GEOGRAPHY AND LIFE ON THE RIVER

THE JOURNEY

LIFE ON THE RIVER

• People were just starting to arrive from Europe.
• There was no technology.
• Life was simple, it was not luxurious.
• Most people didn't live too close to the river for flood reasons.
• People used the Mississippi as a trade route.

LIFE ON THE RIVER

• Lower Mississippi was slave country and very wealthy.
• Upper Mississippi was the opposite.
• Land was soon exhausted in the East, so people started to move West.

FACTS ABOUT THE RIVER

• It spans about 2,320 miles.
• The water moves at 1.2 mph.
• It holds at least 260 species of fish.
• It was considered a boundary between the East and West.
• Upper Mississippi was mostly non-navigable until 1837.

FACTS ABOUT THE RIVER

• Cotton was most important along the river.
• It is 20 feet to 11 miles wide.
• It runs through 10 states.