs, Minnesota]]
* [[Camp Lacupolis, Minnesota]]
* [[Pepin, Wisconsin]]
* [[Reads Landing, Minnesota]]
* [[Wabasha, Minnesota]]
* [[Nelson, Wisconsin]]
* [[Alma, Wisconsin]]
* [[Buffalo City, Wisconsin]]
* [[Weaver, Minnesota]]
* [[Minneiska, Minnesota]]
* [[Fountain City, Wisconsin]]
* [[Winona, Minnesota]]
* [[Homer, Minnesota]]
* [[Trempealeau (village), Wisconsin|Trempealeau, Wisconsin]]
* [[Dakota, Minnesota]]
* [[Dresbach Township, Winona County, Minnesota|Dresbach, Minnesota]]
* [[La Crescent, Minnesota]]
* [[La Crosse, Wisconsin]]
* [[Brownsville, Minnesota]]
* [[Stoddard, Wisconsin]]
* [[Genoa, Wisconsin]]
* [[Victory, Wisconsin]]
* [[De Soto, Wisconsin]]
* [[Lansing, Iowa]]
* [[Ferryville, Wisconsin]]
* [[Lynxville, Wisconsin]]
* [[Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin]]
* [[Marquette, Iowa]]
* [[McGregor, Iowa]]
* [[Wyalusing, Wisconsin]]
* [[Guttenberg, Iowa]]
* [[Cassville, Wisconsin]]
* [[Potosi, Wisconsin]]
* [[Dubuque, Iowa]]
* [[Galena, Illinois]]
* [[Bellevue, Iowa]]
* [[Savanna, Illinois]]
* [[Sabula, Iowa]]
* [[Fulton, Illinois]]
* [[Clinton, Iowa]]
* [[Cordova, Illinois]]
* [[Port Byron, Illinois]]
* [[LeClaire, Iowa]]
* [[Rapids City, Illinois]]
* [[Hampton, Illinois]]
* [[Bettendorf, Iowa]]
* [[East Moline, Illinois]]
* [[Moline, Illinois]]
* [[Davenport, Iowa]]
* [[Rock Island, Illinois]]
* [[Buffalo, Iowa]]
* [[Muscatine, Iowa]]
* [[New Boston, Illinois]]
* [[Keithsburg, Illinois]]
* [[Oquawka, Illinois]]
* [[Burlington, Iowa]]
* [[Dallas City, Illinois]]
* [[Fort Madison, Iowa]]
* [[Nauvoo, Illinois]]
* [[Keokuk, Iowa]]
* [[Warsaw, Illinois]]
* [[Quincy, Illinois]]
* [[Hannibal, Missouri]]
* [[Louisiana, Missouri]]
* [[Clarksville, Missouri]]
* [[Grafton, Illinois]]
* [[Portage Des Sioux, Missouri]]
* [[Alton, Illinois]]
* [[St. Louis|St. Louis, Missouri]]
* [[Ste. Genevieve, Missouri]]
* [[Kaskaskia, Illinois]]
* [[Chester, Illinois]]
* [[Grand Tower, Illinois]]
* [[Cape Girardeau, Missouri]]
* [[Thebes, Illinois]]
* [[Commerce, Missouri]]
* [[Cairo, Illinois]]
* [[Wickliffe, Kentucky]]
* [[Columbus, Kentucky]]
* [[Hickman, Kentucky]]
* [[New Madrid, Missouri]]
* [[Tiptonville, Tennessee]]
* [[Caruthersville, Missouri]]
* [[Osceola, Arkansas]]
* [[Reverie, Tennessee]]
* [[Memphis, Tennessee]]
* [[West Memphis, Arkansas]]
* [[Tunica, Mississippi]]
* [[Helena-West Helena, Arkansas]]
* [[Napoleon, Arkansas]] (historical)
* [[Arkansas City, Arkansas]]
* [[Greenville, Mississippi]]
* [[Mayersville, Mississippi]]
* [[Vicksburg, Mississippi]]
* [[Waterproof, Louisiana]]
* [[Natchez, Mississippi]]
* [[Morganza, Louisiana]]
* [[St. Francisville, Louisiana]]
* [[New Roads, Louisiana]]
* [[Baton Rouge, Louisiana]]
* [[Donaldsonville, Louisiana]]
* [[Lutcher, Louisiana]]
* [[Destrehan, Louisiana]]
* [[New Orleans|New Orleans, Louisiana]]
* [[Pilottown, Louisiana]]
* [[La Balize, Louisiana]] (historical)
{{colend}}

===Bridge crossings===
{{See also|List of crossings of the Upper Mississippi River|List of crossings of the Lower Mississippi River}}
[[File:Mississippi River from the Guthrie Theater.jpg|thumb|The [[Stone Arch Bridge (Minneapolis)|Stone Arch Bridge]], the [[Third Avenue Bridge (Minneapolis)|Third Avenue Bridge]] and the [[Hennepin Avenue Bridge]] in Minneapolis (2004)]]

The road crossing highest on the Upper Mississippi is a simple steel culvert, through which the river (locally named "Nicolet Creek") flows north from Lake Nicolet under "Wilderness Road" to the West Arm of Lake Itasca, within [[Itasca State Park]].<ref>[https://www.google.com/maps/@47.1938103,-95.2306761,3a,90y,281.83h,31.65t/data=!3m11!1e1!3m9!1sAF1QipMW_jUkZhpA_bbXTVIxByYtcT4P6BJu3vVWfDtw!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMW_jUkZhpA_bbXTVIxByYtcT4P6BJu3vVWfDtw%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-2.9999962-ya353.5-ro-0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352!9m2!1b1!2i51 Google Streetview image] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180818034845/https://www.google.com/maps/@47.1938103,-95.2306761,3a,90y,281.83h,31.65t/data=!3m11!1e1!3m9!1sAF1QipMW_jUkZhpA_bbXTVIxByYtcT4P6BJu3vVWfDtw!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMW_jUkZhpA_bbXTVIxByYtcT4P6BJu3vVWfDtw%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-2.9999962-ya353.5-ro-0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352!9m2!1b1!2i51 |date=August 18, 2018 }} at 47.1938103 N, 95.2306761 W</ref>

The earliest bridge across the Mississippi River was built in 1855. It spanned the river in [[Minneapolis]] where the current [[Hennepin Avenue Bridge]] is located.<ref>{{cite book |last=Costello |first=Mary Charlotte |year=2002 |title=Climbing the Mississippi River Bridge by Bridge |volume=Two: Minnesota |publisher=Adventure Publications |location=Cambridge, Minnesota |isbn=0-9644518-2-4}}</ref> No highway or railroad tunnels cross under the Mississippi River.

The first railroad bridge across the Mississippi was built in 1856. It spanned the river between the [[Rock Island Arsenal]] in [[Illinois]] and Davenport, Iowa. Steamboat captains of the day, fearful of competition from the railroads, considered the new bridge a hazard to navigation. Two weeks after the bridge opened, the steamboat ''Effie Afton'' rammed part of the bridge, setting it on fire. Legal proceedings ensued, with [[Abraham Lincoln]] defending the railroad. The lawsuit went to the [[Supreme Court of the United States]], which ruled in favor of the railroad.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Michael A. Ross |title=Hell Gate of the Mississippi: The Effie Afton Trial and Abraham Lincoln's Role in It |journal=The Annals of Iowa |volume=68 |number=3 |date=Summer 2009 |pages=312–314 |doi=10.17077/0003-4827.1361 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

