The Mississippi River is the chief river of the largest river system in North America. (46)
The river either borders or cuts through the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. (35)
The Mississippi River is that the second longest river within the u. s., with a length of two,320 mi (3,734 km) from its supply in Lake Itasca in Minnesota to its mouth in Gulf of Mexico. The longest is its tributary the Missouri River measuring two,341 mi (3,767 km).
The Missouri River flows from the confluence of the Jefferson, Madison, and Gallatin and is that the longest river within the u. s.. Taken along, the Jefferson, the Missouri, and also the Mississippi type the longest river system in North America. If measured from the supply of the Jefferson at Brower's Spring, to the Gulf of Mexico, the length of the Mississippi-Missouri-Jefferson combination is approximately three,900 miles (6,300 km), creating the mixture the fourth longest river within the world. The uppermost 207 miles (333 km) of this combined river are known as the Jefferson, all-time low one,352 miles (2,176 km) are a part of the Mississippi, and also the intervening two,341 miles (3,767 km) are known as the Missouri.
The Arkansas River is that the second longest tributary of the Mississippi River. Measured by water volume, the biggest of all Mississippi tributaries is that the Ohio River.
The widest purpose of the Mississippi River is Lake Winnibigoshish, close to Grand Rapids, Minnesota at over seven miles (11 km) across. conjointly of note is Lake Onalaska, close to La Crosse, Wisconsin, where the river is over four miles (6.4 km) wide (created by Lock and Dam No. 7) and Lake Pepin at over two miles (3.2 km) wide.[5] but, the primary 2 areas are lakes or reservoirs instead of free flowing water. In alternative areas where the Mississippi may be a flowing river (other than Lake Pepin), it exceeds one mile (1.6 km) in width in many places in its lower course.
Beginning with its supply at Lake Itasca to Saint Louis Missouri, the Mississippi's flow is moderated by forty three dams. Fourteen of those dams are located on top of Minneapolis Minnesota within the Headwaters region and serve multiple functions together with power generation and recreation. The remaining twenty nine dams starting in downtown Minneapolis all contain locks and were created to allow business navigation of the higher river. Taken as an entire these forty three dams considerably form the geography and influence the ecology of the higher river. starting slightly below Saint Paul Minnesota and continuing throughout the higher and lower river, the Mississippi is any controlled by thousands of wing dikes that moderate the river's flow so as to take care of an open navigation channel and stop the river from eroding its banks.
The Mississippi River runs through ten states and was used to outline parts of those states' borders. the center of the riverbed at the time the borders were established was the road to outline the borders between states.[6][7] The river has since shifted, however the state borders of Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi haven't changed; they still follow the previous bed of the Mississippi River as of their institution.
Country | USA |
States it flows through | Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Illinois, Alabama, Louisiana, Missouri, Minnesota |
Length | 6020 kilometres |
Number of tributaries | 250 |
Source | Lake Itasca in Minnesota |
Mouth | Louisiana into the Gulf of Mexico |
