Mississippi River Cruise

Mississippi River Cruise

Why not go on cruise on the River Mississippi. It is great place to have cruise as there some great scenic vioews and some great cultural experiences. You can have a great time viewing the river. There is a great history rivers cruises on the river. Some of the boats have a great historical look.

The Mississippi River is the second longest river in the United States, with a length of 2,340 miles from its source in Lake Itasca in Minnesota to its mouth in The Gulf of Mexico. The longest river, a Mississippi tributary, is the Missouri River measuring 2,540 miles.

Missouri River flows from the confluence of the Jefferson, Madison, and Gallatin to the Mississippi River. Taken together, the Jefferson, the Missouri, and the Mississippi form the longest river system in North America. If measured from the source of the Jefferson at Brower's Spring, to the Gulf of Mexico, the length of the Mississippi - Missouri - Jefferson combination is approximately 3,900 miles, making the combination the 4th longest river in the world. The uppermost 207 miles of this combined river are called the Jefferson, the lowest 1,352 miles are part of the Mississippi, and the intervening 2,341 miles are called the Missouri.

The Arkansas River is the second longest tributary of the Mississippi River. Measured by water volume, the largest of all Mississippi tributaries is the Ohio River.

The widest point of the Mississippi River is Lake Onalaska, near La Crosse, Wisconsin, where the river is over 4 miles wide. Since Lake Onalaska was created by Lock and Dam No. 7, Lake Pepin is historically the widest natural spot at more than two miles wide. These areas however are reservoir rather than free flowing river. In areas where the Mississippi is a flowing river, it exceeds one mile in width in several places in its lower course.

The Mississippi River runs through 10 states and was used to define portions of these states' borders. The middle of the riverbed at the time the borders were established was the line to define the borders between states. The river has since shifted, but the state borders of Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi have not changed; they still follow the former bed of the Mississippi River as of their establishment.

The river is divided into the upper Mississippi, from its source south to the Ohio River, and the lower Mississippi, from the Ohio to its mouth near New Orleans, Louisiana.

Upper Mississippi River

The upper Mississippi is divided into three sections: the headwaters, from the source to Saint Anthony Falls; a series of man-made lakes between Minneapolis and St. Louis, Missouri; and the middle Mississippi, a relatively free flowing river downstream of the confluence with the Missouri River at St. Louis.

Source

The source of the Mississippi River is Lake Itasca, 1,475 ft above sea level in Itasca State Park located in Clearwater County, Minnesota. The name "Itasca" is a combination of the last four letters of the Latin word for truth (veritas) and the first two letters of the Latin word for head (caput).

The uppermost lock and dam on the Mississippi River is the Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Above the dam, the river's elevation is 799 feet. Below the dam, the river's elevation is 750 feet. This 49 foot drop is the largest of all the Mississippi River lock and dams. The origin of the dramatic drop is a waterfall preserved adjacent to the lock under an apron of concrete. St. Anthony Falls is the only true waterfall on the entire Mississippi River. The water elevation continues to drop steeply as it passes through the gorge carved by the waterfall. By the time the river reaches St. Paul, Minnesota, below Lock and Dam #1, it has dropped more than half its original elevation and is 687 feet above sea level. From St. Paul to the Gulf of Mexico the river elevation falls much more slowly and is controlled and managed as series of pools created by locks and dams.

Tributaries

The Mississippi is joined by the Minnesota River south of the Twin Cities, the Wisconsin River in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, the St. Croix River near Prescott, Wisconsin, the Iowa River near Wapello, Iowa, the Skunk River south of Burlington, Iowa, the Des Moines River in Keokuk, Iowa, the Illinois River and the Missouri River near St. Louis, and by the Ohio River at Cairo, Illinois.

Lower Mississippi River

See also: Mississippi River Delta

Major sub-tributaries include the Tennessee River (a tributary of the Ohio River) and the Platte River (a tributary of the Missouri River). The Arkansas River joins the Mississippi in southeastern Arkansas. The Atchafalaya River in Louisiana is a major distributary of the Mississippi.

Cities along the river

Bemidji, Minnesota ; Little Falls, Minnesota ; Saint Cloud, Minnesota ; Minneapolis, Minnesota ; St. Paul, Minnesota ; Winona, Minnesota ; La Crosse, Wisconsin ;
Dubuque, Iowa ; Bettendorf, Iowa ; Davenport, Iowa ; Rock Island, Illinois ; Moline, Illinois ; Muscatine, Iowa ; Burlington, Iowa ;Fort Madison, Iowa ;Nauvoo, Illinois ; Keokuk, Iowa ; Quincy, Illinois ; Hannibal, Missouri ; St. Louis, Missouri ; Ste.Genevieve, Missouri ; Cape Girardeau, Missouri ; Cairo, Illinois ; New Madrid, Missouri ; Columbus, Kentucky ; Hickman, Kentucky ; Reverie, Tennessee ; Memphis, Tennessee ; Tunica, Mississippi ; Helena-West Helena, Arkansas ; Greenville, Mississippi ; Vicksburg, Mississippi ; Natchez, Mississippi ; Baton Rouge, Louisiana ; New Orleans, Louisiana ; Pilottown, Louisiana ; La Balize, Louisiana (historical) ; These cities can be great to view on the river.

National Parks

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, Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (AKA The Arch), Vicksburg National Military Park, Natchez National Historical Park, New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park, and Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve.

There are many names for river such as

The Gathering of Waters ; The Big Muddy (more commonly associated with the Missouri River) ; Big River ; Ol' Man River (a nickname immortalized by Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern in their song from the classic musical Show Boat) ; The Great River ; Body of a Nation ; The Mighty Mississippi ; El Grande (by Hernando de Soto) ; The Muddy Mississippi ; Old Blue ; Moon River ; Ol' Miss

The sport of water skiing was invented on the river in a wide region between Minnesota and Wisconsin known as Lake Pepin. 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 80 miles per hour (128 km/h) by a Curtiss flying boat later that year.

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