Below is a general overview of selected Mississippi bridges that have notable engineering or landmark significance, with their cities or locations. They are sequenced from the Upper Mississippi's source to the Lower Mississippi's mouth.
* [[Stone Arch Bridge (Minneapolis)|Stone Arch Bridge]]{{spaced ndash}}Former [[Great Northern Railway (U.S.)|Great Northern Railway]] (now pedestrian) bridge at [[Saint Anthony Falls]] connecting downtown Minneapolis with the historic Marcy-Holmes neighborhood.
* [[I-35W Saint Anthony Falls Bridge]]{{spaced ndash}}In Minneapolis, opened in September 2008, replacing the [[I-35W Mississippi River bridge]] which had collapsed catastrophically on August 1, 2007, killing 13 and injuring over 100.
* [[Eisenhower Bridge (Mississippi River)]]{{spaced ndash}}In [[Red Wing, Minnesota]], opened by [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] in November 1960.
* [[I-90 Mississippi River Bridge]]{{spaced ndash}}Connects [[La Crosse, Wisconsin]], and [[Winona County, Minnesota]], located just south of [[Lock and Dam No. 7]].
* [[Black Hawk Bridge]]{{spaced ndash}}Connects [[Lansing, Iowa|Lansing]] in [[Allamakee County, Iowa]] and rural [[Crawford County, Wisconsin]]; locally referred to as the Lansing Bridge and documented in the [[Historic American Buildings Survey|Historic American Engineering Record]].
[[File:DubWisBridge051904.jpg|thumb|The [[Dubuque-Wisconsin Bridge]] (2004)]]
* [[Dubuque-Wisconsin Bridge]]{{spaced ndash}}Connects [[Dubuque, Iowa]], and [[Grant County, Wisconsin]].
* [[Julien Dubuque Bridge]]{{spaced ndash}}Joins the cities of [[Dubuque, Iowa]], and [[East Dubuque, Illinois]]; listed in the [[National Register of Historic Places]].
* [[Savanna-Sabula Bridge]]{{spaced ndash}}A [[truss bridge]] and causeway connecting the city of [[Savanna, Illinois]], and the island city of [[Sabula, Iowa]]. The bridge carries [[U.S. Highway 52]] over the river, and is the terminus of both [[Iowa Highway 64]] and [[Illinois Route 64]]. Added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1999.
* [[Fred Schwengel Memorial Bridge]]{{spaced ndash}}A 4-lane steel girder bridge that carries [[Interstate 80]] and connects [[LeClaire, Iowa]], and [[Rapids City, Illinois]]. Completed in 1966.
* [[Clinton Railroad Bridge]]{{spaced ndash}}A [[swing bridge]] that connects [[Clinton, Iowa]] and [[Fulton, Illinois|Fulton]] ([[Albany, Illinois|Albany]]), [[Illinois]]. Known as the '''Chicago and Northwestern Railroad Bridge'''.
* [[I-74 Bridge]]{{spaced ndash}}Connects [[Bettendorf, Iowa]], and [[Moline, Illinois]]; originally known as the ''Iowa-Illinois Memorial Bridge''.
* [[Government Bridge]]{{spaced ndash}}Connects [[Rock Island, Illinois]] and [[Davenport, Iowa]], adjacent to [[Lock and Dam No. 15]]; the fourth crossing in this vicinity, built in 1896.
* [[Rock Island Centennial Bridge]]{{spaced ndash}}Connects [[Rock Island, Illinois]], and [[Davenport, Iowa]]; opened in 1940.
* [[Sergeant John F. Baker, Jr. Bridge]]{{spaced ndash}}Connects [[Rock Island, Illinois]], and [[Davenport, Iowa]]; opened in 1973.[[File:Muscatine-ia-bridge.jpg|thumb|Norbert F. Beckey bridge at [[Muscatine, Iowa|Muscatine]], Iowa, with [[LED]] lighting]]
* [[Norbert F. Beckey Bridge]]{{spaced ndash}}Connects [[Muscatine, Iowa]], and [[Rock Island County, Illinois]]; became first U.S. bridge to be illuminated with [[light-emitting diode]] (LED) lights decoratively illuminating the facade of the bridge.
* [[Great River Bridge]]{{spaced ndash}}A [[cable-stayed bridge]] connecting Burlington, Iowa, to [[Gulf Port, Illinois]].
* [[Fort Madison Toll Bridge]]{{spaced ndash}}Connects [[Fort Madison, Iowa]], and unincorporated [[Niota, Illinois]]; also known as the ''Santa Fe Swing Span Bridge''; at the time of its construction the longest and heaviest electrified swing span on the Mississippi River. Listed in the [[National Register of Historic Places]] since 1999.
* [[Keokuk–Hamilton Bridge]]{{spaced ndash}}Connects [[Keokuk, Iowa]] and [[Hamilton, Illinois]]; opened in 1985 replacing an older bridge which is still in use as a railroad bridge.
* [[Bayview Bridge]]{{spaced ndash}}A cable-stayed bridge bringing westbound [[U.S. Highway 24]] over the river, connecting the cities of [[West Quincy, Missouri]], and [[Quincy, Illinois]].
* [[Quincy Memorial Bridge]]{{spaced ndash}}Connects the cities of [[West Quincy, Missouri]], and [[Quincy, Illinois]], carrying eastbound U.S. 24, the older of these two U.S. 24 bridges.
* [[Clark Bridge]]{{spaced ndash}}A [[cable-stayed bridge]] connecting [[West Alton, Missouri]], and [[Alton, Illinois]], also known as the ''Super Bridge'' as the result of an appearance on the PBS program, ''[[Nova (American TV series)|Nova]]''; built in 1994, carrying [[U.S. Route 67]] across the river. This is the northernmost river crossing in the St. Louis metropolitan area, replacing the ''[[Old Clark Bridge]]'', a truss bridge built in 1928, named after explorer [[William Clark (explorer)|William Clark]].
[[File:ChainOfRocksBridge StLouisMO.jpg|thumb|The [[Chain of Rocks Bridge]] at [[St. Louis, Missouri]]]]
* [[Chain of Rocks Bridge]]{{spaced ndash}}Located on the northern edge of St. Louis, notable for a 22-degree bend occurring at the middle of the crossing, necessary for navigation on the river; formerly used by [[U.S. Route 66]] to cross the Mississippi. Replaced for road traffic in 1966 by [[New Chain of Rocks Bridge|a nearby pair of new bridges]]; now a pedestrian bridge.
* [[Eads Bridge]]{{spaced ndash}}A combined road and railway bridge, connecting St. Louis and [[East St. Louis, Illinois]]. When completed in 1874, it was the longest arch bridge in the world, with an overall length of {{convert|6442|ft}}. The three ribbed steel arch spans were considered daring, as was the use of steel as a primary structural material; it was the first such use of true steel in a major bridge project.
* [[Chester Bridge]]{{spaced ndash}}A [[truss bridge]] connecting [[Route 51 (Missouri)|Route 51]] in Missouri with [[Illinois Route 150]], between [[Perryville, Missouri]], and [[Chester, Illinois]]. The bridge can be seen at the beginning of the 1967 film ''[[In the Heat of the Night (film)|In the Heat of the Night]]''. In the 1940s, the main span was destroyed by a [[tornado]].
* [[Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge]]—Connecting [[Cape Girardeau, Missouri]] and [[East Cape Girardeau, Illinois]], completed in 2003 and illuminated by 140 lights.
* [[Caruthersville Bridge]]{{spaced ndash}} A single tower cantilever bridge carrying [[Interstate 155 (Missouri–Tennessee)|Interstate 155]] and [[U.S. Route 412]] across the Mississippi River between [[Caruthersville, Missouri]] and [[Dyersburg, Tennessee]].
[[File:Memphis Bridge.jpg|thumb|The [[Hernando de Soto Bridge]] in [[Memphis, Tennessee]] (2009)]]
* [[Hernando de Soto Bridge]]{{spaced ndash}}A [[through arch bridge]] carrying [[Interstate 40]] across the Mississippi between [[West Memphis, Arkansas]], and [[Memphis, Tennessee]].
* [[Harahan Bridge]]{{spaced ndash}}A [[Cantilever bridge|cantilevered]] [[truss bridge|through truss bridge]], carrying two rail lines of the [[Union Pacific Railroad]] across the river between [[West Memphis, Arkansas]], and [[Memphis, Tennessee]].
* [[Frisco Bridge]]{{spaced ndash}}A [[Cantilever bridge|cantilevered]] [[truss bridge|through truss bridge]], carrying a rail line across the river between [[West Memphis, Arkansas]], and [[Memphis, Tennessee]], previously known as the ''Memphis Bridge''. When it opened on May 12, 1892, it was the first crossing of the Lower Mississippi and the longest span in the U.S. Listed as a [[List of historic civil engineering landmarks|Historic Civil Engineering Landmark]].
* [[Memphis & Arkansas Bridge]]{{spaced ndash}}A [[cantilever bridge|cantilevered]] [[truss bridge|through truss bridge]], carrying [[Interstate 55]] between Memphis and West Memphis; listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
* [[Helena Bridge]]
* [[Greenville Bridge]]
[[File:Vicksburg-bridge.JPG|thumb|right|[[Vicksburg Bridge]]]]
* [[Old Vicksburg Bridge]]
* [[Vicksburg Bridge]]
* [[Natchez-Vidalia Bridge]]
* [[John James Audubon Bridge (Mississippi River)|John James Audubon Bridge]]{{spaced ndash}}The second-longest [[cable-stayed bridge]] in the Western Hemisphere; connects [[Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana|Pointe Coupee]] and [[West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana|West Feliciana]] Parishes in Louisiana. It is the only crossing between Baton Rouge and Natchez. This bridge was opened a month ahead of schedule in May 2011, due to the [[2011 Mississippi River floods|2011 floods]].
* [[Huey P. Long Bridge (Baton Rouge)|Huey P. Long Bridge]]{{spaced ndash}}A [[truss]] [[cantilever bridge]] carrying [[U.S. Route 190|US 190]] ([[Airline Highway]]) and one rail line between [[East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana|East Baton Rouge]] and [[West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana|West Baton Rouge]] Parishes in Louisiana.
* [[Horace Wilkinson Bridge]]{{spaced ndash}}A [[cantilever bridge|cantilevered]] [[truss bridge|through truss]] bridge, carrying six lanes of [[Interstate 10]] between [[Baton Rouge, Louisiana|Baton Rouge]] and [[Port Allen, Louisiana|Port Allen]] in Louisiana. It is the highest bridge over the Mississippi River.
* [[Sunshine Bridge]]
* [[Gramercy Bridge]]
* [[Hale Boggs Memorial Bridge]]
* [[Huey P. Long Bridge (Jefferson Parish)|Huey P. Long Bridge]]{{spaced ndash}}In [[Jefferson Parish, Louisiana]], the first Mississippi River span built in Louisiana.
* [[Crescent City Connection]]{{spaced ndash}}Connects the east and west banks of [[New Orleans]], Louisiana; the fifth-longest [[cantilever bridge]] in the world.

==Navigation and flood control==
[[File:Mississippi River Levels at Memphis.webp|thumb|right|285px|Mississippi River levels at [[Memphis, Tennessee]]
{{legend|#7E0179|Major flood stage}}
{{legend|#FF0000|Moderate flood stage}}
{{legend|#FE9A2E|Flood stage}}
{{legend|#F7FE2E|Action stage}}
{{legend-line|#00A2FF solid 3px|River levels}}
{{legend-line|#EE220C solid 3px|Minimum operating limit (-12 feet)}}
]]
[[File:Barge rates.webp|thumb|right|Downbound barge rates <br /> In late 2022 there was low river levels that caused two backups on the [[Lower Mississippi River]] that held up over 100 tow boats with 2,000 barge units and caused barge rates to soar<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-09/huge-barge-backup-eases-on-mississippi-freeing-tons-of-cargo |title=Huge Barge Backup Eases on Mississippi, Freeing Tons of Cargo |last=Cavaliere |first=Victoria |date=2022-10-10 |work=Bloomberg |access-date=October 11, 2022 |archive-date=April 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230430190437/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-09/huge-barge-backup-eases-on-mississippi-freeing-tons-of-cargo |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/mississippi-river-reopens-barge-traffic-after-low-water-closures-us-coast-guard-2022-10-10/ |title=Mississippi River reopens to barge traffic after low water closures - U.S. Coast Guard |newspaper=Reuters |date=October 10, 2022 |last1=Plume |first1=Karl |access-date=October 11, 2022 |archive-date=October 11, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221011051810/https://www.reuters.com/world/us/mississippi-river-reopens-barge-traffic-after-low-water-closures-us-coast-guard-2022-10-10/ |url-status=live }}</ref> ]]
{{main article|List of locks and dams of the Upper Mississippi River}}
[[File:20040711181620 Mississippi Memphis Ausschnitt.jpg|thumb|Towboat and barges at [[Memphis, Tennessee]]]]
[[File:Mississippi ship navigation.png|thumbnail|Ships on the lower part of the Mississippi]]
A clear channel is needed for the [[barge]]s and other vessels that make the [[main stem]] Mississippi one of the great commercial [[waterway]]s of the world. The task of maintaining a navigation channel is the responsibility of the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers]], which was established in 1802.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.usace.army.mil/History/Documents/Brief/03-transportation/transport.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100328040856/http://www.usace.army.mil/History/Documents/Brief/03-transportation/transport.html |archive-date=March 28, 2010 |title=US Army Corps of Engineers, Brief History |publisher=Usace.army.mil |access-date=November 6, 2010}}</ref> Earlier projects began as early as 1829 to remove snags, close off secondary channels and excavate rocks and [[Shoal|sandbars]].

