Mississippi River Information
The Great Mississippi River Race for Rett Syndrome,
May 5-31, 2001

Mississippi River Facts from Mississippi National River and Recreation Area:

Length - River length is a difficult measurement to pin down because the river channel is constantly changing. For example, staff at Itasca State Park, the Mississippi's headwaters, say the Mississippi is 2,552 miles long. The US Geologic Survey has published a number of 2,300 miles (3,705 kilometers), the EPA says it is 2,320 miles long, and the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area maintains its length at 2,350 miles

Speed - At the headwaters of the Mississippi, the average surface speed of the water is near 1.2 miles per hour - roughly one-third as fast as people walk.

Width - At Lake Itasca, the river is between 20-30 feet wide, the narrowest stretch for its entire length.
The Mississippi is more than four miles wide at Lake Onalaska. Near LaCrosse, Wisconsin, Mississippi water held behind Lock and Dam #7 and water held back by damming the Black River combine to form this broad reach of the Mississippi River.

Depth - At its headwaters, the Mississippi is less than 3 feet deep. The river's deepest section is betweenGovernor Nicholls Wharf and Algiers Point in New Orleans where it is 200 feet deep.

Elevation: The elevation of the Mississippi at Lake Itasca is 1,475 feet above sea level. It drops to 0 feet above sea level at the Gulf of Mexico. More than half of that drop in elevation occurs within the state of Minnesota.

Flow - There are 7.489 gallons of water in a cubic foot. One cubic foot of water weighs 65.4 pounds. A 48 foot semi-truck trailer is a 3,600 cu. ft. container. At Itasca, it would take 10 minutes for one semi-trailer of water to flow out of the lake into the Mississippi. At St. Anthony Falls, the equivalent of 3 semi-trailers full of water go over the falls every second. At New Orleans, the equivalent of 166 semi-trailers of water flow past Algiers Point each second.

Volume: At Lake Itasca, the average flow rate is 6 cubic feet per second. At Upper St. Anthony's Falls, the northernmost Lock and Dam, the average flow rate is 12,000 cubic ft/second. At New Orleans, the average flow rate is 600,000 cubic feet per second.

Elevation: The elevation of the Mississippi at Lake Itasca is 1,475 feet above sea level. It drops to 0 feet above sea level at the Gulf of Mexico. More than half of that drop in elevation occurs within the state of Minnesota.

Mississippi River Links:

Upper Mississippi River Conservation Committee

Lower Mississippi River Conservation Committee

Mississippi National River and Recreation Area

Mississippi River Information from the Army Corp of Engineers - Locks and Dams, Weather, Ice Outs and more....

Welcome to the Mississippi River Home Page As featured on USA Today Online! - everything you wanted to know about the Mississippi, includes maps, weather, information about cities along the way and more!

Mississippi Resources on and off the 'Net. For paddlers

Mississippi River Tourism Site

Order a Full Set of Mississippi River Charts

The Upper Mississippi River Magazine

Mississippi River Gallery, Museum of Minnesota

Mississippi River Museum, DuBuque, Iowa