Fun Facts

  • 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.

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