[[File:Ship on lower Mississippi.jpeg|thumb|Oil tanker on the Lower Mississippi near the Port of New Orleans]]
[[File:Lower Mississippi River barge.png|thumb|Barge on the Lower Mississippi River]]

A series of 29 [[Lock (water transport)|locks]] and dams on the upper Mississippi, most of which were built in the 1930s, is designed primarily to maintain a {{convert|9|ft|m|adj=mid|-deep}} channel for commercial barge traffic.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mississippi River |work=USGS: Status and trends of the nation's biological resources |url=http://biology.usgs.gov/s+t/SNT/noframe/ms137.htm |access-date=February 3, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060927145009/http://biology.usgs.gov/s%2Bt/SNT/noframe/ms137.htm |archive-date=September 27, 2006 |url-status=dead}}
</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=U.S. Waterway System Facts, December 2005 |work=USACE Navigation Data Center |url=http://www.iwr.usace.army.mil/ndc/factcard/fc05/factcard.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070703141148/http://www.iwr.usace.army.mil/ndc/factcard/fc05/factcard.pdf |archive-date=July 3, 2007 |access-date=April 27, 2006}}</ref> The lakes formed are also used for recreational boating and fishing. The dams make the river deeper and wider but do not stop it. No [[flood control]] is intended. During periods of high flow, the gates, some of which are submersible, are completely opened and the dams simply cease to function. Below St. Louis, the Mississippi is relatively free-flowing, although it is constrained by numerous levees and directed by numerous [[wing dam]]s. The scope and scale of the levees, built along either side of the river to keep it on its course, has often been compared to the [[Great Wall of China]].<ref name="NewYorker1987"/>

On the lower Mississippi, from [[Baton Rouge, Louisiana|Baton Rouge]] to the mouth of the Mississippi, the navigation depth is {{convert|45|ft}}, allowing container ships and cruise ships to dock at the [[Port of New Orleans]] and bulk cargo ships shorter than {{convert|150|ft|m|adj=on}} air draft that fit under the [[Huey P. Long Bridge (Jefferson Parish)|Huey P. Long Bridge]] to traverse the Mississippi to Baton Rouge.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mvttc.com/news_details.php?id=182 |title=Mississippi Valley Trade & Transport Council |access-date=August 19, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160205234735/http://www.mvttc.com/news_details.php?id=182 |archive-date=February 5, 2016}}</ref> There is a [[feasibility study]] to dredge this portion of the river to {{convert|50|ft}} to allow [[New Panamax]] ship depths.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dredgemag.com/June-2015/Corps-to-Study-Lower-Mississippi-River-Deepening-Project/ |title=Corps to Study Lower Mississippi River Deepening Project – International Dredging Review – June 2015 |access-date=August 19, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311043226/http://www.dredgemag.com//June-2015/Corps-to-Study-Lower-Mississippi-River-Deepening-Project |archive-date=March 11, 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

===19th century===
[[File:Lock and Dam 11.jpg|thumb|[[Lock and Dam No. 11]], north of Dubuque, Iowa (2007)]]
In 1829, there were surveys of the two major obstacles on the upper Mississippi, the [[Des Moines Rapids]] and the [[Rock Island Rapids]], where the river was shallow and the riverbed was rock. The Des Moines Rapids were about {{convert|11|mi|km}} long and just above the mouth of the [[Des Moines River]] at Keokuk, Iowa. The Rock Island Rapids were between [[Rock Island, Illinois|Rock Island]] and [[Moline, Illinois]]. Both rapids were considered virtually impassable.

In 1848, the [[Illinois and Michigan Canal]] was built to connect the Mississippi River to [[Lake Michigan]] via the Illinois River near [[Peru, Illinois]]. The canal allowed shipping between these important waterways. In 1900, the canal was replaced by the [[Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal]]. The second canal, in addition to shipping, also allowed Chicago to address specific health issues ([[typhoid fever]], [[cholera]] and other waterborne diseases) by sending its waste down the Illinois and Mississippi river systems rather than polluting its water source of Lake Michigan.

The Corps of Engineers recommended the excavation of a {{convert|5|ft|m|adj=mid|-deep}} channel at the Des Moines Rapids, but work did not begin until after Lieutenant [[Robert E. Lee]] endorsed the project in 1837. The Corps later also began excavating the Rock Island Rapids. By 1866, it had become evident that excavation was impractical, and it was decided to build a canal around the Des Moines Rapids. The canal opened in 1877, but the Rock Island Rapids remained an obstacle. In 1878, Congress authorized the Corps to establish a {{convert|4.5|ft|m|adj=mid|-deep}} channel to be obtained by building wing dams that direct the river to a narrow channel causing it to cut a deeper channel, by closing secondary channels and by dredging. The channel project was complete when the Moline Lock, which bypassed the Rock Island Rapids, opened in 1907.

To improve navigation between St. Paul, Minnesota, and [[Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin]], the Corps constructed several dams on lakes in the headwaters area, including [[Lake Winnibigoshish]] and [[Pokegama Dam|Lake Pokegama]]. The dams, which were built beginning in the 1880s, stored spring run-off which was released during low water to help maintain channel depth.

<div style="float:right;clear:right">
[[File:Mississippi River Lock and Dam number 2.jpg|thumb|[[Lock and Dam No. 2]], near [[Hastings, Minnesota]] (2007)]]
[[File:Mississippi River Lock and Dam number 15.jpg|thumb|[[Lock and Dam No. 15]], is the largest [[roller dam]] in the world [[Davenport, Iowa]]; [[Rock Island, Illinois]]. (1990)]]
</div>

===20th century===
In 1907, Congress authorized a {{convert|6|ft|m|adj=mid|-deep}} channel project on the Mississippi River, which was not complete when it was abandoned in the late 1920s in favor of the {{convert|9|ft|m|adj=mid|-deep}} channel project.

In 1913, construction was complete on [[Lock and Dam No. 19]] at [[Keokuk, Iowa]], the first dam below St. Anthony Falls. Built by a private power company ([[Union Electric Company]] of St. Louis) to generate electricity (originally for [[streetcars in St. Louis]]), the Keokuk dam was one of the largest [[hydro-electric]] plants in the world at the time. The dam also eliminated the Des Moines Rapids. [[Lock and Dam No. 1, Mississippi River|Lock and Dam No. 1]] was completed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1917. [[Lock and Dam No. 2]], near [[Hastings, Minnesota]], was completed in 1930.

Before the [[Great Mississippi Flood of 1927]], the Corps's primary strategy was to close off as many side channels as possible to increase the flow in the main river. It was thought that the river's [[velocity]] would scour off bottom [[sediment]]s, deepening the river and decreasing the possibility of flooding. The 1927 flood proved this to be so wrong that communities threatened by the flood began to create their own levee breaks to relieve the force of the rising river.

The Rivers and Harbors Act of 1930 authorized the {{convert|9|ft|m|adj=mid}} channel project, which called for a navigation channel {{convert|9|ft}} feet deep and {{convert|400|ft}} wide to accommodate multiple-barge tows.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Mississippi and its Uses |work=Natural Resource Management Section, Rock Island Engineers |url=http://www.mvd.usace.army.mil/mrc/mrt/Docs/Designing%20the%20Project%20Flood%20info%20paper.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604005433/http://www.mvd.usace.army.mil/mrc/mrt/Docs/Designing%20the%20Project%20Flood%20info%20paper.pdf |archive-date=June 4, 2011 |access-date=June 21, 2006}}
</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Appendix E: Nine-foot navigation channel maintenance activities |work=National Park Service, Mississippi National River and Recreation Area Comprehensive Management Plan |url=http://www.nps.gov/miss/info/cmp/appendices/appendix_e.html |access-date=June 21, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041215001640/http://www.nps.gov/miss/info/cmp/appendices/appendix_e.html |archive-date=December 15, 2004}}</ref> This was achieved by a series of locks and dams, and by dredging. Twenty-three new locks and dams were built on the upper Mississippi in the 1930s in addition to the three already in existence.

[[File:Geomorphology of Old River.jpg|thumb|left|Formation of the Atchafalaya River and construction of the Old River Control Structure.]]
[[File:Mississippi River flow.gif|thumb|upright|[[Project design flood]] flow capacity for the Mississippi river in thousands of cubic feet per second.<ref name='USACE 2008'>{{cite book |title=The Mississippi River & Tributaries Project: Designing the Project Flood |publisher=United States Army Corps of Engineers |year=2008 |series=Information Paper |url=http://www.mvd.usace.army.mil/mrc/mrt/Docs/Designing%20the%20Project%20Flood%20info%20paper.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604005433/http://www.mvd.usace.army.mil/mrc/mrt/Docs/Designing%20the%20Project%20Flood%20info%20paper.pdf |archive-date=June 4, 2011}}</ref>]]

Until the 1950s, there was no dam below Lock and Dam 26 at Alton, Illinois. [[Chain of Rocks Lock]] (Lock and Dam No. 27), which consists of a low-water dam and an {{convert|8.4|mi|km|adj=mid|-long}} canal, was added in 1953, just below the confluence with the Missouri River, primarily to bypass a series of rock ledges at St. Louis. It also serves to protect the St. Louis city water intakes during times of low water.

