What are 5 facts about the Mississippi river?

10 Breathtaking Facts About the Mississippi River

• The Mississippi River Is the Third-Largest River Basin in the World.
• The River’s Widest Point is Over 11 Miles Across.
• It’s Where Water-Skiing Was Invented.
• Two People Have Swum the Entire Length of the River.
• It’s Home to 25% of All North American Fish Species.

What are 2 facts about the Mississippi river?

Length. The Mississippi River is the second longest river in North America, flowing 2,350 miles from its source at Lake Itasca through the center of the continental United States to the Gulf of Mexico. The Missouri River, a tributary of the Mississippi River, is about 100 miles longer.

What are three facts about the Mississippi river?

Fun Facts

• The Mississippi River is 2,340 miles long.
• The Great River Road was created in 1938.
• The Great River Road runs through about 110 counties and parishes.
• In the year A.D. 1250, the ancient metropolis of Cahokia, Illinois, was home to more people than London.

What is the Mississippi river known for?

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.

What is bad about the Mississippi river?

It is also a river at risk. The Mississippi River and its tributaries have been plagued by nutrient runoff, specifically excess nitrogen and phosphorous. All of that nitrogen and phosphorous runoff ultimately ends up in the Gulf of Mexico, triggering rapid overgrowth of algae.

How far up the Mississippi has a bull shark been found?

They have been known to travel up the Mississippi River as far as Alton, Illinois, about 700 miles (1100 km) from the ocean.

Why is the Mississippi river toxic?

The Mississippi River doesn’t have the cleanest reputation. Long treated as a drain for Midwest farms, factories and cities, the river has coursed with a nasty mix of bacteria, lead and toxic chemicals.

What lives in the Mississippi river?

More than 120 species of fish make their home in the river, along with recovering mussel populations. Otters, coyotes, deer, beaver and muskrats and other mammals live along the river’s banks. The National Park Service routinely conducts studies to monitor and evaluate animal populations.

Why is Mississippi River so toxic?