- 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.
- Iowa’s 500-foot Pike’s Peak was named for Zebulon Pike, who explored the Upper Mississippi River in 1805.
- Waterskiing was invented on Lake Pepin, located between Minnesota and Wisconsin.
- It takes 90 days for a drop of water to travel the entire length of the Mississippi River.
- The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri, is 630 feet tall.
- From its source in northern Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi River drops 1,475 feet.
- The Mississippi River is home to 360 species of fish, 326 species of birds, 145 species of amphibians and 50 species of mammals.
- The Mississippi River is the third largest watershed in the world.
- The deepest place on the Mississippi River is 200-feet deep and is located near Algiers Point in New Orleans.
- Tennessee boasts some of the finest and most famous whisky distilleries in the world.
- Kentucky is widely renowned as the center of the time-honored art of distilling fine bourbon.
- Mississippi’s catfish farms produce the majority of the nation’s farm-raised catfish.
- Louisiana was named after the Fourteenth King of France.
- Iowa is the birthplace of President Herbert Hoover.
- Missouri is known as the “Show Me” state.
- Illinois has the largest population of all the states located along the Mississippi River.