Title: Mississippi River - Wikipedia
Headings: Mississippi River
Mississippi River
Contents
Name and significance
Divisions
Upper Mississippi
Middle Mississippi
Lower Mississippi
Watershed
Outflow
Course changes
Prehistoric courses
Historic course changes
New Madrid Seismic Zone
Length
Depth
Cultural geography
State boundaries
Communities along the river
Bridge crossings
Navigation and flood control
19th century
20th century
21st century
History
Native Americans
European exploration
Colonization
Steamboat era
Civil War
20th and 21st centuries
Future
Recreation
Ecology
Fish
Other fauna
Introduced species
See also
References
Further reading
External links

Content: -95.20750
• elevation
1,475 ft (450 m)

Mouth
Gulf of Mexico
• location
Pilottown, Plaquemines Parish, LA
• coordinates
29°09′04″N 89°15′12″W
﻿ / ﻿ 29.15111°N 89.25333°W ﻿ / 29.15111; -89.25333
Coordinates: 29°09′04″N 89°15′12″W
﻿ / ﻿ 29.15111°N 89.25333°W ﻿ / 29.15111; -89.25333
• elevation
0 ft (0 m)
Length
2,320 mi (3,730 km)
Basin size
1,151,000 sq mi (2,980,000 km 2)

Discharge

• location
mouth; max and min at Baton Rouge, LA
• average
593,000 cu ft/s (16,800 m 3 /s)
• minimum
159,000 cu ft/s (4,500 m 3 /s)
• maximum
3,065,000 cu ft/s (86,800 m 3 /s)


Discharge

• location
St. Louis
• average
168,000 cu ft/s (4,800 m 3 /s)

Basin features
Tributaries

• left
St. Croix River, Wisconsin River, Rock River, Illinois River, Kaskaskia River, Ohio River, Yazoo River, Big Black River
• right
Minnesota River, Des Moines River, Missouri River, White River, Arkansas River, Ouachita River, Red River, Atchafalaya River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system on the North American continent, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it flows generally south for 2,320 miles (3,730 km) to the Mississippi River Delta in the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains all or parts of 32 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces between the Rocky and Appalachian mountains. The main stem is entirely within the United States; the total drainage basin is 1,151,000 sq mi (2,980,000 km 2 ), of which only about one percent is in Canada. The Mississippi ranks as the fifteenth-largest river by discharge in the world.