ted by Iberville, in 1699. This person
spent some time in navigating the river and the waters adjacent to its
mouth. His brother, Bienville, succeeded him in these enterprises. A few
years later, and we find settlements springing up upon the banks of the
river. Since that time it has attracted a numerous population, and
to-day, though desolated in parts by the contentions of armies, there is
certainty in the belief that at some time these people of the great
river will wield a mighty power in the political and commercial destiny
of the American continent.

The Mississippi proper rises in the State of Minnesota, about 47 deg. and
some minutes north latitude, and 94 deg. 54' longitude west, at an elevation
of sixteen hundred and eighty feet above the level of the Gulf of
Mexico, and distant from it two thousand eight hundred and ninety-six
miles, its utmost length, upon the summit of Hauteurs de Terre, the
dividing ridge between the rivulets confluent to itself and those to the
Red River of the North. Its first appearance is a tiny pool, fed by
waters trickling from the neighboring hills. The surplus waters of this
little pool are discharged by a small brook, threading its way among a
multitude of very small lakes, until it gathers sufficient water, and
soon forms a larger lake. From here a second rivulet, impelled along a
rapid declination, rushes with violent impetuosity for some miles, and
subsides in Lake Itasca. Thence, with a more regular motion, until it
reaches Lake Cass, from whence taking a mainly southeasterly course, a
distance of nearly seven hundred miles, it reaches the Falls of St.
Anthony. Here the river makes in a few miles a descent of sixteen feet.
From this point to the Gulf, navigation is without further interruption,
and the wonders of the Mississippi begin.

It is not possible to give, with complete exactness, the outlines of the
immense valley drained by the Mississippi, yet, with the assistance of
accurate surveys, we can make an approximation, to say the least, which
will convey some idea of the physical necessity of the river to the vast
area through the centre of which it takes its course.

We will say:

From the highest point of land
between the mouth of the
Atchafalaya and Mississippi
Rivers, dividing the headwaters
of their confluents; thence
along the dividing ridge of tributaries
confluent to the Sabine
and other Texas streams from
those of the Red, in a north-we