The Mississippi River Michael Yeropoli Pd. C-D Photo from

The Mississippi River will always have its own way; no engineering skill can persuade it to do otherwise... – Mark Twain Photo from

Being one of the largest and longest rivers in the world, the Mississippi was and is an important part of American life. Photo from

The Mississippi travels through or borders 10 different states. Minnesota Wisconsin Iowa Illinois Missouri Kentucky Tennessee Arkansas Mississippi Louisiana Photo from

The river can be divided into 3 parts: Upper Middle Lower Photos from

It is strange how little has been written about the Upper Mississippi. The river below St. Louis has been described time and again, and it is the least interesting part. One can sit on the pilot-house for a few hours and watch the low shores, the ungainly trees and the democratic buzzards, and then one might as well go to bed. One has seen everything there is to see. Along the Upper Mississippi every hour brings something new. There are crowds of odd islands, bluffs, prairies, hills, woods and villages--everything one could desire to amuse the children. Few people every think of going there, however. Dickens, Corbett, Mother Trollope and the other discriminating English people who 'wrote up' the country before 1842 had hardly an idea that such a stretch of river scenery existed. Their successors have followed in their footsteps, and as we form our opinions of our country from what other people say of us, of course we ignore the finest part of the Mississippi. - Mark Twain Photo from

Steamboats played a major role in the 19th Century development of the Mississippi River and its tributaries by allowing the practical large-scale transport of passengers and freight both up and down the river. Photo from

Traded Goods On the Mississippi, many different goods were traded to and from different areas of the country. This included: -Furs from the Great Lakes -Corn and wheat from the Midwest -Cotton, sugar, and tobacco from the Deep South

The lower part of the Mississippi is known as one of the most agricultural regions in the U.S. This helped to increase its status during the steamboat era. Photo from

Fishing The fishing industry on the river has always supported many families. On the side, fishing for giant catfish is a popular hobby. Photo from

Pearl Button Industry The river was originally inhabited by innumerable amounts of clams. This led to the largest pearl button industry in the world, located in Muscatine, Iowa. Photo from

Travel The Mississippi is often called “America’s first interstate”. Voyages up river could take only ten days with a steamboat. Photo from

City Importance Two very major cities, New Orleans and St. Louis, were built up on the river. The two cities were even connected by trade because of the river. Photo from

Changes Many changes have occurred to and on the river over the past few years.

One of the major changes of the river is its course. The course of the river is always changing into new deltas.

In the space of one hundred and seventy-six years the Lower Mississippi has shortened itself two hundred and forty-two miles. That is an average of a trifle over one mile and a third per year. Therefore, any calm person, who is not blind or idiotic, can see that in the Old Oolitic Silurian Period, just a million years ago next November, the Lower Mississippi River was upwards of one million three hundred thousand miles long, and stuck out over the Gulf of Mexico like a fishing-rod. And by the same token any person can see that seven hundred and forty- two years from now the Lower Mississippi will be only a mile and three- quarters long, and Cairo and New Orleans will have joined their streets together, and be plodding comfortably along under a single mayor and a mutual board of aldermen. There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact. – Mark Twain Photo from

An unfortunate change to the Mississippi river has been pollution. It experiences numerous pollution and environmental problems. Photo from

Cultural Impact Many songs, plays, books, and movies have adopted the Mississippi river as a backdrop and setting. This could be because of the river’s themes of freedom, adventure, and independence. Photo from

When I find a well-drawn character in fiction or biography I generally take a warm personal interest in him, for the reason that I have known him before--met him on the river. – Mark Twain Photo from

Works Cited Page Twain, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., Print. N.p. N.d. Web. 18 December 2012 N.p. 8 May Web. 18 December 2012 Barbara Schmidt. 9 April Web. 18 December 2012 N.p. N.d. Web. 18 December 2012