U.S. government scientists determined in the 1950s that the Mississippi River was starting to switch to the Atchafalaya River channel because of its much steeper path to the Gulf of Mexico. Eventually, the Atchafalaya River would capture the Mississippi River and become its main channel to the Gulf of Mexico, leaving New Orleans on a side channel. As a result, the [[United States Congress|U.S. Congress]] authorized a project called the [[Old River Control Structure]], which has prevented the Mississippi River from leaving its current channel that drains into the Gulf via New Orleans.<ref name="SJSU">{{cite web |url=http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/oldriver.htm |title=The Old River Control Structure on the Lower Mississippi River |publisher=sjsu.edu |access-date=June 12, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204205943/http://www2.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/oldriver.htm |archive-date=December 4, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Because the large scale of high-energy water flow threatened to damage the structure, an auxiliary flow control station was built adjacent to the standing control station. This $300&nbsp;million project was completed in 1986 by the Corps of Engineers. Beginning in the 1970s, the Corps applied [[hydrological transport model]]s to analyze flood flow and water quality of the Mississippi. Dam 26 at Alton, Illinois, which had structural problems, was replaced by the Mel Price Lock and Dam in 1990. The original Lock and Dam 26 was demolished.

[[File:Army mil-2008-07-17-085659.jpg|thumb|Soldiers of the [[Missouri Army National Guard]] sandbag the River in [[Clarksville, Missouri]], June 2008, following flooding.]]

===21st century===
The Corps now actively creates and maintains spillways and floodways to divert periodic water surges into backwater channels and lakes, as well as route part of the Mississippi's flow into the [[Atchafalaya Basin]] and from there to the [[Gulf of Mexico]], bypassing [[Baton Rouge]] and [[New Orleans]]. The main structures are the [[Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway]] in Missouri; the [[Old River Control Structure]] and the [[Morganza Spillway]] in Louisiana, which direct excess water down the west and east sides (respectively) of the [[Atchafalaya River]]; and the [[Bonnet Carré Spillway]], also in Louisiana, which directs floodwaters to [[Lake Pontchartrain]] (see diagram). Some experts blame [[urban sprawl]] for increases in both the risk and frequency of flooding on the Mississippi River.<ref name="The Associated Press">{{cite web |url=http://bigstory.ap.org/article/d9bb6d9bfbfe46d58305ad591c105243/st-louis-area-faces-big-cleanup-effort-after-flooding |title=Levees among possible cause of more frequent flooding |author=Jim Salter |date=January 4, 2016 |access-date=January 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160106064145/http://bigstory.ap.org/article/d9bb6d9bfbfe46d58305ad591c105243/st-louis-area-faces-big-cleanup-effort-after-flooding |archive-date=January 6, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Some of the pre-1927 strategy remains in use today, with the Corps actively cutting the necks of [[meander|horseshoe bends]], allowing the water to move faster and reducing flood heights.<ref name="US Army Corps of Engineers">{{cite web |url=http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/pao/bro/misstrib.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060128111022/http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/pao/bro/misstrib.htm |archive-date=January 28, 2006 |title=History of the Mississippi River and Tributaries Project |work=US Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans District}}</ref>

==History==
Approximately 50,000 years ago, the [[Central United States]] was covered by an inland sea, which was drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries into the Gulf of Mexico—creating large [[floodplain]]s and extending the continent further to the south in the process. The soil in areas such as Louisiana was thereafter found to be very rich.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Nicks |editor-first=Oran W. |title=This Island Earth |publisher=[[NASA]] |year=1970 |page=137}}</ref>

===Native Americans===
{{Main article|Woodland period|Hopewell tradition|Mississippian culture}}
The area of the Mississippi River basin was first [[Prehistoric migration and settlement of the Americas from Asia|settled]] by [[Hunter-gatherer|hunting and gathering]] [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American peoples]] and is considered one of the few independent centers of [[Domestication of plants|plant domestication]] in human history.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=P.J. |last1=Richerson |first2=R. |last2=Boyd |first3=R.L. |last3=Bettinger |title=Was Agriculture Impossible During the Pleistocene but Mandatory during the Holocene? A Climate Change Hypothesis |journal=American Antiquity |volume=66 |issue=3 |pages=387–411 |year=2001 |doi=10.2307/2694241 |jstor=2694241 |s2cid=163474968}}</ref> Evidence of early [[Plant cultivation|cultivation]] of [[Helianthus annuus|sunflower]], a [[Chenopodium berlandieri|goosefoot]], a [[Iva annua|marsh elder]] and an indigenous [[squash (plant)|squash]] dates to the [[4th millennium BC]]. The lifestyle gradually became more settled after around 1000&nbsp;BC during what is now called the [[Woodland period]], with increasing evidence of shelter construction, [[Ceramics of indigenous peoples of the Americas|pottery]], [[weaving]] and other practices.

A network of trade routes referred to as the [[Hopewell tradition|Hopewell interaction sphere]] was active along the waterways between about 200 and 500 AD, spreading common cultural practices over the entire area between the Gulf of Mexico and the Great Lakes. A period of more isolated communities followed, and agriculture introduced from [[Mesoamerica]] based on the [[Three Sisters (agriculture)|Three Sisters]] (maize, [[beans]] and squash) gradually came to dominate. After around 800 AD there arose an advanced agricultural society today referred to as the [[Mississippian culture]], with evidence of highly [[Social stratification|stratified]] [[complex society|complex]] [[chiefdom]]s and large [[human settlement|population centers]].

The most prominent of these, now called [[Cahokia]], was occupied between about 600 and 1400 AD<ref>{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050208230201/http://www.sacredland.org/historical_sites_pages/miss_mounds.html |archive-date=February 8, 2005 |url=http://www.sacredland.org/historical_sites_pages/miss_mounds.html |publisher=Sacredland.org |title=Mississippian Mounds |work=Sacred Land Film Project}}</ref> and at its peak numbered between 8,000 and 40,000 inhabitants, larger than London, England of that time. At the time of first contact with Europeans, Cahokia and many other Mississippian cities had dispersed, and [[archaeology|archaeological]] finds attest to increased social stress.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Pauketat |first=Timothy R. |year=2003 |title=Resettled Farmers and the Making of a Mississippian Polity |journal=American Antiquity |volume=68 |issue=1 |pages=39–66 |doi=10.2307/3557032 |jstor=3557032 |s2cid=163856087}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Pauketat |first=Timothy R. |year=1998 |title=Refiguring the Archaeology of Greater Cahokia |journal=Journal of Archaeological Research |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=45–89 |doi=10.1023/A:1022839329522 |s2cid=195219118}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Sullivan |first=Lynne P. |title=Archaeology of the Appalachian highlands |publisher=University of Tennessee Press |year=2001 |isbn=1-57233-142-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/archaeologyofapp0000unse |access-date=December 17, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200102045548/https://archive.org/details/archaeologyofapp0000unse |archive-date=January 2, 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Modern American Indian nations inhabiting the Mississippi basin include [[Cheyenne]], [[Sioux]], [[Ojibwe]], [[Potawatomi]], [[Ho-Chunk]], [[Fox (tribe)|Fox]], [[Kickapoo people|Kickapoo]], [[Tamaroa (tribe)|Tamaroa]], [[Moingwena]], [[Quapaw]] and [[Chickasaw]].

The word ''Mississippi'' itself comes from ''Messipi'', the French rendering of the [[Ojibwe language|Anishinaabe]] (Ojibwe or Algonquin) name for the river, ''Misi-ziibi'' (Great River).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.freelang.net/dictionary/ojibwe.html |title=Freelang Ojibwe Dictionary |access-date=September 22, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011201846/http://www.freelang.net/dictionary/ojibwe.php |archive-date=October 11, 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.yourdictionary.com/ahd/m/m0343500.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070220085858/http://www.yourdictionary.com/ahd/m/m0343500.html |archive-date=February 20, 2007 |title=Mississippi |access-date=March 6, 2007 |work=[[The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language|American Heritage Dictionary]] |publisher=Yourdictionary.com}}</ref> The [[Ojibwe]] called Lake Itasca ''Omashkoozo-zaaga'igan'' (Elk Lake) and the river flowing out of it ''Omashkoozo-ziibi'' (Elk River). After flowing into [[Lake Bemidji]], the Ojibwe called the river ''Bemijigamaag-ziibi'' (River from the Traversing Lake). After flowing into [[Cass Lake (Minnesota)|Cass Lake]], the name of the river changes to ''Gaa-miskwaawaakokaag-ziibi'' (Red Cedar River) and then out of [[Lake Winnibigoshish]] as ''Wiinibiigoonzhish-ziibi'' (Miserable Wretched Dirty Water River), ''Gichi-ziibi'' (Big River) after the confluence with the [[Leech Lake River]], then finally as ''Misi-ziibi'' (Great River) after the confluence with the [[Crow Wing River]].<ref>[[Joseph Gilfillan|Gilfillan, Joseph A.]], "Minnesota Geographical Names Derived from the Chippewa Language" in ''The Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota: The Fifteenth Annual Report for the Year 1886'' (St. Paul: Pioneer Press Company, 1887)</ref> After the expeditions by [[Giacomo Beltrami]] and [[Henry Schoolcraft]], the longest stream above the juncture of the Crow Wing River and ''Gichi-ziibi'' was named "Mississippi River". The [[Mississippi River Band of Chippewa Indians]], known as the ''Gichi-ziibiwininiwag'', are named after the stretch of the Mississippi River known as the ''Gichi-ziibi''. The [[Cheyenne]], one of the earliest inhabitants of the upper Mississippi River, called it the ''Máʼxe-éʼometaaʼe'' (Big Greasy River) in the [[Cheyenne language]]. The [[Arapaho language|Arapaho]] name for the river is ''Beesniicíe''.<ref>{{cite web |title=English-Arapaho dictionary |access-date=May 23, 2012 |url=http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~arapaho/english_arapaho.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120611032359/http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~arapaho/english_arapaho.html |archive-date=June 11, 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Pawnee language|Pawnee]] name is ''Kickaátit''.<ref>{{cite web |title=AISRI Dictionary Database Search—prototype version. "River", Southband Pawnee |work=American Indian Studies Research Institute |access-date=May 26, 2012 |url=http://zia.aisri.indiana.edu/~dictsearch/cgi-bin/testengltoxsrchNP.pl?host=zia&pass=&hasfont=0&srchlang=English&srchstring=river&database=south&srchtype=AND&sortlang=English&sndformat=ra&maxhits=200&find=Run_Search |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117053713/http://zia.aisri.indiana.edu/~dictsearch/cgi-bin/testengltoxsrchNP.pl?host=zia&pass=&hasfont=0&srchlang=English&srchstring=river&database=south&srchtype=AND&sortlang=English&sndformat=ra&maxhits=200&find=Run_Search |archive-date=January 17, 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The Mississippi was spelled {{not a typo|Mississipi or Missisipi}} during French Louisiana and was also known as the Rivière Saint-Louis.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8490378j |title=Carte de la Louisiane, cours du Mississipi et pais voisins... / par Nicolas Bellin... ; Dheulland sculpsit |first1=Jacques-Nicolas (1703–1772) Cartographe |last1=Bellin |first2=Guillaume (17 ?-177) Graveur |last2=Dheulland |first3=Pierre-François-Xavier de (1682–1761) Auteur du texte |last3=Charlevoix |date=January 1, 1744 |access-date=August 19, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161115020954/http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8490378j |archive-date=November 15, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b84912758 |title=Carte de la Louisiane et du cours du Mississipi. 100 lieues françoises [= 0m. 092 ; 1 : 4.830.000 environ]. Dressé sur un grand nombre de mémoires entre autres sur ceux de M. Le Maire / par Guillaume Delisle de l'Académie Royale des Sciences |first=Guillaume (1675–1726) Auteur du texte |last=Delisle |date=January 1, 1718 |access-date=August 19, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161115021003/http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b84912758 |archive-date=November 15, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b53065061q |title=Le cours du Mississipi ou de St Louis, fameuse rivière... aux environs de laquelle se trouve le pays appellé Louisiane / dressée... par N. de Fer |first=Nicolas de (1647?–1720) Cartographe |last=Fer |date=January 1, 1718 |access-date=August 19, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161115014452/http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b53065061q |archive-date=November 15, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>

