Evening star., 1941-12-14
Natures Part in Creutino the VtoIR Reqons of the World
The Mississippi:
A River Scotters
Its Vast Riches

This is the tenth OF series OF
informative articles and maps on
the fascinating geographic back
ground OF Dorld areas in the
neUS OF today. At the request OF
The Sunday Star, the National
Geographic Society, as part OF
its many educational activities,
has prepared the basic data and
accompanying maps from its rich
resources OF geographic kno1Ul-
edge and surveys. By clipping
this series from Ueek to week
adults and school pupils may ac-
Quire gazetteer for permanent
reference and Interpretation OF
OF neDs dispatches.
(Copyrisht, National Geographic Society
From the Appalachians to the
Rocky Mountains. from the Great
Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico,
stretches the valley of the Mis-
sissippi River-one of the largest
and most productive valleys in the
world More than one scientist has
called it an ideal home for man.
It's broad, fertile fields of corn
and wheat and cotton furnish food
and clothing for millions of people.
It's busy industrial cities, grown
great because of convenient raw
products and good transportation,
turn out about half the Nations
manufactured goods.
fernando de Soto, the Spanish
explorer, little dreamed of the ex-
tent of his discovery when he first
came upon the Mississippi River In
1541. near present-day Clarksdale,
Miss. His interest was gold; he and
his men merely crossed the river
and pushed westward.
It was more than a hundred years
later that Marquette and Joliet
padded down the Mississippi from
the Wisconsin River to the mouth
of the Arkansas River. In 1852 La
Sale followed the Mississippi to its
mouth.
What did these men and later ex-
plorers find?
The Mississippi has its source in
the lakes and streams which empty
into the clear cold waters of Lake
Itasca, in Minnesota. Between the
Falls of St. Anthony, at Minneapo-
lis, and the mouth of the muddy
Missouri the river flows through
bluff lined land of natural beauty.
Below the mouth of the Ohio the
river is higher than its surrounding
plain, for sediment has built up its
bed. There the river must be con-
fined by artificial banks or levees.
The sediment, too, has created a
muddy, swampy delta as the Mis-
sissippi empties into the Gulf OF
Mexico.
From Lake Itasca to its mouth
the Mississippi flows for nearly
$500 miles. No wonder that Algon-
quin Indians, using the name Missi
Sipi, called it Great Long River!"
From the headwaters of the Mis-
souri, River in the northwest the
distance to the MississippiS mouth
is about 4,2O0 miles. That COM
bined course forms the worlds long
est river.
The Mississippi River system, in
cluding all its tributaries, drains
two-fifths of the United States, be-
sides parts Of the Canadian prov
inces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Only the jungle valley of the Anna
zon River in Brazil is larger.
Nature has been especially kind
to the Mississippi Valley. Glaciers
deposited rich soil there and more
soil was washed down from the
mountains. Rainfall is ample and
the hot summers are long enough,
even In the North, for crops to ma
ture. The land is level or gently
rolling, so that machinery can be
used to plant, cultivate and harvest
the crops.
So much wheat is grown in the
northern and western parts of the
valley that the region is popularity
called the "breadbasket of the
United States" Corn, although pro-
duced to some extent in every State.
Is concentrated primarily south and