MIESISSIPEI RIVER (Indian, Miclse Sepe, Great river, literally, Father of Waters), a river of the United States of America, the principal river of North America, and, including its chief branch, the Missouri, the longest in the world, rises in the highlands of Minnesota, in a cluster of small lakes, and near the sources of the Red river of the north, and the rivers which flow into lake Superior, in lat. 47' 10' tr., long. 94° 54' west. Its sources are 16S0 ft. above the gulf of Mexico, into which it enters. Its general course is southerly, with numerous windings, giving it a length of 2,986 in. to its mouths, in lat. 29° n., long. 90' w., from which, to the source of the Missouri, is 4,506 miles. The Mis sissippi and its branches drain an area of 1,226,600 sq. miles. It is navigable to the Falls of St. Anthony, 2,200 in., and by smaller boats above the falls; or by the Missouri, 3,95J m., and has 1500 navigable branches, the chief of which :ire the Red river, 340 in. from its mouth; the Yazoo, 534 in.; the Arkansas, 700 m.; the Ohio, 1053 m. ; the Mis.zouri, 1253 miles. The Mississippi river forms a portion of the boundaries of tell states, having the southern part of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, and most of Louisiana on the w. bank; and Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi on the east.
The chief towns situated on its banks arc New Orleans, Natchez, Vicksburg, Memphis, St. Louis, Quincy, Keokuk, Galena, St. Paul. The upper Mississippi, above the junctioa of this Missouri, flows through a picturesque and beautiful country. The great lower valley is 500 in. long, and from 30 to 50 wide. The delta, through which flow its num erous bayous, is 150 m. wide. The alluvial plain through which the river winds has as area sq.m., and the delta 14,000 sq.m., all of which, except a few bluffs, is pro tected by levees, or embankments, from frequent inundations. The descent of the plain is 320 ft., or 8 in. per mile. The river at high water is higher than the plain, and the banks higher than the sWamps of the interior. The great floods rise 40 ft. above low water at thehead of the plain, and 20 ft. at New Orleans, and for the whole distance the river averages 3,000 ft. wide, and is from 75 to 120 deep. There is no apparent increase from the largest branches, and it is estimated that 40 per cent of the floods are lost in the great marshes. Thousands of acres of land upon the banks are annually car ried away by the current, with their growth of timber.