===European exploration===
[[File:Discovery of the Mississippi.jpg|thumb|left|''Discovery of the Mississippi by De Soto A.D. 1541'' by [[William Henry Powell]] depicts [[Hernando de Soto]] and Spanish [[Conquistadores]] seeing the Mississippi River for the first time.]]
[[File:Nouvelle-France map-en.svg|thumb|Map of the [[New France|French settlements]] (blue) in North America in 1750, before the [[French and Indian War]] (1754 to 1763).]]
[[File:Marquette and jolliet map 1681.jpg|thumb|upright|{{Circa|1681}} map of [[Jacques Marquette|Marquette]] and [[Louis Jolliet|Jolliet]]'s 1673 expedition.]]
[[File:Exploration of the Upper Mississippi.png|thumb|Route of the Marquette-Jolliete Expedition of 1673]]

In 1519 Spanish explorer [[Alonso Álvarez de Pineda]] became the first recorded European to reach the Mississippi River, followed by [[Hernando de Soto]] who reached the river on May 8, 1541, and called it ''Río del Espíritu Santo'' ("River of the Holy Spirit"), in the area of what is now Mississippi.<ref>{{cite web |title=Álvarez de Pineda, Alonso (unknown–1520) |url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/alvarez-de-pineda-alonso |work=Texas State Historical Association |access-date=28 June 2021 |archive-date=June 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210628171827/https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/alvarez-de-pineda-alonso |url-status=live }}</ref> In Spanish, the river is called ''Río Mississippi''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cec.org/naatlas/NA-Watersheds.gif |archive-url=https://archive.today/20070612063513/http://www.cec.org/naatlas/NA-Watersheds.gif |url-status=dead |title=NA-Watersheds.gif (3060x2660 pixels) |date=June 12, 2007 |archive-date=June 12, 2007 |website=cec.org |access-date=July 11, 2017}}</ref>

French explorers [[Louis Jolliet]] and [[Jacques Marquette]] began exploring the Mississippi in the 17th century. Marquette traveled with a [[Sioux]] Indian who named it ''Ne Tongo'' ("Big river" in [[Sioux language]]) in 1673. Marquette proposed calling it the ''River of the [[Immaculate Conception]]''.

When [[Louis Jolliet]] explored the Mississippi Valley in the 17th century, natives guided him to a quicker way to return to French Canada via the Illinois River. When he found the [[Chicago Portage]], he remarked that a canal of "only half a [[League (unit)|league]]" (less than {{convert|2|mi|km|0|disp=or|sp=us}}) would join the Mississippi and the Great Lakes.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1437.html |title=Jolliet and La Salle's Canal Plans |publisher=Encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org |access-date=November 6, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101201051932/http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1437.html |archive-date=December 1, 2010}}</ref> In 1848, the [[continental divide]] separating the waters of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi Valley was breached by the [[Illinois and Michigan canal]] via the [[Chicago River]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/ilmi/ |title=Illinois & Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor |publisher=Nps.gov |date=August 24, 1984 |access-date=November 6, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528042135/http://www.nps.gov/ilmi/ |archive-date=May 28, 2010}}</ref> This both accelerated the development, and forever changed the ecology of the Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes.

In 1682, [[René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle]] and [[Henri de Tonti]] claimed the entire Mississippi River valley for France, calling the river ''Colbert River'' after [[Jean-Baptiste Colbert]] and the region ''[[Louisiana (New France)|La Louisiane]]'', for [[Louis XIV of France|King Louis XIV]]. On March 2, 1699, [[Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville]] rediscovered the mouth of the Mississippi, following the death of La Salle.<ref name="CathEn">"Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville" (bio), webpage from ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'', Volume VII, 1910, New York: [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07614b.htm CathEn-07614b] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080515002256/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07614b.htm |date=May 15, 2008 }}.</ref> The French built the small fort of [[La Balize, Louisiana|La Balise]] there to control passage.<ref name=WDL1>{{cite news |title=Plan of New Orleans the Capital of Louisiana; With the Disposition of Its Quarters and Canals as They Have Been Traced by Mr. de la Tour in the Year 1720 |newspaper=The Library of Congress |url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/9558 |publisher=[[World Digital Library]] |access-date=February 14, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121227125322/http://www.wdl.org/en/item/9558/ |archive-date=December 27, 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1718, about {{convert|100|mi|km}} upriver, New Orleans was established along the river crescent by [[Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville]], with construction patterned after the 1711 resettlement on Mobile Bay of [[Mobile, Alabama|Mobile]], the capital of French Louisiana at the time.

In 1727, [[Étienne Perier (governor)|Étienne Perier]] begins work, using enslaved African laborers, on the first [[levee]]s on the Mississippi River.

===Colonization===
{{see also|Flood of 1851}}
[[File:A Home on the Mississippi.png|thumb|''[[A Home on the Mississippi]]'' (1871)]]
Following [[Great Britain in the Seven Years War|Britain's victory in the Seven Years War]], the Mississippi became the border between the British and [[Spanish Empire]]s. The [[Treaty of Paris (1763)]] gave [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] rights to all land east of the Mississippi and Spain rights to land west of the Mississippi. Spain also ceded [[Spanish Florida|Florida]] to Britain to regain [[Cuba]], which the British occupied during the war. Britain then divided the territory into [[East Florida|East]] and [[West Florida]].

Article 8 of the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)]] states, "The navigation of the river Mississippi, from its source to the ocean, shall forever remain free and open to the subjects of Great Britain and the citizens of the United States". With this treaty, which ended the [[American Revolutionary War]], Britain also ceded West Florida back to Spain to regain [[the Bahamas]], which Spain had occupied during the war. Initial disputes around the ensuing claims of the U.S. and Spain were resolved when Spain was pressured into signing [[Pinckney's Treaty]] in 1795. However, in 1800, under duress from Napoleon of France, Spain ceded an undefined portion of West Florida to France in the secret [[Third Treaty of San Ildefonso|Treaty of San Ildefonso]]. The United States then secured effective control of the river when it bought the [[Louisiana Territory]] from France in the [[Louisiana Purchase]] of 1803. This triggered a dispute between Spain and the U.S. on which parts of West Florida Spain had ceded to France in the first place, which would decide which parts of West Florida the U.S. had bought from France in the Louisiana Purchase, versus which were unceded Spanish property. Due to ongoing U.S. colonization creating facts on the ground, and U.S. military actions, Spain ceded both West and East Florida in their entirety to the United States in the [[Adams–Onís Treaty]] of 1819.

The last serious European challenge to U.S. control of the river came at the conclusion of the [[War of 1812]], when British forces mounted an attack on [[New Orleans]] just 15 days after the signing of the [[Treaty of Ghent]]. The attack [[Battle of New Orleans|was repulsed]] by an American army under the command of General [[Andrew Jackson]].

In the [[Treaty of 1818]], the U.S. and Great Britain agreed to fix the border running from the [[Lake of the Woods]] to the [[Rocky Mountains]] along the [[49th parallel north]]. In effect, the U.S. ceded the northwestern extremity of the Mississippi basin to the British in exchange for the southern portion of the [[Red River of the North|Red River]] basin.

So many settlers traveled westward through the Mississippi river basin, as well as settled in it, that Zadok Cramer wrote a guidebook called ''[[The Navigator (1801 guide book)|The Navigator]]'', detailing the features, dangers, and navigable waterways of the area. It was so popular that he updated and expanded it through 12 editions over 25 years.

[[File:Mississippi River-sand bars.jpg|thumb|Shifting [[shoal|sand bars]] made early navigation difficult.]]

