Few of the people of the North have ever inquisitively considered the
Mississippi River, and as a consequence its numerous peculiarities are
not generally known. Indeed, its only characteristic features are
supposed to be immensity of proportions rather than any specific
variation from the universal nature of rivers. Many there are that have
never seen the river, and have conceptions of its appearance merely in
imagination; others have been more fortunate, have crossed its turbid
flood, or have been borne upon its noble bosom the full breadth of the
land, from beautiful Minnesota to its great reservoir in the South, the
Gulf of Mexico. As the result of this experience, great have been the
sensations of satisfaction or disappointment. Many have turned away with
their extravagant anticipations materially chagrined. This might be
expected in a casual observer. It is true, some portions of the
Mississippi do not present that vastness which a person would very
naturally expect, having previously accepted literally the figurative
appellations that have been applied to it. The Mississippi is not
superficially a great stream, but when it is recognized as the mighty
conduit of the surplus waters of fifty large streams, some of which are
as large as itself, besides receiving innumerable of less
pretensions--when we consider, too, the great physical phenomena which
it presents in its turbid waters, its islands, its bars, and its bayous,
its vast banks of alluvial deposit, its omnipotent force, and the signal
futility of all human endeavors to control it, in this phase is it truly
the 'Father of Waters,' and 'the most wonderful of rivers.'
In a commercial point of view is the Mississippi equally as remarkable
as in its physical presentations. It is the aorta through which, from
the heart of the nation, flow the bountiful returns of industrious and
productive labor, which thus find an outlet to all parts of the world,
opening an avenue of trade for millions of energetic men and fertile
acres. Thus not only is it the life-supporting, but as well the
life-imparting artery of a great section of the republic.
But it is unnecessary to speak of the commercial importance of the
river. This is patent to everybody. Let us, however, unfold some of its
remarkable and singular phenomena, which have never occurred to many,
and may at this particular time be of interest to all, even those who
have given the subject some study. Let us first briefly glance at its
history.
In 1539, Ferdinand de Soto, Governor of Cuba, leaving that island in
charge of his wife, set sail for Florida, where he soon safely
disembarked, and sent his ships back, in order to leave no opportunity
for relentment in the stern resolves of his followers. After a somewhat
erratic journey, on his way passing through Georgia, Alabama, and
Northern Mississippi, he struck the 'Great River' at the Lower Chickasaw
Bluffs, as they are still called, and upon which now stands the city of
Memphis. The expedition crossed the river at that point, and spent some
time in exploring the country beyond, until they found themselves upon
the White River, about two hundred miles from its entrance into the
Mississippi. From there a small expedition set out toward the Missouri,
but soon returned, bringing an unfavorable report. From the White the
expedition moved toward the hot springs and saline confluents of the
Washita. In this neighborhood they wintered. In the spring of 1542, De
Soto and his followers descended the Washita in canoes, but became
entangled in the bayous and marshes of the Red River, to which the
Washita, through the Black, is tributary. At length, however, they
reached the Mississippi. Here a number of explorations were conducted,
but with no success as regards the object of the expedition, a search of
gain. It was in the midst of these explorations, at the mouth of the
Red, while surrounded by the most implacable Indian hostility, a
malignant fever seized the spirit and head of the enterprise, and on May
21st, 1542, De Soto died. Amid the sorrows of the moment and fears of
the future, his body was wrapped in a mantle, and sunk in the middle of
the river. A requiem broke the midnight gloom, and the morning rose upon
the consternation of the survivors. It has indeed been aptly said, that
De Soto 'sought for gold, but found nothing so great as his burial
place.'
The men now looked about them for a new leader. Their choice fell upon
Luis de Moscoso. This man was without enterprise or capacity. After
enduring every calamity, the party built seven brigantines, and in
seventeen days, July, 1543, passed out of the mouth of the river, and
followed the coast toward the east. Out of six hundred, but few over
three hundred ever returned to Cuba.
From the expedition of De Soto more than a century elapsed before any
further discoveries were made. In May, 1673, Marquette, a priest, and
Jolliet, a trader, and five men, made some explorations of the river.
The great work of discovery was reserved for Robert Cavelier de la
Salle, a Frenchman. By his commands, Father Louis Hennepin made the
discovery of the Upper Mississippi, as far as the Falls of St. Anthony.
