How The Mississippi River Shaped St. Louis (2024)

FAQs

Does the Mississippi river go through Saint Louis? ›

St. Louis is located at 38°38′53″N 90°12′44″W. The city is built primarily on bluffs and terraces that rise 100–200 feet (30–61 m) above the western banks of the Mississippi River, just south of the Missouri-Mississippi confluence.

As the nation's second-longest river, behind only the conjoining Missouri, the Mississippi provides drinking water for millions and supports a $12.6 billion shipping industry, with 35,300 related jobs. It's one of the greatest water highways on earth, carrying commerce and food for the world.

The Mississippi River is home to 360 species of fish, 326 species of birds, 145 species of amphibians and 50 species of mammals. The Mississippi River is the third largest watershed in the world. The deepest place on the Mississippi River is 200-feet deep and is located near Algiers Point in New Orleans.

It was a major port near the mouth of the Mississippi River at the Gulf Coast. The river carried freight and traffic from a huge network of rivers and tributaries, making New Orleans one of the most significant transportation centers in the early United States before the establishment of railroad and road systems.

The Missouri River will travel more than 2,300 miles before it joins the Mississippi in its namesake state at St. Louis, forming the world's fourth longest river system as it rolls south to the Gulf of Mexico.

The byway is a natural wonder of the region where visitors can see the convergence of three great rivers - the Mississippi, Missouri and Illinois.

Stretches of the Mississippi River within the park corridor exceed water quality standards for mercury, bacteria, sediment, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyl), and nutrients. Unfortunately, these "impairments" can make the water unsuitable for fishing, swimming, and drinking.

“… by every rule of nomenclature, the Missouri being the main stream and the upper Mississippi the tributary, the name of the former should have been given precedence, and the great-river should have been called Missouri from the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of Mexico.” Many people, especially Montanans, agree with this ...

Known today as Ol' Man River, The Big Muddy, Old Blue, The Gathering of Waters and other nicknames, the name “Mississippi” comes from either the Ojibwe or Algonquin word “misi-ziibi,” meaning Great River. The Mississippi River, beginning in Lake Itasca MN, runs 2,341 miles to the Gulf of Mexico.

The word Mississippi itself comes from Misi zipi, the French rendering of the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe or Algonquin) name for the river, Misi-ziibi (Great River). In the 18th century, the river was set by the Treaty of Paris as, for the most part, the western border of the new United States.

What is the real name of the Mississippi river? ›

The Ojibwa Indians named the river misi-ziibi, which means "long river." The Mississippi River was formed around 80 million years ago. It begins at Lake Itasca in Minnesota and ends at the Gulf of Mexico.

The Mississippi River is one of the world's major river systems in size, habitat diversity and biological productivity. It is also one of the world's most important commercial waterways and one of North America's great migration routes for both birds and fishes.

South of St. Louis, the river is deep enough that human interventions generally aren't necessary. Normal water level in the St. Louis area is approximately 20 feet in the center of the river channel, but that varies greatly since the river has natural shoals and deep spots.

Why was control of the Mississippi River important? Control of the Mississippi River was essential to winning the war as it was the most important transport link in the United States. Midwestern merchants and farmers both depended on the River as a way to ship their goods to eastern states and the rest of the world.

Mississippi River at St. Louis.

It is located near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers.

Nestled along the bank of the Mississippi River this is the City of St.