The colonization of the area was barely slowed by the three [[1812 New Madrid earthquake|earthquakes in 1811 and 1812]], estimated at 8 on the [[Richter magnitude scale]], that were centered near [[New Madrid, Missouri]].

===Steamboat era===
{{Main article|Steamboats of the Mississippi}}

Mark Twain's book, ''[[Life on the Mississippi]]'', covered the [[steamboat]] commerce, which took place from 1830 to 1870, before more modern ships replaced the steamer. ''[[Harper's Weekly]]'' first published the book as a seven-part [[Serial (publishing)|serial]] in 1875. [[James R. Osgood]] & Company published the full version, including a passage from the then unfinished ''[[Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]]'' and works from other authors, in 1885.

The first steamboat to travel the full length of the Lower Mississippi from the Ohio River to New Orleans was the ''[[New Orleans (steamboat)|New Orleans]]'' in December 1811. Its maiden voyage occurred during the series of [[1812 New Madrid earthquake|New Madrid earthquakes]] in 1811–12. The Upper Mississippi was treacherous, unpredictable and to make traveling worse, the area was not properly mapped out or surveyed. Until the 1840s, only two trips a year to the Twin Cities landings were made by steamboats, which suggests it was not very profitable.<ref>Roseman, Curtis C., and Elizabeth M. Roseman. Grand Excursions on the Upper Mississippi River : Places, Landscapes, And Regional Identity After 1854. Iowa City: University Of Iowa Press, 2004.</ref>

Steamboat transport remained a viable industry, both in terms of passengers and freight, until the end of the first decade of the 20th century. Among the several Mississippi River system steamboat companies was the noted [[Anchor Line (riverboat company)|Anchor Line]], which, from 1859 to 1898, operated a luxurious fleet of steamers between St. Louis and New Orleans.

Italian explorer Giacomo Beltrami wrote about his journey on the ''Virginia'', which was the first steamboat to make it to Fort St. Anthony in Minnesota. He referred to his voyage as a promenade that was once a journey on the Mississippi. The steamboat era changed the economic and political life of the Mississippi, as well as of travel itself. The Mississippi was completely changed by the steamboat era as it transformed into a flourishing tourist trade.<ref>Smith, Thomas Ruys. River of Dreams : Imagining The Mississippi Before Mark Twain. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2007.</ref>

===Civil War===
{{Main|Mississippi River in the American Civil War}}
[[File:Battle of Vicksburg, Kurz and Allison.png|thumb|[[Siege of Vicksburg|Battle of Vicksburg]] (ca.&nbsp;1888)]]
[[File:Mississippi River from Eunice, Arkansas.jpg|thumb|Mississippi River from [[Eunice, Arkansas]], a settlement destroyed by gunboats during the Civil War.]]

Control of the river was a strategic objective of both sides in the [[American Civil War]], forming a part of the U.S. [[Anaconda Plan]]. In 1862, [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] forces coming down the river successfully cleared Confederate defenses at [[Battle of Island Number Ten|Island Number 10]] and [[Memphis, Tennessee]], while Naval forces coming upriver from the Gulf of Mexico captured [[New Orleans, Louisiana]]. One of the last major Confederate strongholds was on the heights overlooking the river at [[Vicksburg, Mississippi]]; the Union's [[Vicksburg Campaign]] (December 1862–July 1863), and the fall of [[Port Hudson, Louisiana|Port Hudson]], completed control of the lower Mississippi River. The Union victory ended the [[Siege of Vicksburg]] on July 4, 1863, and was pivotal to the Union's final victory of the Civil War.

===20th and 21st centuries===
{{see also|List of Mississippi River floods}}
The "Big Freeze" of 1918–19 blocked river traffic north of Memphis, Tennessee, preventing transportation of coal from southern Illinois. This resulted in widespread shortages, high prices, and rationing of coal in January and February.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.semo.edu/sepr/programming/ay_episodes_14160.htm |title=Southeast Missouri State University: The Big Freeze, 1918–1919 |publisher=Semo.edu |access-date=November 6, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100627225013/http://www.semo.edu/sepr/programming/ay_episodes_14160.htm |archive-date=June 27, 2010}}</ref>

In the spring of 1927, the river broke out of its banks in 145 places, during the [[Great Mississippi Flood of 1927]] and inundated {{cvt|27000|sqmi|km2}} to a depth of up to {{convert|30|ft}}.

In 1930, [[Fred Newton (swimmer)|Fred Newton]] was the first person to swim the length of the river, from Minneapolis to New Orleans. The journey took 176 days and covered 1,836 miles.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Miller |first=Greg |date=September 2020 |title=The Man Who Swam the Full Length of the Mississippi River |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/fred-newton-swam-mississippi-river-180975512/ |access-date=2021-05-02 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en |archive-date=May 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210502220612/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/fred-newton-swam-mississippi-river-180975512/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Tomalin |first=Terry |date=2010-06-07 |title=AN OPEN WATER EXPERIENCE |url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2010/05/22/an-open-water-experience/ |access-date=2021-05-02 |website=Tampa Bay Times |language=en |archive-date=May 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210502220612/https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2010/05/22/an-open-water-experience/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1962 and 1963, industrial accidents spilled {{convert|3.5|e6usgal|m3}} of [[soybean oil]] into the Mississippi and [[Minnesota River|Minnesota]] rivers. The oil covered the Mississippi River from St. Paul to Lake Pepin, creating an ecological disaster and a demand to control [[water pollution]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mnopedia.org/event/mississippi-river-oil-spill-1962-1963 |title=Mississippi River Oil Spill, 1962–1963 |author=Manulik, Joseph |date=October 29, 2012 |work=MNopedia |publisher=[[Minnesota Historical Society]] |access-date=November 3, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117053817/http://www.mnopedia.org/event/mississippi-river-oil-spill-1962-1963 |archive-date=January 17, 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

On October 20, 1976, the automobile ferry, ''[[MV George Prince ferry disaster|MV George Prince]]'', was struck by a ship traveling upstream as the ferry attempted to cross from [[Destrehan, Louisiana]], to [[Luling, Louisiana]]. Seventy-eight passengers and crew died; only eighteen survived the accident.

In 1988, the water level of the Mississippi fell to {{convert|10|ft}} below zero on the Memphis gauge. The remains of wooden-hulled water craft were exposed in an area of {{convert|4.5|acre|ha}} on the bottom of the Mississippi River at West Memphis, Arkansas. They dated to the late 19th to early 20th centuries. The State of Arkansas, the Arkansas Archeological Survey, and the Arkansas Archeological Society responded with a two-month data recovery effort. The fieldwork received national media attention as good news in the middle of a drought.<ref>{{cite web |last=UA-WRI Research Station |first=Historical Archeology |title=Ghost Boats of the Mississippi |url=http://www.uark.edu/campus-resources/archinfo/atughostboats.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121212235537/http://www.uark.edu/campus-resources/archinfo/atughostboats.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 12, 2012 |access-date=March 31, 2008}}</ref>

The [[Great Mississippi and Missouri Rivers Flood of 1993|Great Flood of 1993]] was another significant flood, primarily affecting the Mississippi above its confluence with the Ohio River at Cairo, Illinois.

Two portions of the Mississippi were designated as [[American Heritage Rivers]] in 1997: the lower portion around Louisiana and Tennessee, and the upper portion around Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin. The Nature Conservancy's project called "America's Rivershed Initiative" announced a 'report card' assessment of the entire basin in October 2015 and gave the grade of D+. The assessment noted the aging navigation and flood control infrastructure along with multiple environmental problems.<ref>"Mississippi River Basin Receives D+ in First-Ever Report Card" (Press Release). U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Mississippi Valley Division. October 14, 2015. Retrieved November 7, 2015. [http://www.mvd.usace.army.mil/Media/NewsReleases/tabid/7719/Article/623057/mississippi-river-basin-receives-d-in-first-ever-report-card.aspx US Army Corps of Engineers website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231005012017/https://www.mvd.usace.army.mil/Media/News-Releases/Article/623057/mississippi-river-basin-receives-d-in-first-ever-report-card/ |date=October 5, 2023 }}</ref>

[[File:Mississippi-River-Sandbar-Sunset.jpg|thumb|Campsite at the river in Arkansas]]

In 2002, [[Slovenia]]n long-distance swimmer [[Martin Strel]] swam the entire length of the river, from Minnesota to Louisiana, over the course of 68 days. In 2005, the Source to Sea Expedition<ref>{{cite web |url=http://sourcetosea.net/ |title=Source to Sea |publisher=Source to Sea |access-date=March 12, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130408092708/http://sourcetosea.net/ |archive-date=April 8, 2013}}</ref> paddled the Mississippi and [[Atchafalaya River]]s to benefit the Audubon Society's Upper Mississippi River Campaign.<ref>{{cite web |title=Upper Mississippi River Campaign |publisher=National Audubon Society |year=2006 |url=http://www.audubon.org/campaign/umr |access-date=November 29, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061124015242/http://www.audubon.org/campaign/umr |archive-date=November 24, 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Paddling the Mississippi River to Benefit the Audubon Society |work=Source to Sea: The Mississippi River Project |publisher=Source to Sea 2006 |year=2006 |url=http://www.sourcetosea.net |access-date=November 29, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061207211641/http://sourcetosea.net/ |archive-date=December 7, 2006 |df=mdy-all}}</ref>

