The main branch is called the Missouri River above the point of its junction with the smaller branch. The two rivers unite a short distance above the city of St. Louis. Under the present heading it is our purpose to treat of the Mississippi proper, reserving the Missouri for discussion farther on.

The Mississippi constitutes the great centre of a gigantic system of rivers, all of which unite in one grand channel and empty their waters into the Gulf. The area drained by them comprises a very large portion of the interior of North America. The tributaries of the great river find their way to it through rich and populous States, and between its source and its mouth it collects all the waters (with the single exception of those rivers flowing directly into the Gulf) of the immense region lying between the Alleghany and the Rocky Mountains. This region is usually known as the Mississippi Valley. Its southern boundary is the Gulf, and its northern limit the high hills in which rise the streams flowing into the Arctic Ocean and the lakes of British America. According to Charles Ellet, this region covers an area of 1,226,600 square miles, above the mouth of the Red River.

The river, with its tributaries reaching far back into the neighboring States and Territories, furnishes a system of inland navigation unequalled by any in the world. Steamers ascend the Mississippi itself from its mouth to the Falls of St. Anthony, in Minnesota, about 2200 miles, and above the falls the river is navigable for a considerable distance. In 1858 a steamboat succeeded in ascending the stream to near the forty-ninth degree of north latitude. The Missouri is navigable to the foot of the Rocky Mountains; the Ohio, to its head, at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; and the Arkansas and the Red, each for more than 1000 miles. By means of the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers, the mountains of East Tennessee have water transportation to the Gulf; and the Illinois River steamers penetrate to the country just back of Lake Michigan.

These rivers are all more or less crowded with steamers and other craft, plying a trade in comparison with which the fabled wealth of Tyre sinks into insignificance.

Numerous other branches of less extent empty into the main river, all of which are navigable to a greater or less degree. Below the mouth of the Red River, the main stream is divided into numerous branches, which are called bayous. Some of these, after pursuing an erratic course, find their way back to the Mississippi, while others.

follow an independent course to the Gulf. The most important of these bayous is the Atchafalaya. The country lying between this stream (after its departure from the great river), the Mississippi, and the Gulf, is known as the Delta of the Mississippi.

The Delta is about 200 miles in length, with an average width of 75 miles. It comprises an area of 15,000 square miles, and is composed entirely of alluvion, the depth of which is estimated at 1000 feet. "The debris carried along with the flood is principally deposited near the borders of the stream, the necessary result being that these portions have been raised to a much higher level than the adjoining lands. In some places the slope is as much as eighteen feet in a distance of a few miles. The interior consists of vast swamps covered with trees, of which the tops only are visible during the floods. The river, for almost fifty miles from its mouth, runs nearly parallel with the Gulf of Mexico, from which it is separated at particular places by an embankment only half a mile across."

The alluvion plain extends above the Delta to a formation called the Chains, 30 miles above the mouth of the Ohio, a distance estimated at a little over 500 miles. The average breadth of this plain, which has been formed by the river itself, is about fifty mileş, and its total area, including the Delta, about 31,200 square miles. Its height, at its northern extremity, according to Prof. Charles Ellet, jr., is 275 feet above the level of the sea. It descends this plain to the Gulf at the rate of about eight inches per mile. Its average descent along its entire course is about six inches to the mile.

The river is very tortuous, especially after passing the mouth of the Ohio. Its curves are immense, often traversing a distance of twentyfive or thirty miles, in a half circle, around a point of land only a mile, or half a mile in width. Sometimes, during the heavy freshets, the stream breaks through the narrow tongue of land, forming a "cutoff," which frequently becomes a new and permanent channel, leaving the old bed a "lake," as it is called by the boatmen. But for the height of the banks, and the great depth of the river, the formation of these "cut-offs" would be quite frequent, and the stream would be constantly changing its course. Attempts to form "cut-offs" by artificial means have generally failed. The river is remarkable for the constancy with which it maintains its average, breadth of about 3000 feet. It rarely exceeds or falls short of this breadth except in the curves, which frequently broaden to near a mile and a quarter. The current is sluggish, except at high water, its depth at ordinary stages

being 75 feet at the head of the plain we have described, and 120 feet at its foot. Were the stream straighter, its current, which is now checked by the bends, would no doubt be too swift for navigation, and commerce would suffer.

