Prehistoric peoples utilized the river for over 11,000 years, and Europeans and Americans exploited its furs for over 200 years. Early projects employed wing dams and closing dams to constrict the river. The 9-foot channel was achieved by 29 locks and dams, supplemented by dredging. The projects profoundly impacted the ecology of the river and its valley. Navigation interests and the Corps of Engineers want to increase barge traffic by improving and enlarging the locks and dams, while environmentalists fear the river will become a barge canal.
Railroads fear the competition.
He is familiar with the entire 2300 miles of the Mississippi, and knows some sections very well, especially the labyrinth of backwaters near his home at Winona, Minnesota. Cal received his Ph.D. in Zoology from lowa State University in 1959 and was Professor of Biology at Winona State University until his retirement in 1991. He has devoted his retirement to writing about the Mississippi. Agriculture alters landscapes on an unprecedented scale. I therefore concentrate on recent analyses of impacts of agricultural land use, drawing from biogeochemical, hydrological, geographical, limnological, and biological data and analyses to illustrate the repercussions of landscape alteration.