===Future===
Geologists believe that the lower Mississippi could take a new course to the Gulf. Either of two new routes—through the [[Atchafalaya Basin]] or through [[Lake Pontchartrain]]—might become the Mississippi's main channel if flood-control structures are overtopped or heavily damaged during a severe flood.<ref name="AmericasWetlands">{{cite web |url=http://www.americaswetlandresources.com/background_facts/detailedstory/LouisianaRiverControl.html |title=Controlling the Mighty Mississippi's path to the sea |publisher=Americaswetlandresources.com |date=January 6, 2012 |access-date=March 12, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310124727/http://www.americaswetlandresources.com/background_facts/detailedstory/LouisianaRiverControl.html |archive-date=March 10, 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="DailyImpact">{{cite web |title=Mississippi Rising: Apocalypse Now? (April 28, 2011) |url=http://www.dailyimpact.net/2011/04/28/mississippi-rising-apocalypse-now/ |publisher=Daily Impact |access-date=May 10, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110505162323/http://www.dailyimpact.net/2011/04/28/mississippi-rising-apocalypse-now/ |archive-date=May 5, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="InteractiveMap">{{cite web |url=http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php?q=https://sites.google.com/site/gmap4files/p/news/mississippi_course_change.txt&ll=30.417887,-91.201416&t=h&z=9&label=on |title=Will the Mississippi River change its course in 2011 to the red line? |access-date=May 8, 2011 |publisher=Mappingsupport |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511223418/http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php?q=https%3A%2F%2Fsites.google.com%2Fsite%2Fgmap4files%2Fp%2Fnews%2Fmississippi_course_change.txt&ll=30.417887%2C-91.201416&t=h&z=9&label=on |archive-date=May 11, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1798 |title=Dr. Jeff Masters' WunderBlog : Mississippi River sets all-time flood records; 2nd major spillway opens : Weather Underground |publisher=Wunderground.com |access-date=March 12, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108192306/http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1798 |archive-date=November 8, 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Nola article with flood volume">{{cite news |author=Contributing Op-Ed columnist |url=http://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2011/05/floods_are_a_reminder_of_the_m.html |title=Floods are a reminder of the Mississippi River's power: John Barry |newspaper=NOLA.com |access-date=May 16, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515061347/http://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2011/05/floods_are_a_reminder_of_the_m.html |archive-date=May 15, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Failure of the [[Old River Control Structure]], the [[Morganza Spillway]], or nearby levees would likely re-route the main channel of the Mississippi through [[Louisiana|Louisiana's]] [[Atchafalaya Basin]] and down the [[Atchafalaya River]] to reach the Gulf of Mexico south of [[Morgan City, Louisiana|Morgan City]] in southern Louisiana. This route provides a more direct path to the [[Gulf of Mexico]] than the present Mississippi River channel through [[Baton Rouge, Louisiana|Baton Rouge]] and [[New Orleans]].<ref name="InteractiveMap"/> While the risk of such a diversion is present during any major flood event, such a change has so far been prevented by active human intervention involving the construction, maintenance, and operation of various levees, spillways, and other control structures by the [[U.S. Army Corps of Engineers]].

[[File:Old River Control Structure Complex.jpg|thumb|The Old River Control Structure complex. View is to the [[east-southeast]], looking downriver on the Mississippi, with the three dams across channels of the [[Atchafalaya River]] to the right of the Mississippi. [[Concordia Parish, Louisiana]] is in the foreground, on the right, and [[Wilkinson County, Mississippi]], is in the background, across the Mississippi on the left.]]
The Old River Control Structure, between the present Mississippi River channel and the Atchafalaya Basin, sits at the normal water elevation and is ordinarily used to divert 30% of the Mississippi flow to the Atchafalaya River. There is a steep drop here away from the Mississippi's main channel into the Atchafalaya Basin. If this facility were to fail during a major flood, there is a strong concern the water would [[Bridge scour|scour]] and erode the river bottom enough to capture the Mississippi's main channel. The structure was nearly lost during the [[1973 Mississippi River floods|1973 flood]], but repairs and improvements were made after engineers studied the forces at play. In particular, the Corps of Engineers made many improvements and constructed additional facilities for routing water through the vicinity. These additional facilities give the Corps much more flexibility and potential flow capacity than they had in 1973, which further reduces the risk of a catastrophic failure in this area during other major floods, such as that of [[2011 Mississippi River floods|2011]].

Because the [[Morganza Spillway]] is slightly higher and well back from the river, it is normally dry on both sides.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.theadvertiser.com/article/20110512/NEWS01/105120319/Morganza-ready-flood?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Cimg%7CFRONTPAGE |title=Morganza ready for flood &#124; The Advertiser |publisher=theadvertiser.com |date=May 12, 2011 |access-date=May 16, 2011}}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Even if it failed at the crest during a severe flood, the floodwaters would have to erode to normal water levels before the Mississippi could permanently jump channel at this location.<ref name="USACE">{{cite web |title=Morganza Floodway |url=http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/bcarre/morganza.asp |publisher=US Army Corps of Engineers |access-date=2011-05-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111181513/http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/bcarre/morganza.asp |archive-date=January 11, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Letting the River Run: Using Nature to Decrease Mississippi River Flooding |url=https://www.nature.org/en-us/magazine/magazine-articles/reduce-mississippi-river-flooding/ |access-date=2022-10-10 |website=The Nature Conservancy |language=en-US |archive-date=October 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221010092117/https://www.nature.org/en-us/magazine/magazine-articles/reduce-mississippi-river-flooding/ |url-status=live }}</ref> During the 2011 floods, the Corps of Engineers opened the Morganza Spillway to 1/4 of its capacity to allow {{convert|150,000|ft3/s|m3/s}} of water to flood the Morganza and Atchafalaya floodways and continue directly to the Gulf of Mexico, bypassing Baton Rouge and New Orleans.<ref name="usace-inundation">[https://web.archive.org/web/20110511164822/http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/bcarre/NO_District_Inundation_Spring_May_2011.pdf Estimated Inundation] (US Army Corps of Engineers)</ref> In addition to reducing the Mississippi River crest downstream, this diversion reduced the chances of a channel change by reducing stress on the other elements of the control system.<ref>{{cite news |author=Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune |url=http://www.nola.com/weather/index.ssf/2011/05/army_corps_fears_massive_flood.html |title=Mississippi River flooding in New Orleans area could be massive if Morganza spillway stays closed |newspaper=NOLA.com |access-date=May 16, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514051400/http://www.nola.com/weather/index.ssf/2011/05/army_corps_fears_massive_flood.html |archive-date=May 14, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Some geologists have noted that the possibility for course change into the Atchafalaya also exists in the area immediately north of the Old River Control Structure. Army Corps of Engineers geologist Fred Smith once stated, "The Mississippi wants to go west. 1973 was a forty-year flood. The big one lies out there somewhere—when the structures can't release all the floodwaters and the levee is going to have to give way. That is when the river's going to jump its banks and try to break through."<ref>{{cite web |last=McPhee |first=John |url=http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1987/02/23/1987_02_23_039_TNY_CARDS_000347146?currentPage=all |title=McPhee, The Control of Nature: Atchafalaya |publisher=Newyorker.com |date=February 23, 1987 |access-date=May 16, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514052013/http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1987/02/23/1987_02_23_039_TNY_CARDS_000347146?currentPage=all |archive-date=May 14, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Another possible course change for the Mississippi River is a diversion into [[Lake Pontchartrain]] near [[New Orleans]]. This route is controlled by the [[Bonnet Carré Spillway]], built to reduce flooding in New Orleans. This spillway and an imperfect natural levee about {{cvt|12-20|ft}} high are all that prevents the Mississippi from taking a new, shorter course through Lake Pontchartrain to the Gulf of Mexico.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.johnweeks.com/river_mississippi/pages/lmiss25.html |title=Bonnet Carre Spillway, Norco, LA |publisher=Johnweeks.com |date=April 10, 2008 |access-date=May 16, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515092839/http://www.johnweeks.com/river_mississippi/pages/lmiss25.html |archive-date=May 15, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Diversion of the Mississippi's main channel through Lake Pontchartrain would have consequences similar to an Atchafalaya diversion, but to a lesser extent, since the present river channel would remain in use past Baton Rouge and into the New Orleans area.

==Recreation==
[[File:MississippiRiverBluffs.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Great River Road]] in Wisconsin near [[Lake Pepin]] (2005)]]
The sport of [[waterskiing|water skiing]] was invented on the river in a wide region between Minnesota and Wisconsin known as [[Lake Pepin]].<ref name="usaws">{{cite web |title=The Beginning |url=http://www.usawaterski.org/pages/USA-WS%20Profile.htm |year=2009 |publisher=USA Water Ski.org |access-date=July 30, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927194235/http://www.usawaterski.org/pages/USA-WS%20Profile.htm |archive-date=September 27, 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Ralph Samuelson]] of [[Lake City, Minnesota]], created and refined his skiing technique in late June and early July 1922. He later performed the first water ski jump in 1925 and was pulled along at {{cvt|80|mph}} by a Curtiss [[flying boat]] later that year.<ref name="usaws"/>

There are seven [[National Park Service]] sites along the Mississippi River. The [[Mississippi National River and Recreation Area]] is the National Park Service site dedicated to protecting and interpreting the Mississippi River itself. The other six National Park Service sites along the river are (listed from north to south):
* [[Effigy Mounds National Monument]]
* [[Gateway Arch National Park]] (includes [[Gateway Arch]])
* [[Vicksburg National Military Park]]
* [[Natchez National Historical Park]]
* [[New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park]]
* [[Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve]]

==Ecology==
{{Further|Mississippi River System#Ecology}}
[[File:Paddlefish underwater.jpeg|thumb|The [[American paddlefish]] is an ancient [[Relict (biology)|relict]] from the Mississippi]]

The Mississippi basin is home to a highly diverse aquatic [[fauna]] and has been called the "mother fauna" of North American freshwater.<ref name=Matthews1998>{{cite book |author=Matthews, W.J. |title=Patterns in Freshwater Fish Ecology |year=1998 |pages=5 and 236 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-4615-4066-3}}</ref>

===Fish===
About 375 fish species are known from the Mississippi basin, far exceeding other North Hemisphere river basins exclusively within temperate/subtropical regions,<ref name=Matthews1998/> except the [[Yangtze]].<ref>{{cite book |author1=Ye, S. |author2=Li, Z. |author3=Liu, J. |author4=Zhang, T. |author5=Xie, S. |chapter=Distribution, Endemism and Conservation Status of Fishes in the Yangtze River Basin, China |year=2011 |pages=41–66 |title=Ecosystems Biodiversity |isbn=978-953-307-417-7}}</ref> Within the Mississippi basin, streams that have their source in the Appalachian and [[Ozark]] highlands contain especially many species. Among the fish species in the basin are numerous [[endemic]]s, as well as [[Relict (biology)|relicts]] such as [[American paddlefish|paddlefish]], [[sturgeon]], [[gar]] and [[bowfin]].<ref name=Matthews1998/>

