Title: Mississippi (river Us) | Encyclopedia.com
Headings: Mississippi River
Mississippi River
MISSISSIPPI RIVER
Mississippi River's Course
History
Flooding
Human Influence
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Mississippi River
MISSISSIPPI RIVER
bibliography
Mississippi River
MISSISSIPPI RIVER
Mississippi

Content: This drainage basin (approximately 1,234,700 square miles) covers about 40 percent of the United States and ranks as the fifth largest in the world. Mississippi River's Course
The Mississippi River actually begins as a small stream flowing from Lake Itasca, Minnesota. The river initially flows north and then east as the means of connecting several lakes in northern Minnesota. The river begins to flow southward near Grand Rapids, Minnesota, and is joined with the Minnesota River between the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. The muddy waters of the Missouri River flow into the clear waters of the Mississippi River just north of St. Louis, Missouri. At this point, the Mississippi
becomes brown and muddy for the rest of the journey south. At Cairo, Illinois, the Ohio River flows into the Mississippi, doubling its volume and creating the point that divides the Upper Mississippi from the Lower Mississippi. The Lower Mississippi Valley is a wide and fertile region. In this area, the river meanders its way south and over time has continuously changed its course, leaving behind numerous oxbow lakes as remnants of its past. As it flows in this southern region, the Mississippi deposits rich silt along its banks.