Interesting facts and history on the Mississippi River.

The MISSISSIPPI RIVER The father of waters, the Mississippi River, is one of the longest in the world. According to the United States Army Corps of Engineers, if it is measured from the Upper Red Rock Reservoir which leads to its longest branch, the Missouri the Mississippi flows 3,658 miles to the Head of Passes in the delta. From Lake Itasca in Minnesota to the Passes the Mississippi measures 2,550 miles. The upper Mississippi River is 1,401 miles …

…of 24 dams and locks to supplement two older ones at Keokuk and Minneapolis. They were completed in 1940. In 1963 the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet opened. This 76-mile canal cut some 40 miles off the delta route from the Gulf of Mexico to New Orleans. High water levels in the 1980s led to fears that the Mississippi might change its course. In 1984 the Army Corps of Engineers began constructing a new dam near Simmesport, La., as a preventive measure.