Because of its size and high species diversity, the Mississippi basin is often divided into subregions. The Upper Mississippi River alone is home to about 120 fish species, including [[walleye]], [[sauger]], [[largemouth bass]], [[smallmouth bass]], [[white bass]], [[northern pike]], [[bluegill]], [[crappie]], [[channel catfish]], [[flathead catfish]], [[common shiner]], [[freshwater drum]], and [[shovelnose sturgeon]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Fish of the Mississippi River |url=http://www.mvr.usace.army.mil/Portals/48/docs/Recreation/ODM/pdf/Fish%20of%20the%20Mississippi%20River.pdf |access-date=March 12, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130224103239/http://www.mvr.usace.army.mil/Portals/48/docs/Recreation/ODM/pdf/Fish%20of%20the%20Mississippi%20River.pdf |archive-date=February 24, 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Fish Species of the Mississippi River |url=http://bestdamfishingfloat.com/fish-species-of-the-mississippi-river/ |access-date=March 12, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012121314/http://bestdamfishingfloat.com/fish-species-of-the-mississippi-river/ |archive-date=October 12, 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Other fauna===
A large number of reptiles are native to the river channels and basin, including [[American alligator]]s, several species of turtle, aquatic amphibians,<ref>{{cite book |author1=Conant, R. |author2=J.T. Collins |title=Reptiles and Amphibians, Eastern and Central North America |year=1998 |series=Peterson Field Guides |edition=3 |isbn=0-395-90452-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/fieldguidetorept00cona_0 |access-date=August 9, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191025033222/https://archive.org/details/fieldguidetorept00cona_0 |archive-date=October 25, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> and [[cambaridae]] crayfish, are native to the Mississippi basin.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Hobbs, H.H. Jr. |title=An Illustrated Checklist of the American Crayfishes (Decapoda, Astacidae, Cambaridae, Parastacidae) |year=1989 |journal=Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology |volume=480 |issue=480 |pages=1–236 |doi=10.5479/si.00810282.480}}</ref>

In addition, approximately 40% of the [[Bird migration|migratory birds]] in the US use the Mississippi River corridor during Spring and Fall migrations; 60% of all migratory birds in [[North America]] (326 species) use the river basin as their flyway.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Blvd |first1=Mailing Address: 111 E. Kellogg |last2=Paul |first2=Suite 105 Saint |last3=Us |first3=MN 55101 Phone: 651 293-0200 This is the general phone line at the Mississippi River Visitor Center Contact |title=Mississippi River Facts - Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/miss/riverfacts.htm |access-date=2022-07-04 |website=www.nps.gov |language=en |archive-date=November 17, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117213831/https://www.nps.gov/miss/riverfacts.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Introduced species===
Numerous [[introduced species]] are found in the Mississippi and some of these are [[Invasive species|invasive]]. Among the introductions are fish such as [[Asian carp in North America|Asian carp]], including the [[silver carp]] that have become infamous for out-competing native fish and their potentially dangerous [[Asian carp in North America#Jumping ability|jumping behavior]]. They have spread throughout much of the basin, even approaching (but not yet invading) the Great Lakes.<ref>{{cite news |author=Matheny, K. |date=December 23, 2016 |title=Invasive Asian carp less than 50 miles from Lake Michigan |url=http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2016/12/22/asian-carp-great-lakes-michigan/93970746/ |newspaper=Detroit Free Press |access-date=June 13, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170625090825/http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2016/12/22/asian-carp-great-lakes-michigan/93970746/ |archive-date=June 25, 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Minnesota Department of Natural Resources]] has designated much of the Mississippi River in the state as infested waters by the exotic species [[zebra mussel]]s and [[Eurasian watermilfoil]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Designation of Infested Waters |publisher=[[Minnesota Department of Natural Resources]] |url=http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/ais/infested.html |access-date=May 31, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140601003658/http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/ais/infested.html |archive-date=June 1, 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=35em}}
* [[Atchafalaya Basin]]
* [[Capes on the Mississippi River]]
* [[Chemetco]]
* [[Great River Road]]
* [[List of crossings of the Lower Mississippi River]]
* [[List of crossings of the Upper Mississippi River]]
* [[List of locks and dams of the Upper Mississippi River]]
* [[List of tributaries of the Mississippi River]]
* [[List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem)]]
* [[Mississippi embayment]]
* [[Mississippi River floods]]
* [[Mississippi River System]]
* ''[[The Waterways Journal Weekly]]''
* [[Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge]]
{{div col end}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}
{{Reflist|group=US Army Corps of Engineers}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite book |last=Allen |first=Michael |title=Mississippi River Valley: The Course of American Civilization |publisher=[[Iowa State University Digital Press]] |year=2023 |isbn=978-1-958291-00-9 |location=Ames, IA |language= |doi=10.31274/isudp.2023.135 |s2cid=259469983}}
* Ambrose, Stephen. ''The Mississippi and the Making of a Nation: From the Louisiana Purchase to Today'' (National Geographical Society, 2002) heavily illustrated
* {{cite web |first=John O. |last=Anfinson |author2=Thomas Madigan |author3=Drew M. Forsberg |author4=Patrick Nunnally |year=2003 |title=The River of History: A Historic Resources Study of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area |location=St. Paul, MN |publisher=U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District |url=https://www.nps.gov/miss/learn/historyculture/upload/hrs-full-comp.pdf |access-date=January 1, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222110135/https://www.nps.gov/miss/learn/historyculture/upload/hrs-full-comp.pdf |archive-date=February 22, 2017 |oclc=53911450 }}
* Anfinson, John Ogden. ''Commerce and conservation on the Upper Mississippi River'' (US Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, 1994)
* {{Cite book |last=Bartlett |first=Richard A. |title=Rolling rivers: an encyclopedia of America's rivers |year=1984 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |location=New York |isbn=0-07-003910-0 |oclc=10807295 |url=https://archive.org/details/rollingriversenc00bart }}
* Botkin, Benjamin Albert. ''A Treasury of Mississippi River folklore: stories, ballads & traditions of the mid-American river country'' (1984).
* Carlander, Harriet Bell. ''A history of fish and fishing in the upper Mississippi River'' (PhD Diss. Iowa State College, 1954) [http://www.nativefishlab.net/library/textpdf/17391.pdf online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150430134438/http://www.nativefishlab.net/library/textpdf/17391.pdf |date=April 30, 2015 }} (PDF)
* Daniel, Pete. ''Deep'n as it come: The 1927 Mississippi River flood'' (University of Arkansas Press, 1977)
* Fremling, Calvin R. ''Immortal river: the Upper Mississippi in ancient and modern times'' (U. of Wisconsin Press, 2005), popular history
* Milner, George R. "The late prehistoric Cahokia cultural system of the Mississippi River valley: Foundations, florescence, and fragmentation." ''Journal of World Prehistory'' (1990) 4#1 pp: 1–43.
* Morris, Christopher. ''The Big Muddy: An Environmental History of the Mississippi and Its Peoples From Hernando de Soto to Hurricane Katrina'' (Oxford University Press; 2012) 300 pages; links drought, disease, and flooding to the impact of centuries of increasingly intense human manipulation of the river.
* {{Cite book |last=Penn |first=James R. |title=Rivers of the world: a social, geographical, and environmental sourcebook |year=2001 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, CA |isbn=1-57607-042-5 |oclc=260075679 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/riversofworldsoc00penn }}
* {{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Thomas Ruys |title=River of dreams: imagining the Mississippi before Mark Twain |year=2007 |publisher=Louisiana State University Press |location=Baton Rouge |isbn=978-0-8071-3233-3 |oclc=182615621 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/riverofdreamsima0000smit }}
* {{cite book |first=Quinta |last=Scott |title=The Mississippi: A Visual Biography |year=2010 |publisher=University of Missouri Press |location=Columbia, MO |isbn=978-0-8262-1840-7 |oclc=277196207}}
* {{cite book |first=Michael |last=Pasquier |title=Gods of the Mississippi |year=2013 |publisher=Indiana University Press |location=Bloomington |isbn=978-0-253-00806-0}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons}}
{{wikivoyage|Mississippi River}}
{{EB1911 poster|Mississippi River}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070610102737/http://www.alcnet.org/projects/overview/mississippi Mississippi River] – project of the [[American Land Conservancy]]
* [http://www.apfm.info/publications/casestudies/cs_usa_mississippi_full.pdf Flood management in the Mississippi River] (PDF). {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180818030107/http://www.apfm.info/publications/casestudies/cs_usa_mississippi_full.pdf |date=August 18, 2018 }}.
* [http://fmr.org/ Friends of the Mississippi River]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20110225132047/http://mississippiriverchallenge.org/ Mississippi River Challenge] – annual canoe & kayak event on the Twin Cities stretch
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20110208170052/http://fieldguide.fmr.org/ Mississippi River Field Guide]

{{AHR}}
{{United States topics}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Mississippi River| ]]
[[Category:Mississippi River watershed|.]]
[[Category:American Heritage Rivers]]
[[Category:Borders of Arkansas]]
[[Category:Borders of Illinois]]
[[Category:Borders of Iowa]]
[[Category:Borders of Kentucky]]
[[Category:Borders of Louisiana]]
[[Category:Borders of Minnesota]]
[[Category:Borders of Mississippi]]
[[Category:Borders of Missouri]]
[[Category:Borders of Tennessee]]
[[Category:Borders of Wisconsin]]
[[Category:Rivers of Arkansas]]
[[Category:Rivers of Illinois]]
[[Category:Rivers of Iowa]]
[[Category:Rivers of Kentucky]]
[[Category:Rivers of Louisiana]]
[[Category:Rivers of Minnesota]]
[[Category:Rivers of Mississippi]]
[[Category:Rivers of Missouri]]
[[Category:Rivers of Tennessee]]
[[Category:Rivers of Wisconsin]]
[[Category:Mississippi embayment]]

Revision as of 14:46, 16 November 2023

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