Mississippi River System

The Mississippi River System is a large network of rivers in the United States. It includes the Mississippi River and many smaller rivers that flow into it. This system has the largest drainage area in the United States, covering about 41% of the land.

The main rivers in this system are the Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, and Red rivers. Before reaching the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi River joins its distributary, the Atchafalaya River. These rivers work together to move water across the land.

Today, this river system is also used for moving goods. It connects to other important waterways like the Illinois Waterway, the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers keeps these waterways deep enough for large boats called barges to travel.

The Mississippi River helps carry many important things, such as grain, oil, gas, and coal. This makes the river very important for moving goods across the country.

Major tributaries

Further information: List of tributaries of the Mississippi River

Upper Mississippi River

The Upper Mississippi River is about 1,250 miles long. It starts at Lake Itasca in Minnesota and ends at Cairo, Illinois. Much of this part of the river runs through an area called the Driftless Area, which wasn’t covered by glaciers. This area has many limestone cliffs shaped by water. The river has many kinds of fish and freshwater mussels.

Arkansas River

The Arkansas River is a big tributary of the Mississippi River. It flows from Colorado to the Mississippi, passing through Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. It is 1,469 miles long, making it the sixth-longest river in the United States.

Illinois River

The Illinois River is an important tributary of the Mississippi River. It stretches about 273 miles through Illinois. It was a key water route for Native Americans and early French traders, linking the Great Lakes to the Mississippi. The river meets the Mississippi near Grafton.

Missouri River

The Missouri River is very long, starting in southwest Montana and flowing 2,522 miles through six states before joining the Mississippi at St. Louis. It is the longest river in North America.

Ohio River

The Ohio River is 981 miles long. It begins where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers meet in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and ends at Cairo, Illinois, where it flows into the Mississippi. The river passes through parts of eight states.

The river can provide water for many people. It supports many fish species and allows boats to carry cargo. Most of the cargo is energy resources like coal.

Red River of the South

The Red River of the South is 1,290 miles long. It starts near the Rocky Mountains and flows through Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana before joining the Mississippi. The river passes mostly through farmland, with major nearby cities being Shreveport, Louisiana and Alexandria, Louisiana.

Major distributaries

Mississippi River Delta

The Mississippi River Delta formed over many years from sand, clay, and other materials carried by the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico. It is a rich home for many animals and plants and has helped the United States grow.

However, in recent years, the delta has been getting smaller because people have changed the river system. As the land disappears, it becomes harder to protect what remains. The delta is very important for animals, people, and the economy.

Atchafalaya River

The Atchafalaya River is one of the main rivers that branches off from the Mississippi River System. It flows for 170 miles (270 km) and is one of the longest such rivers. Its name means "long river" in the language of the Native American people. The river helps businesses by providing a shorter route to the Gulf of Mexico.

The Old River Control Structure directs some of the water from the Mississippi River into the Atchafalaya River. This control ensures that 30% of the water from the Mississippi and Red Rivers flows into the Atchafalaya River, while the rest continues down the Mississippi River.

Historical use

Further information: Mississippi River § History

The Mississippi River System has been very important to the people who lived near it. Many Native American groups, such as the Ojibwa, Ho-Chunk, Meskwaki, and Choctaw Native Americans, settled close to the river. The river gave them food, helped with farming, and was a place for trading.

Later, a group called the Mound Builders built big farming communities along the rivers. The soil from the river made the land good for growing crops. During the U.S. Civil War, the river was used for moving troops and had important battles. The writer Mark Twain wrote famous stories about life on the rivers.

Modern use

The Mississippi River System and its connected rivers are used today to move goods like iron, steel, and mining products across the country. Each year, lots of items travel on the Mississippi River. The most common way to move these goods is by tugboats pushing large barges along the rivers.

Commerce

The Mississippi River System is very important for the U.S. economy. It helps send out many farm exports and has some of the biggest ports in the U.S., like the Port of South Louisiana and the Port of New Orleans.

These two ports move over 500 million tons of goods each year. Common items shipped include petroleum, iron, steel, grain, rubber, paper, wood, coffee, coal, chemicals, and edible oils.

Goods movement

The commodities moved on the Mississippi River in 1999 included the following:

Ecology

Further information: Mississippi River § Ecology

Natural history

The Mississippi River System began shaping about two billion years ago. Changes in the environment created mountain systems, and erosion formed low areas in the land. Over time, water from oceans flooded the area, and glaciers up to 1.2 miles thick changed the land. When glaciers melted about 15,000 years ago, they left behind water that helped form the rivers we see today.

The Mississippi River starts at Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota as a small stream and flows south to the Gulf of Mexico. It is now connected to many smaller rivers, called tributaries, which together make up the Mississippi River System.

Wildlife

The Mississippi River and its surrounding areas are home to many plants and animals. There are at least 260 kinds of fish in the river. Many birds, including forty percent of the United States' migratory waterfowl, use the river when they travel north and south each year. The river is also an important path for many birds in North America. There are 38 kinds of mussels found in parts of the river, and some areas may have up to 60 different kinds. The area also supports more than 50 kinds of mammals, as well as many amphibians and reptiles.

Human impacts

People have greatly affected the Mississippi River System, mainly through pollution. Even with rules to stop pollution, harmful chemicals from fertilizers and insecticides still get into the water and change the natural balance of plants and animals.

Today, the Mississippi River looks very different from its natural state because of human activity. Faster runoff and more soil moving into the water have caused problems, especially in areas where there is a lot of farming.

Flooding

In 1993, a huge flood covered a large area of land across nine states. It was called a “hundred year flood” because it is very rare — something that might happen only once in a hundred years. The flooding caused damage to homes and cost a lot of money. Many people had to leave their homes because of the damage.

To help prevent future floods, the Army Corps of Engineers works to keep the rivers well-maintained. They have built levees — long walls — to control the river’s flow and floodways to redirect extra water away from populated areas. While these help stop flooding, they can sometimes make it harder for farms to grow crops.