Anthony, the river receives the waters of a
number of other similar streams, all flowing from the lake region.
At St. Paul the navigable stage of the river practically begins,
although there is more or less navigable water above the falls at
certain seasons. From St. Paul to Cairo the river flows between
bluffs, the terraces of Champlain times, from ten to fifty miles
apart. Between the bluffs are the bottom lands, often coincident with
the flood plain, along which the river channel wanders in a devious
course of 1,100 miles. The soil of the bottom lands is, of course,
alluvial, and was deposited by the river during past ages; that beyond
the bluffs is a part of the great intermontane plain, and is
sedentary--that is, it has not been materially disturbed since the
plain was raised above the sea level by the uplift of the continent.
From Cairo, at the junction of the Ohio River, the plain to the
southward is nearly all made land, and in a few spots only does the
river touch soil which it has not itself made. Here the Lower
Mississippi proper begins, and here, at some not far distant time in
the past,[2] was the head of the Gulf of Mexico. A fuller description
of the Lower Mississippi is unnecessary here, inasmuch as the
following pages are mainly devoted to this part alone.
Pages:
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173