In January, 1682, La Salle himself, with twenty-three Frenchmen and
eighteen Indians, set out for the exploration of the Lower Mississippi,
entering the river from the Illinois, and descending it until he
arrived at the Passes of the Delta. Here, to his surprise, he found the
river divided into three channels. A party was sent by each, La Salle
taking the western, and on April 9th the open sea was reached. The usual
ceremonies attendant upon any great discovery were repeated here.
Enlivened by success, the party returned to Quebec. La Salle returned to
France, and in 1684, aided by his Government, set sail with four
vessels, for the discovery of the river from the sea. In this he was
unsuccessful. After encountering several storms and losing one of his
vessels, the expedition entered St. Louis Bay (St. Bernard) on the coast
of Texas. The party disembarked, one of the vessels returned to France,
and the others were lost on the coast. Thus cut off, La Salle made every
effort to discover the river by land; but in every attempt he failed. At
length he was assassinated by one of his followers on the 19th of March,
1687. Thus terminated the career of the explorer of the Mississippi.
The discovery of the mouth of the river from the sea, was an event of
some years later, and was consummated by Iberville, in 1699. This person
spent some time in navigating the river and the waters adjacent to its
mouth. His brother, Bienville, succeeded him in these enterprises. A few
years later, and we find settlements springing up upon the banks of the
river. Since that time it has attracted a numerous population, and
to-day, though desolated in parts by the contentions of armies, there is
certainty in the belief that at some time these people of the great
river will wield a mighty power in the political and commercial destiny
of the American continent.
The Mississippi proper rises in the State of Minnesota, about 47° and
some minutes north latitude, and 94° 54' longitude west, at an elevation
of sixteen hundred and eighty feet above the level of the Gulf of
Mexico, and distant from it two thousand eight hundred and ninety-six
miles, its utmost length, upon the summit of Hauteurs de Terre, the
dividing ridge between the rivulets confluent to itself and those to the
Red River of the North. Its first appearance is a tiny pool, fed by
waters trickling from the neighboring hills. The surplus waters of this
little pool are discharged by a small brook, threading its way among a
multitude of very small lakes, until it gathers sufficient water, and
soon forms a larger lake. From here a second rivulet, impelled along a
rapid declination, rushes with violent impetuosity for some miles, and
subsides in Lake Itasca. Thence, with a more regular motion, until it
reaches Lake Cass, from whence taking a mainly southeasterly course, a
distance of nearly seven hundred miles, it reaches the Falls of St.
Anthony. Here the river makes in a few miles a descent of sixteen feet.
From this point to the Gulf, navigation is without further interruption,
and the wonders of the Mississippi begin.
It is not possible to give, with complete exactness, the outlines of the
immense valley drained by the Mississippi, yet, with the assistance of
accurate surveys, we can make an approximation, to say the least, which
will convey some idea of the physical necessity of the river to the vast
area through the centre of which it takes its course.
We will say:
From the highest point of land
between the mouth of the
Atchafalaya and Mississippi
Rivers, dividing the headwaters
of their confluents; thence
along the dividing ridge of tributaries
confluent to the Sabine
and other Texas streams from
those of the Red, in a north-westerly
course, to the Rocky
Mountains, thence taking a line
separating the headwaters of
the Red, Arkansas, and tributary
streams, on the east, from
the Rio Grande and tributaries
toward the south, and the Colorado _Miles._
toward the west, say, 1,300
Thence, pursuing the dividing
summit of the Rocky Mountains,
to the Marias, tributary
to the Missouri, in Dakota, say, 700
Thence, including the headwaters
of the Missouri, and taking
direction southeasterly,
dividing the tributaries of the
Red River of the North from
those of the Missouri to the
source of the Minnesota; thence
northeasterly, dividing the rivulets
of the head lakes, Itasca,
Cass, etc., from those confluent
to the Red River of the North,
separating the headwaters of
the St. Croix from currents tributary
to Lake Superior; thence
embracing the confluent streams
to the Mississippi in Wisconsin,
Northern Illinois, and Indiana,
to the Kankakee branch of the
Illinois, say, 2,000
Thence, dividing the streams of
the Lakes from those emptying
into the Ohio as far as the extreme
source of the Alleghany,
say, 400
Thence along the dividing summit
of the Atlantic slope to the
source of the Tennessee; thence
dividing the streams tending
toward the Gulf, to the mouth
of the Mississippi, and thence
to starting point, say, 1,700
______
Making an aggregate circuit of 6,100
Within this extensive limit we find, from surveys, the following
aggregate area in square miles, estimated by valleys:
_Square Miles._