Archive for April, 2010
The Mississippi River is the second longest river in the United States, with a length of 2,320 miles (3,730 km) from the source of its upper portion at Lake Itasca in Minnesota to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Mississippi River is part of the Missouri-Mississippi river system, which is the largest river system in North America and among the largest in the world: By length—3,900 miles (6,300 km)—it is the fourth longest, and by its average discharge of 572,000 cu ft/s (16,200 m³/s), it is the tenth largest.
The name Mississippi is derived from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi (”Great River”) or gichi-ziibi (”Big River”).
From its origin at Lake Itasca to St. Louis, Missouri, the flow of the Mississippi River is moderated by 43 dams.
The Mississippi River runs through 10 states and was used to define portions of these states’ borders. The middle of the riverbed at the time the borders were established was the line to define the borders between states. The river has since shifted, but the state borders of Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi have not changed; they still follow the former bed of the Mississippi River as of their establishment.
The area of the Mississippi valley was first settled by Native American tribes, such as the Cheyenne, Sioux, Ojibwe, Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk, Fox, Kickapoo, Tamaroa, Moingwena, Quapaw and Chickasaw.
The Cheyenne, one of the earliest inhabitants of the upper Mississippi River, called it the Máˀxe-éˀometaaˀe (Big Greasy River) in the Cheyenne language. However, the word Mississippi comes from Messipi, the French rendering of the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe or Algonquin) name for the river, Misi-ziibi (Great River).
On May 8, 1541, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto became the first recorded European to reach the Mississippi River, which he called Río del Espíritu Santo (”River of the Holy Spirit”), in the area of what is now Mississippi. In Spanish, the river is called Río Mississippi.
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. It is approximately 981 miles (1,579 km) long and is located in the eastern United States.Pearls have a particularly long history in the Midwest. Excavations in the Ohio River Valley revealed fabulous quantities of pearls belonging to the people of the ancient Hopewell culture (200 B.C.-A.D. 500).
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On a 
Cnn i-report video http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-422229 Twitter @grantmead
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Quote #3:
“What we began to observe is that the horse instinctively knows how and when to introduce humans to the unexpected and to the challenges of surpirses and new difficulties. The horse becomes not only a soothing friend but a provocative adversary – what Celtic shamans call an anam cara, or “soul friend,” in Gaelic. It is this combination of soothing our doubts and fears and challenging our entrenched behaviors and beliefs that epitomizes the role of the anam cara. With laserlike precision, the horse easily assumes the role of soul friend, disturbing our comfort by frustrating our demands, withdrawing its compliance, becoming hard to handle, or shocking our rigid and deterministic minds. Thus, the horse is capable of opening doors of awareness that stretch the bounds of human consciousness.” – Horses and the Mystical Path: The Celtic Way of Expanding the Human Soul by Adele von Rust McCormick, Marlena Deborah McCormick, and Thomas E. McCormick p. 6
Quote #4:
“The Dead Zone is a much more complicated problem to solve There’s no controversy about the goal: The quantity of nutrients entering the Mississippi River must be substantially reduce.d But there’s no “big fix” solution to achieve such results. Instead, the solution will require tens of thousands of tiny actions and investments by thousands of farmers, local and county governments, and individual property owners across thirty-two states. Nobody doubts that it will take decades to address the crisis. What’s not certain is whether Gulf ecosystems can wait that long.” – Ocean’s End: Travels Through Endangered Seas by Colin Woodard p. 125
Duration : 0:9:32
Hernando de Soto Lake lies at the extreme upstream end of the Mississippi River source basin at Itasca State Park in Minnesota. This lake and the various other lakes, ponds, swamps, streams and springs flow or seep in the direction of Lake Itasca from which flows the Mississippi River.
This movie is taken from the extreme southeast corner of Hernando de Soto Lake. For the first 19 seconds, we are panning from the southwest to the north. Then we pan from the north to the northeast along a “bay” (generally considered an unnamed lake) which is usually separated from the main lake by an isthmus along which runs a path.
The lake is considerably high as it is early spring (March 30, 2010), and the isthmus between the lake and the “bay” is submerged under possibly 2-3 feet of water.
Music is from Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” – the Spring concerto.
I have a little more about the sources of the Mississippi River at http://www.jlindquist.com/mapsupp6.html , and “part two” (soon to come) will have some still photos of this lake and nearby area.
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weekend before hubby deploys to iraq again we take a dinner cruise down the missisippi river –it was a beautiful august night on the replica sternwheeler steamboat that played patriotic songs on steam powered pipe organ
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Mississippi River Fish, Mississippi River Catfish, Smoked Fish, Frog leg, Turtle Jerky, Vallley Fish and Cheese, Prairie du Chien Wisconsin, very unique, high quality smoked, fresh, frozen fish and speciality foods. Mike Valley is the premeir retailer and wholesaler for seafood products. Smoked all fish on premises with his secret seasonings and hickory smoke. 608-326-4719
Duration : 0:10:19
Finally, and inexpensive way to be on the lake. This property consists of a 3 bedroom seasonal cabin with 64.5 feet on Rice Lake of the Mississippi River, anda nicely wooded lot across the street. The lake cabin sits among a stand of towering Norway Pines, and has a nice westerly view across the lake. Cabinfeatures 2 bedrooms on the main level, along with the kitchen, bath, foyer entry / breakfast nook, and a nice living area. Upstairs youll find an additionalbedroom area; great for the kids, with plenty of storage. The walkout basement is unfinished, but is currently used as a recreation / game room. Opportunitieslike this dont present themselves often, so be sure to take a look before it passes you by.
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Explore the beauty and ancient history of the Natchez Trace Parkway from Nashville Tennessee to the banks of the Mississippi River in Natchez, Mississippi. Part of Vehix’s Blacktop Chronicles series exploring how car travel shapes the American experience. Filmmakers: Steve and Sheri Wiggins
Duration : 0:3:30
Riverboat cruising is certainly a relaxing way to explore a destination. Two very different rivers to cruise on are the Mississippi in the USA and the Nile in Egypt.
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