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Mississippi River Facts |
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Mississippi River is a watershed that drains all or parts of 31 states and 2 Canadian provinces.
- It is the dominant watershed in North America, and drains 41% of the continental United States; it is the third largest watershed in the world.
- The Mississippi River is the third longest river system in the world when including the Missouri River tributary. The Mississippi itself stretches approximately 2,350 miles from Lake Itasca to the Gulf of Mexico.
- The Upper Mississippi River carved its path with the melt water of receding glaciers from the last Ice Age more than 10,000 years ago.
- At its headwaters, the Mississippi is less than 3 feet deep. The river's deepest section is between Governor Nicholls Wharf and Algiers Point in New Orleans where it is 200 feet deep.
- At Lake Itasca, the river is between 20-30 feet wide. The Mississippi is widest just downstream from its confluence with the Missouri River (near Alton, Il.) where it is nearly 1 mile across.
- The elevation of the Mississippi at Lake Itasca is 1,475 feet above sea level. It drops to 0 feet above sea level at the Gulf of Mexico. More than half of that drop in elevation occurs within the state of Minnesota.
- St. Anthony Falls is the only waterfall on the entire length of the Mississippi, and the gorge below it that divides Minneapolis and St. Paul is the river’s only true gorge.
- Two hundred and forty-one species of fish are at home in the Mississippi River watershed; 292 bird species use the Mississippi Flyway. Other wildlife of the river, bottomlands and bluffs of the Mississippi watershed includes 57 species of mammals, 45 species of reptiles and amphibians, 40 different species of mussels, and countless invertebrates.
The Mississippi River is one of the world's major river systems in size, habitat diversity, and biological productivity. |
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