Historical interpretive essay by Ray Breun, June 1981. Original measurements and river comparisons are retained as the author’s period claims; they require independent verification before reuse as scientific data.
When I moved to St. Louis in 1969, the first thing I did was go down to the levee and walk on the cobblestones, listening to the power of The River and the music it makes. St. Louis has all but abandoned its river connection. That river is simply amazing and needs to be the focus of attention to keep the historical focus of this city alive.
The hydrographic basin of the Mississippi is larger than six times the size of the country of France. Fully one eighth of the North American continent is drained by the Mississippi. Its average rate of flow is 664,000 cubic feet per second. Every 2.5 days, one cubic mile of water passes.
At its fastest recorded rate (Vicksburg, 1927), the rate was one cubic mile in 19 hours, i.e. 2,060,000 cubic feet per second.
However, the Mississippi is more than water–it is moving mud.
As much as 42 pounds of mud is in every cubic foot of the Mississippi.
When the huge amount of water passed Vicksburg it carried as much as 43,000 tons every second.
In fact, the Mississippi carries a cubic mile of earth into the Gulf of Mexico every 21 months.
This does not count all the other earth it deposits before it reaches the Gulf.
The Mississippi is about 390 feet above sea level at St. Louis.
However, it still has 1200 miles to go before it reaches the sea. Thus it drops only about 4 inches every mile. Curiously, the curvature of the earth is about 4 inches every mile. Thus the river is essentially flowing virtually flat for over 1/3 its length of 3800 miles.
The first portage point on the Mississippi is Chainof-Rocks just north of St. Louis.
This corresponds with the 390 foot level above the sea.
The early explorers and settlers had a flat expressway into the heart of the continent, and it brought them to St. Louis.
There are numerous folktales about the river: it’s easier to break your leg in the river than drown (so full of mud), etc.
All focus on the power of the river.
They do contain a kernel of truth.
When the caissons for Eads Bridge reached bedrock under the river, they found it sandpaper smooth.
The river literally removes its bottom down to bed rock (as much as 98 feet) in time of flood and carries it away.
The first three feet of the river bottom is constantly moving with the current.
The Missouri is so heavy as to flow under the Mississippi and erupt on the Illinois shore in times of flooding.
The river system is exceeded by only two others in the world: the Nile and the Amazon.
The plain of the river proper is as much as 49 miles wide at times of flood.
In the flood of 1973, the Mississippi above Alton was 15 miles wide. • In the flood of 1844, the Mississippi at St. Louis was over 12 miles wide and deep enough for steamboats to go from First and Washington to the Edwardsville escarpment near what is now Highway 157.
Obviously it is an amazing body of water.
It is the most winding river on the face of the earth.
It is quite literally beyond comprehension.
It is also the chief reason the City of St. Louis is what it is today.
The Fourth of July fireworks are returning to the riverfront this year and the waters will reflect the colors of cascading explosions.
At the same time, the river itself is so much more remarkable than what it will reflect.
Originally published in The Paper, June 1981.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Archival transcription note: The hydrologic figures and comparisons, including 42 pounds of mud per cubic foot and a 3,800-mile length, are preserved as 1981 claims. They require independent verification before factual reuse.
Original source: SD_Times1981_06.pdf, printed page(s) 6; PDF page(s) 6.
