The River Mississippi, From St. Paul to New Orleans PDF Download

Author: Alex Harthill
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781332191420
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 126

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Book Description
Excerpt from The River Mississippi, From St. Paul to New Orleans: Illustrated and Described, With Views and Descriptions of Cities Connected With Its Trade and Commerce, and Other Places and Objects of Interest in the Valley of the Mississippi This magnificent stream, called by the aborigines, and approved by general acclaim, "The Father of Waters," is the largest fiver in North America, and, with its principal affluent, the Missouri, the longest in the world - the entire length from the source of the Missouri to the mouth of the Mississippi being 4,300 miles. The distance from the little lake Itasca, where the Mississippi proper takes its rise, to the Gulf of Mexico, into which the river empties, is 3,160 miles. The course of the Mississippi being north and south, it traverses every variety of climate - commencing in the frigid, and winding through the temperate, almost to the burning zone. The hardy trapper, from the farthest north, laden with his store of furs, starts on his journey from the land of perpetual snow, and is borne, on the bosom of this marvellous stream, to the land of tropical fruits, where the soft breezes of the summer time are perennial. The waters of the Mississippi, above its confluence with the Missouri, are remarkably clear, but after mingling with the latter river, they become turbid and muddy, being nearly one-third sedimentary matter. Some of the largest and most beautiful rivers to be found on the continent are tributary to the Mississippi. Among the most noted, after the Missouri, may be mentioned the Ohio, Illinois, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Red, St. Peters, DesMoines, and many others, whose waters are navigable for hundreds of miles. The descent of the waters of the Mississippi, from its source to its mouth, is about six inches to the mile. Its elevation at its extreme source is 1,680 feet; at St. Anthony's Falls, 856 feet; at St. Louis, 382 feet; at Natches, 86 feet; and opposite New Orleans, 10 1/2 feet. Width Of The River. The width of the river at Pecagama, 2,885 miles above the Gulf of Mexico, is about 80 feet Below the Ohio it varies in breadth, from 600 to 1200 yards. Its depth below the Ohio, is from 90 to 120 feet. Just opposite New Orleans the river is half a mile wide, and 100 feet deep. Facilities For Navigation. The Mississippi is navigable for ordinary sized steamboats, as far up as St. Paul's, Minnesota, which is nearly 2, 200 miles from the Gulf. In seasons of high water boats can go as high as St. Anthony's Falls, nine miles above St. Paul's. An extraordinary peculiarity of the Mississippi is, its extremely winding course. It will sometimes make a curve extending 30 miles, and appear literally to run up hill, until it reaches within half a mile of the point of its divergence. In some places on the river channels have been cut through these narrow necks of land by the hands of men; while, in other instances, the waters have themselves washed a passage through the opposing soil. As the current of the Mississippi, especially that part of it which lies below its confluence with the Ohio, is very rapid, these unusual windings serve in a great measure to keep its speed in check, and thus to facilitate navigation. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com