By: David H.
Submitted: 2009-10-11 20:29:00 | Word Count: 555
Mississippi river is one of the largest rivers in the United States. It is popular for its wide contribution to the arts and culture of the country.
In 1541, Hernando De Soto was the first known European to see the inland river. He called it Rio de Espiritu Santo (River of the Holy Spirit). Then in 1673, Jacques Marquette, Louie Jolliet and group also explored it. They called it River of Immaculate Concepcion. Sieur de La Salle then followed and was able to claim the whole valley for France because he reached the mouth of Mississippi in 1682. He called it Colbert River.
[ advertisement ]
In 1803, US purchased the western part from France to be explored by Lewis and Clark Expedition. Soon after, tribes started to settle in Mississippi: Ojibwa, Winnebago, Fox, Sauk, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Natchez and Alabama. These natives used it for trade and travel. The Anishinabe people (Ojibwe Indians) labeled the river Messipi or Mee zee see bee, which means “Father of Waters or Big River.”
In 18th century, the Treaty of Paris led to the agreement that Mississippi river navigation will be free and open to Great Britain and the United States. In 19th century, The Louisiana Purchase paved the way for US to buy the territory from France and totally defeated Britain during the Battle of New Orleans in1815. This allowed Americans to control the river. During the American Civil War, the Union’s victory led to control over the lower Mississippi river. Navigation wise, this was the century when steamboats where introduced for trade purposes. The first steamboat, New Orleans was sighted in the river. Henry Schoolcraft, an explorer, located and documented that Lake Itasca was Mississippi source in 1830.
During the 20th century several remarkable events happened to the Mississippi river. First, it served as the launching venue for the first water skiing. It was held in Lake Pepin (between Minnesota and Wisconsin) in 1922. It is known as the unusual wide spot in the river. Then in 1927, a flood or river break happened in 145 areas. It was called “Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.” It went to as deep as 30 ft(10m). Communities created own levee breaks to alleviate flooding.
In October 1976, the MV George Prince clashed with a ship while crossing Louisiana. Eighteen survived and 78 died. In 1930s, twenty nine navigation dams were built and completed in between St. Louis and Minneapolis. Hurricane Camille caused destruction along the Mississippi gulf coast and inland areas. In 1992, Brandon and other Mississippi parts were hit by tornadoes, killing 15 people and leaving 300 injured.
The most devastating flooding record in US history happened in 1993, now dubbed as The Great Flood. It affected the Ohio River and Mississippi. It had adverse effect in the upper and middle Mississippi valley for 2 months. There were 70,000 people displaced, close to 50,000 homes destroyed and 52 people died. Total cost of damage is nearly $20 billion.
During the 21st century, Martin Strel, a Slovenian swimmer swam the entire river from Minnesota to Louisiana for 68 days. Then in 2005, the Source Sea Expedition traveled the river for a river campaign. The year 2007 bought sad news when Bridge 9340, an eight lane steel truss bridge, collapsed. It happened during a rush hour of August 1, 2007. 13 people died and 145 were injured. On a brighter side, it was the same year when 150 pleasure boats traveled down Grafton to Cairo on a water circumnavigation called “Great Loop.”
