Life on the Mississippi

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, New Age, History, Fiction & Literature
Cover of the book Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain, Library of Alexandria
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Mark Twain ISBN: 9781613100400
Publisher: Library of Alexandria Publication: March 8, 2015
Imprint: Language: English
Author: Mark Twain
ISBN: 9781613100400
Publisher: Library of Alexandria
Publication: March 8, 2015
Imprint:
Language: English
The River and Its History THE Mississippi is well worth reading about. It is not a commonplace river, but on the contrary is in all ways remarkable. Considering the Missouri its main branch, it is the longest river in the world−−four thousand three hundred miles. It seems safe to say that it is also the crookedest river in the world, since in one part of its journey it uses up one thousand three hundred miles to cover the same ground that the crow would fly over in six hundred and seventy−five. It discharges three times as much water as the St. Lawrence, twenty−five times as much as the Rhine, and three hundred and thirty−eight times as much as the Thames. No other river has so vast a drainage−basin: it draws its water supply from twenty−eight States and Territories; from Delaware, on the Atlantic seaboard, and from all the country between that and Idaho on the Pacific slope−−a spread of forty−five degrees of longitude. The Mississippi receives and carries to the Gulf water from fifty−four subordinate rivers that are navigable by steamboats, and from some hundreds that are navigable by flats and keels. The area of its drainage−basin is as great as the combined areas of England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Turkey; and almost all this wide region is fertile; the Mississippi valley, proper, is exceptionally so. It is a remarkable river in this: that instead of widening toward its mouth, it grows narrower; grows narrower and deeper. From the junction of the Ohio to a point half way down to the sea, the width averages a mile in high water: thence to the sea the width steadily diminishes, until, at the 'Passes,' above the mouth, it is but little over half a mile. At the junction of the Ohio the Mississippi's depth is eighty−seven feet; the depth increases gradually, reaching one hundred and twenty−nine just above the mouth. The difference in rise and fall is also remarkable−−not in the upper, but in the lower river. The rise is tolerably uniform down to Natchez (three hundred and sixty miles above the mouth)−−about fifty feet. But at Bayou La Fourche the river rises only twenty−four feet; at New Orleans only fifteen, and just above the mouth only two and one half. An article in the New Orleans 'Times−Democrat,' based upon reports of able engineers, states that the river annually empties four hundred and six million tons of mud into the Gulf of Mexico−−which brings to mind Captain Marryat's rude name for the Mississippi−−'the Great Sewer.' This mud, solidified, would make a mass a mile square and two hundred and forty−one feet high
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
The River and Its History THE Mississippi is well worth reading about. It is not a commonplace river, but on the contrary is in all ways remarkable. Considering the Missouri its main branch, it is the longest river in the world−−four thousand three hundred miles. It seems safe to say that it is also the crookedest river in the world, since in one part of its journey it uses up one thousand three hundred miles to cover the same ground that the crow would fly over in six hundred and seventy−five. It discharges three times as much water as the St. Lawrence, twenty−five times as much as the Rhine, and three hundred and thirty−eight times as much as the Thames. No other river has so vast a drainage−basin: it draws its water supply from twenty−eight States and Territories; from Delaware, on the Atlantic seaboard, and from all the country between that and Idaho on the Pacific slope−−a spread of forty−five degrees of longitude. The Mississippi receives and carries to the Gulf water from fifty−four subordinate rivers that are navigable by steamboats, and from some hundreds that are navigable by flats and keels. The area of its drainage−basin is as great as the combined areas of England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Turkey; and almost all this wide region is fertile; the Mississippi valley, proper, is exceptionally so. It is a remarkable river in this: that instead of widening toward its mouth, it grows narrower; grows narrower and deeper. From the junction of the Ohio to a point half way down to the sea, the width averages a mile in high water: thence to the sea the width steadily diminishes, until, at the 'Passes,' above the mouth, it is but little over half a mile. At the junction of the Ohio the Mississippi's depth is eighty−seven feet; the depth increases gradually, reaching one hundred and twenty−nine just above the mouth. The difference in rise and fall is also remarkable−−not in the upper, but in the lower river. The rise is tolerably uniform down to Natchez (three hundred and sixty miles above the mouth)−−about fifty feet. But at Bayou La Fourche the river rises only twenty−four feet; at New Orleans only fifteen, and just above the mouth only two and one half. An article in the New Orleans 'Times−Democrat,' based upon reports of able engineers, states that the river annually empties four hundred and six million tons of mud into the Gulf of Mexico−−which brings to mind Captain Marryat's rude name for the Mississippi−−'the Great Sewer.' This mud, solidified, would make a mass a mile square and two hundred and forty−one feet high

More books from Library of Alexandria

Cover of the book Life in the Roman World of Nero and St. Paul by Mark Twain
Cover of the book A Collection of Essays and Fugitiv Writings on Moral, Historical, Political, and Literary Subjects by Mark Twain
Cover of the book Nationalism by Mark Twain
Cover of the book Tom of the Raiders by Mark Twain
Cover of the book The Austrian School and the Theory of Value by Mark Twain
Cover of the book Conjugial Love by Mark Twain
Cover of the book Marvels of Scientific Invention: An Interesting Account in Non-Technical Language of the Invention of Guns, Torpedoes, Submarine Mines, Up-To-Date Smelting, Freezing, Colour Photography and Many Other Recent Discoveries of Science by Mark Twain
Cover of the book The Stories of the Months and Days by Mark Twain
Cover of the book A Turkish Woman's European Impressions by Mark Twain
Cover of the book Akbar: An Eastern Romance by Mark Twain
Cover of the book An Introduction to the Study of Robert Browning's Poetry by Mark Twain
Cover of the book The Seafarers by Mark Twain
Cover of the book The Girl Scouts at Rocky Ledge: Nora's Real Vacation by Mark Twain
Cover of the book Life in a Railway Factory by Mark Twain
Cover of the book The Lost Atlantis and Other Ethnographic Studies by Mark Twain
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy