WATER IN THE WEST

Ol’ Man River is Singing the Blues

How low can he go?

The Mississippi River at King’s Bluffs, Minnesota. Areas of the river in this region can be more than a mile wide. Photo by Wikideas1 on Wikimedia Commons.

“Wait a minute! I thought this series was called ‘Water in the West.’ The Mississippi River isn’t in the West!”

Well, theoretically, it’s not. But tell that to our forefathers. They first saw Ohio as the West. With further explorations, Indiana became the West, then Illinois. Once they crossed the Mississippi River, what was once the West became the Midwest.

St. Louis, on the Western side of the river, is known as “The Gateway to the West. “Its iconic Gateway Arch represents Manifest Destiny, when America sought to claim all the lands between the Atlantic and the Pacific.

The Mississippi River has its headwaters in Minnesota — not a western state. But many of the Mighty Mississippi’s tributaries start in the West.

The Missouri River, the tributary that contributes the most water to the Mississippi, is the longest in the country, beating the Mississippi by about 100 miles. Its headwaters are in Montana, and it meets the Mississippi slightly north of St. Louis.

Further south, the Arkansas River begins on the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The Canadian River, which starts in Southern Colorado, is a tributary of the Red River. It winds through New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma, meeting…