THE MIGHTY MISSISSIPPI RIVER

Maybe the Mighty Mo, for the the Missouri River, is more prominent than the Mighty Mississippi, for the Missouri is the longest river in the USA, stretching for about 2341 miles.  The Mighty Mo is also the battleship USS Missouri, where the Japanese officially signed in Tokyo Bay the ending of World War II.  This Mighty Mo is now permanently docked in Pearl Harbor, serving as a museum.  About this Mighty Mo:

• Commissioned in 1944, making it 84 years old.
• Could move at a top speed of 38 MPH.
• Served in WWII, Korean War and Persian Gulf War.

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  There are nine main guns, firing 16-inch projectiles up to 24 miles, and was upgraded to Tomahawk cruise and Harpon anti-ship missiles in 1980, increasing the range to 800 miles.

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  Decommissioned in 1992, as were all American battleships.
• There are still active destroyers and cruisers with a striking range of 1000 miles.  Aircraft carrier planes such as the Super Hornet, can hit a target 575 miles away, but with long-range missiles.
• Carriers in battle regions are always in motion at up to 35 MPH to confuse the enemy.  Plus they remain hundreds of miles away to minimized land-based missiles.

So now, on to the Mississippi River.

• 2340 miles long.  Note, this is only one mile shorter than the Missouri River.
• Retains a clear and blue color for approximately 493 miles down to Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• Begins to turn greenish through Minnesota and Wisconsin.

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  For the rest of trip down to the Gulf, inflowing sediment turns the river brown.  Certainly by St. Louis, Missouri.  Thus, another nickname.  Old Man River.
• Widest point is 11 miles, near Lake Winnibigoshish.
• The deepest point is 200 feet, near New Orleans.
• A drop of water takes 90 days to reach the Gulf of Mexico, a speed of just over one mile/hour.
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  If you count the source of the Missouri in Montana, the Mississippi River would have a total length of 3710 miles, making it the fourth longest after the Nile, Amazon an Yangtze.
• The Mississippi River is the primary river of the largest U.S. drainage basin, drawing water from 32 states (42% of the country's land area) and two Canadian provinces.
• However, only the tenth-largest river by discharge flow, but still, largest in North America.
• Amazon has more than 10 times the flow rate of the Mississippi.

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  Some history.
• About 2 billion years ago, the Mississippi River system began to form.
• 2 million years ago, glaciers continued the process.
• 15,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age, the Mississippi River  began.
• Every 1000 to 1500 years, the river changes course, mostly wanting to join the Atchafalaya River into the Gulf.  The last adjustment was about a thousand years ago.  More recently, the Army Corps of engineers has made adjustments to maintain the current system, for downstream cities like  New Orleans would be economically devastated if the river stopped flowing nearby.

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  The word Mississippi comes from Misi-zibi, the French rendering of the Anishinaabe River.

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  The New Madrid Seismic Zone has caused problems near New Madrid, Missouri, between St. Louis and Memphis.  There were four great earthquakes in 1811 and 1812 of around 8 on the Richter magnitude scale.

• The Mississippi River does not just freely flow.
• The Upper Mississippi has 29 locks and dam systems, constructed by the Army Corps in the 1930s and 1940s. 
• The Lower Mississippi is naturally deep enough for shipping.

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  There are 260 species of fish and 40 freshwater mussels living in the river.  The biggest is the gulf sturgeon at up to 9 feet long and more than 300 pounds.  And yes, you can technically harvest caviar, but you shouldn't because it is protected.

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  In 1993, a 100-year flood occurred, causing up to $12 billion in damages.
• 144 bridges cross the river.
• The water flowing into the Gulf of Mexico maintains a plume all the way into the Straits of Florida. enters the Gulf Stream, and can be detected in the Atlantic Ocean close to Georgia, before finally mixing with the ocean.

Here are the top ten Mississippi River songs:

1. "Ol Man River"—Paul Robeson

2. "High Water Everywhere"—Charley Patton

3. "When The Levee Breaks"—Memphis Minnie & Kansas Joe McCoy

4. "Mississippi River Blues"—Jimmie Rodgers

5. "Mississippi River Blues"—Big Bill Broonzy

6. "Proud Mary"—CCR, according to Google AI:

"Proud Mary" is considered a Mississippi River song 

because John Fogerty wrote it about a mythical steamboat ("riverboat queen") traveling that specific river, symbolizing an escape to a freer, simpler life. The lyrics "rollin' on the river" and the song's themes were inspired by Mark Twain's tales of the Mississippi, creating a vivid, albeit imagined, Americana river experience.

7. "Proud Mary"—Ike & Tina Turner

8. "Evangeline"—The Band w/Emmylou Harris

9. "Old Time River Man"—John Hartford

10. "Catfish John"—Alison Krauss w/The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

To me, the 1936 and 1951 versions of Showboat, by Rogers and Hammerstein, were the best Mississippi River movies.

• The first one starred Irene Dunne, Allan Jones and Paul Robeson.  Rotten Tomatoes ratings of 100 and 73.  

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  The 1951 film was colorful and splashy, earning 81/70 scores from Rotten Tomatoes. Starred Kathryn Grayson, Howard eel, Ava Gardner, Joe E. Brown, Marge/Gower Champion, and Agnes Moorehead, with Paul Warfield singing Ole Man River.

However, they were both filmed in Hollywood. So Google AI rates the top three as Mud (2012, RT 97/80) with Matthew McConaughey as #1, O Brother, where Art Thou? (2000, this is the whole film, RT 78/89) as #2 and The River (1937, also the whole film, a documentary of half an hour, RT 29) as #3.

I stumbled across a You Tube video of our American Melody cruise, but on the Upper Mississippi during the Pandemic.  So if you want a different look, watch this.

I've lately been featuring leaders being AI'd singing and dancing.  Here, Putin sings Blueberry Hills.

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