Facts about Mississippi River

South of Hennepin, Illinois, the current Illinois River is actually following the ancient channel of the Mississippi River (to Alton, Illinois) before the Illinoian glaciation.

During that time, the American Bald Eagle was nearly extinct, with only one nest in the Upper Mississippi River Wildlife Refuge.

Prior to European settlement, many Native American tribes inhabited the floodplain areas of the Mississippi River and used the river as a highway to sustain their villages and as a geological marker.

The Mississippi River Delta Basin is defined as all of the land and shallow estuarine area between the two northernmost passes of the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico.

On May 8, 1541, Hernando de Soto became the first recorded European to reach the Mississippi River, which he called "Rio de Espiritu Santo" (“River of the Holy Spirit”).

The Mississippi River Valley brings in $7 billion from forest and agriculture products and $29 million from manufacturing each year.

In 1848, the Illinois and Michigan Canal was built to connect the Mississippi River to Lake Michigan via the Illinois River near Peru, Illinois.

The Mississippi River is 2,348 miles long, the second-longest river in the United States after the Missouri River.

From its source to the Ohio River, the river is called the Upper Mississippi River, from the Ohio to its mouth it is known as the Lower Mississippi.

One is the uncontrolled diversion of the Mississippi River for the creation of a new delta, while maintaining the navigation route in its present location.

Biologists from state and federal agencies have warned since the 1970s and 1980s that the build-up of silt and sand will completely destroy the Upper Mississippi River's ecosystem if it is not stopped.

In 1682 Renй Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle and Henri de Tonty claimed the entire Mississippi River Valley for Louis XIV of France.

The Upper Mississippi River has naturally maintained equilibrium between its channel and backwater areas since the last glacial retreat.

The Mississippi River has the third largest drainage basin in the world, exceeded in size only by the watersheds of the Amazon and Congo rivers.

Approximately 12 million people live in the 125 counties and parishes along the Mississippi River.

The Mississippi River is 2,348 miles long, the second-longest river in the United States after the Missouri River.

Over the past 50 years, the sediment load of the Mississippi River Delta Basin has been drastically reduced by a combination of natural and human-induced factors.

Approximately 3.5 million people visit the upper Mississippi River Wildlife Refuge each year.

Through a natural process known as deltaic switching, the lower Mississippi River has shifted its final course to the ocean every thousand years or so.

Some areas of the Mississippi River Delta Basin, such as the Chandeleur Islands, lost about half of their land mass as a result of the powerful storm surge.

Biologists warn that an ecological collapse would likely occur of the Upper Mississippi River if the current systems expand or even just continue as is.

The Union's Vicksburg Campaign called for Union control of the lower Mississippi River.

Some areas of the Mississippi River Delta Basin, such as the Chandeleur Islands, lost about half of their land mass as a result of the powerful storm surge.

The first bridge across the Mississippi River was built in 1856.