"One of the most important facts in regard to the Mississippi is, that it flows from north to south. A river that runs east or west has no variety of climate or productions from its source to its mouth. The trapper and husbandman descending the 'Father of Waters,' constantly meet with a change of climate; they take with them their furs and cereal grains, the products of the North, to exchange for the sugar and tropical fruits that are gathered on the banks below. Again, the floods produced by winter snows and spring rains cannot be simultaneously discharged. The course of the stream being from north to south, spring advances in a reverse direction, and releases in succession the waters of the lower valley, then of the middle section, and finally the remote sources of the Mississippi and its tributaries. It is a remarkable fact that the waters from this last-named region do not reach the Delta until upwards of a month after the inundation there has been abating. The swell usually commences toward the end of February, and continues to rise by unequal diurnal accretions till the 1st of June, when it again begins to subside. No experience will enable a person to anticipate, with any approach to certainty, the elevation of the flood in any given year. In some seasons the waters do not rise above their channels; in others, the entire lower valley of the Mississippi is submerged. Embankments, called levees, have been raised from five to ten feet high on both sides of the stream, extending many miles above and below New Orleans. By this means the river is restrained within its proper limits, except at the greatest freshets, when the waters sometimes break over, causing great destruction of property, and even loss of life. The average height of the flood, from the Delta to the junction of the Missouri, is about 15 feet; at the mouth of the latter river it is 25 feet; below the entrance of the Ohio, the rise is often 50 feet; at Natchez, it seldom exceeds 30 feet; and at New Orleans is about 12 feet. This diminution is supposed to result from the drainage through the Atchafalaya, Bayou La Fourche, and other channels breaking from the lower part of the river to the Gulf of Mexico. The flood often carries away large masses of earth with trees, which frequently become embedded in the mud at one end, while the other floats near the surface, forming snags and sawyers. These snags are very dangerous to steamers navigating Lippincott's Gazetteer.

*

the river, and formerly caused many terrible accidents. Recently they have been removed to a great extent by snag-boats and improved machinery.

The Mississippi empties itself into the Gulf through several mouths, which are termed Passes. The navigation is here very seriously obstructed by numerous bars, formed by the gradual deposit of the sediment with which the water is heavily charged. These render it. impossible for vessels of the largest class to reach New Orleans. Over these bars there is a depth of water, varying greatly at different times, and often measuring only fifteen feet. Steam tugs can force vessels drawing two or three feet more than the actual depth, through the soft mud of the river bed. Repeated efforts have been made to deepen the passes by dredging, but the channel has filled up again so rapidly as to make all such efforts futile. It was once attempted to deepen the South West Pass (the principal mouth) by driving piles along each side. It was thought that by thus confining the stream within a limited width, it would of itself excavate a deep channel. The effect, however, was to force the bulk of the flow through another mouth called Pass à l'Outre, which for the time became a better channel than the South West Pass.

The navigation of the Upper Mississippi is broken in several places by falls and rapids, of which the principal are the Falls of St. Anthony, above St. Paul, Minnesota.*

The Mississippi River was discovered by Hernando de Soto, in June 1541. He reached it, it is supposed, at a point not far below the present town of Helena in Arkansas. In 1673, Marquette and Jolliet descended the stream to within three days' journey of its mouth; and in 1682, La Salle passed through one of its mouths to the Gulf, and took possession of the country along its shores, in the name of the King of France. In 1699, Iberville built a fort on the river; in 1703, a settlement was made on the Yazoo, a tributary, and called St. Peter's; and in 1718, the city of New Orleans was laid out. The levees of the lower Mississippi were begun in that year, and finished in front of New Orleans about 1728. The subject of the free navigation of the river occupied the earliest attention of the United States, and was the principal cause of the acquisition of Louisiana, by purchase from France. The battle of New Orleans (as it is called) was fought on its banks on the 8th of January 1815. During

* The prominent points along the river will be described in the chapters relating to the States.

the late war, the Confederates undertook to close the navigation of the river, and succeeded in doing so for more than two years, when the control of it was wrested from them by the Union forces. A number of severe engagements were fought on its banks, the principal of which were the battle of Belmont, in Missouri, and the conflicts at Island No. 10, Fort Pillow, New Madrid, Memphis, Vicksburg, Port Hudson, Grand Gulf, Baton Rouge, and Forts Jackson and St. Philip below New Orleans.

The principal tributaries of the Mississippi are, on the east, the Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, and Yazoo; on the west, the Minnesota, Des Moines, Missouri, Arkansas, and Red Rivers.

The total value of the steamboats engaged in trade on the Mississippi and its tributaries, is estimated at over $6,000,000.

THE MISSOURI RIVER.

Though commonly regarded as the principal tributary of the Mississippi, the Missouri is in reality the main stream, since it is longer and of greater volume than the other river. It derives its name from an Indian word signifying "Mud River." It rises in the Rocky Mountains, in the Territory of Montana, in latitude 45° N., longitude 110° 30′ W. The springs in which it has its source are not more than a mile distant from the headwaters of the great Columbia River, which flows into the Pacific Ocean.

The Missouri proper begins at the confluence of three small streams of about equal length-the Jefferson's, Madison's, and Gallatin'swhich run nearly parallel to each other. For the first 500 miles of its course, the Missouri flows nearly north, then turning slightly to the E. N. E., it continues in that direction until it is joined by the White Earth River, in latitude 48° 20' N. It then bends to the southeast, and continues in that general direction until it joins the Mississippi, near St. Louis.

Four hundred and eleven miles from its source, the river passes through what is called "The Gates of the Rocky Mountains." This pass is one of the most remarkable on the Continent. For nearly six miles the rocks rise perpendicularly from the water's edge to a height of 1200 feet. The river is confined to a width of only one hundred and fifty yards, and for the first three miles there is only one point on which a man could obtain a foothold between the rocks and the water. One hundred and ten miles below the "Gates" are the "Great Falls of the Missouri," which, after those of the Niagara, are the most magnifi