From the headwaters of the Missouri, which is now recognized as the parent stream (the upper Mississippi being really a tributary), to the mouth of the Mississippi is a distance of 4,200 miles, the longest river course in the world. It drains an area of 1,246,000 square miles, occupied by the States lying between the Appalachian mountains on the E., the Rocky Mountains on the W., the Great Lakes on the N., and the Gulf of Mexico on the S. The Mississippi forms the boundary between the States of Minnesota (in part), Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana (in part) on the W. bank, and Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi on the E. bank. There are several cataracts, the best known being the Falls of St. Anthony at Minneapolis, Minn., marking the headwaters of navigation. The principal affluents above the entrance of the Missouri are the St. Peter's, St. Croix, Chippewa, Wisconsin, Rock, Des Moines and Illinois. Below the junction of the Missouri, the character of the river, which is here about one and a half miles broad, and of a muddy nature, is due to its tributary. The united waters have only, from their confluence to the mouth of the Ohio, a medial width of about three-quarters of a mile. The junction of the Ohio seems also to produce no increase, but rather a decrease, of surface; and the river, in its natural state, is still narrower at New Orleans, which is only 120 miles from its mouth. About 190 miles below the confluence of the Missouri, the Mississippi receives the Ohio, flowing, with its light-green stream, from the E., bringing with it also the waters of its tributaries. About 380 miles below the influx of the Ohio, is the junction of the Arkansas and White rivers, which enter the main stream close to each other on the W. bank. Thence to the confluence of the Red river is a distance, S. by W., of 360 miles, measured along the stream; and below this latter point the river trends S. E., and enters the Gulf of Mexico, after a course of 335 miles from the Red river.
The lower part of the Mississippi is so
much flooded after the rainy season that
there is often a space of inundated woodland
from 30 to 100 miles in width; large
swamps and bayous, also, are found, during
the whole year, on both sides the
river. The Mississippi is subject to
inundations, often destructive in their
effects. To secure the land from these
inundations, immense embarnkments, or
levees, as they are generally called, have
been formed along the Mississippi, and
the canals or bayous through which its
waters overflow. The white waters of
the Mississippi do not readily mix with
the sea, and may be distinguished from
9 to 14 miles from Balize. The facilities
afforded by the Mississippi and its various
tributaries for internal navigation
are unsurpassed. De Soto, 1541, was
the first European who explored the
Mississippi. He died upon it, and was buried
in it. Marquette and Joliet in 1673. and
La Salle in 1682, made explorations, the
latter descending to its mouth.
MISSISSIPPI SCHEME, a bubble scheme projected by John Law in Paris in 1717 for the colonization and development of the Mississippi valley, combined with a banking scheme and a scheme for the management of the National debt, the whole supported by the French government. Shares originally issued at 500 livres (say $100) were sold at 10, 20, 30, and even 40 times their value. The state took advantage of the popular frenzy to issue increased quantities of paper money, which was readily accepted and invested in shares of Law's company. This went on till the value of the paper money became depreciated in value and the shares fell in price. Law, the originator of the bankrupt company, fled from France in 1720; the State acknowledged itself debtor to the shareholders to the extent of $340,000,000 (See Law, John).
MISSISSIPPI, UNIVERSITY OF, a coeducational, non-sectarian institution in University, Miss.; founded in 1844; reported at the close of 1919: Professors and instructors, 34; students, 607; volumes in the library, 31,000; productive funds, $700,000; chancellor, Joseph Neely Powers, LL. D.
MISSOLONGHI (-long′gē) (Mesolongion), a seaport town of Greece, on the N. shore of the Gulf of Patras. In 1821-1822, the Turks invested it for 3 months, and again in 1825-1826, when the garrison, reduced from 5,000 to 3,000, cut their way out, carrying with them a large number of women and children. There is a statue (1835) over the grave of Bozzaris, and another (1881) of Lord Byron, on the spot where his heart is interred. Pop. about 11,000.
MISSOULA, a city of Montana and the county-seat of Missoula co., 125 miles N. of Helena. Situated on the Missoula river and on the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul and the Northern Pacific railroads. It contains the State university, a Carnegie Library, Federal buildings, hospitals, and an excellent high school. The chief industries are farming, fruit growing, lumbering and mining, of all of which it is an important
