登陆注册
5184500000002

第2章 The River and Its History(1)

THE Mississippi is well worth reading about.It is not a commonplace river,but on the contrary is in all ways remarkable.

Considering the Missouri its main branch,it is the longest river in the world--four thousand three hundred miles.

It seems safe to say that it is also the crookedest river in the world,since in one part of its journey it uses up one thousand three hundred miles to cover the same ground that the crow would fly over in six hundred and seventy-five.It discharges three times as much water as the St.Lawrence,twenty-five times as much as the Rhine,and three hundred and thirty-eight times as much as the Thames.

No other river has so vast a drainage-basin:it draws its water supply from twenty-eight States and Territories;from Delaware,on the Atlantic seaboard,and from all the country between that and Idaho on the Pacific slope--a spread of forty-five degrees of longitude.

The Mississippi receives and carries to the Gulf water from fifty-four subordinate rivers that are navigable by steamboats,and from some hundreds that are navigable by flats and keels.

The area of its drainage-basin is as great as the combined areas of England,Wales,Scotland,Ireland,France,Spain,Portugal,Germany,Austria,Italy,and Turkey;and almost all this wide region is fertile;the Mississippi valley,proper,is exceptionally so.

It is a remarkable river in this:that instead of widening toward its mouth,it grows narrower;grows narrower and deeper.From the junction of the Ohio to a point half way down to the sea,the width averages a mile in high water:thence to the sea the width steadily diminishes,until,at the 'Passes,'above the mouth,it is but little over half a mile.At the junction of the Ohio the Mississippi's depth is eighty-seven feet;the depth increases gradually,reaching one hundred and twenty-nine just above the mouth.

The difference in rise and fall is also remarkable--not in the upper,but in the lower river.The rise is tolerably uniform down to Natchez (three hundred and sixty miles above the mouth)--about fifty feet.

But at Bayou La Fourche the river rises only twenty-four feet;at New Orleans only fifteen,and just above the mouth only two and one half.

An article in the New Orleans 'Times-Democrat,'based upon reports of able engineers,states that the river annually empties four hundred and six million tons of mud into the Gulf of Mexico--which brings to mind Captain Marryat's rude name for the Mississippi--'the Great Sewer.'

This mud,solidified,would make a mass a mile square and two hundred and forty-one feet high.

The mud deposit gradually extends the land--but only gradually;it has extended it not quite a third of a mile in the two hundred years which have elapsed since the river took its place in history.

The belief of the scientific people is,that the mouth used to be at Baton Rouge,where the hills cease,and that the two hundred miles of land between there and the Gulf was built by the river.

This gives us the age of that piece of country,without any trouble at all--one hundred and twenty thousand years.

Yet it is much the youthfullest batch of country that lies around there anywhere.

The Mississippi is remarkable in still another way--its disposition to make prodigious jumps by cutting through narrow necks of land,and thus straightening and shortening itself.

More than once it has shortened itself thirty miles at a single jump!These cut-offs have had curious effects:they have thrown several river towns out into the rural districts,and built up sand bars and forests in front of them.

The town of Delta used to be three miles below Vicksburg:a recent cutoff has radically changed the position,and Delta is now TWOMILES ABOVE Vicksburg.

Both of these river towns have been retired to the country by that cut-off.A cut-off plays havoc with boundary lines and jurisdictions:for instance,a man is living in the State of Mississippi to-day,a cut-off occurs to-night,and to-morrow the man finds himself and his land over on the other side of the river,within the boundaries and subject to the laws of the State of Louisiana!

Such a thing,happening in the upper river in the old times,could have transferred a slave from Missouri to Illinois and made a free man of him.

The Mississippi does not alter its locality by cut-offs alone:it is always changing its habitat BODILY--is always moving bodily SIDEWISE.

At Hard Times,La.,the river is two miles west of the region it used to occupy.As a result,the original SITE of that settlement is not now in Louisiana at all,but on the other side of the river,in the State of Mississippi.NEARLY THE WHOLE OF THAT ONE THOUSANDTHREE HUNDRED MILES OF OLD MISSISSIPPI RIVER WHICH LA SALLE FLOATED DOWNIN HIS CANOES,TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO,IS GOOD SOLID DRY GROUND NOW.

The river lies to the right of it,in places,and to the left of it in other places.

Although the Mississippi's mud builds land but slowly,down at the mouth,where the Gulfs billows interfere with its work,it builds fast enough in better protected regions higher up:for instance,Prophet's Island contained one thousand five hundred acres of land thirty years ago;since then the river has added seven hundred acres to it.

But enough of these examples of the mighty stream's eccentricities for the present--I will give a few more of them further along in the book.

Let us drop the Mississippi's physical history,and say a word about its historical history--so to speak.We can glance briefly at its slumbrous first epoch in a couple of short chapters;at its second and wider-awake epoch in a couple more;at its flushest and widest-awake epoch in a good many succeeding chapters;and then talk about its comparatively tranquil present epoch in what shall be left of the book.

The world and the books are so accustomed to use,and over-use,the word 'new'in connection with our country,that we early get and permanently retain the impression that there is nothing old about it.

同类推荐
  • 活法机要

    活法机要

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 新受戒比丘六念五观法

    新受戒比丘六念五观法

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 南濠诗话

    南濠诗话

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说兜沙经

    佛说兜沙经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 定情人

    定情人

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 嫦娥揽月

    嫦娥揽月

    这首诗名叫《月亮》,是阿根廷著名诗人、小说家博尔赫斯写给比他小47岁的妻子玛丽亚·儿玉的。玛丽亚·儿玉是日裔阿根廷人,12岁时认识博尔赫斯,大学毕业后,常常和博尔赫斯在一起研究盎格鲁-撒克逊文学,耳鬓厮磨,情愫渐生。1986年,玛丽亚·儿玉带博尔赫斯去日内瓦治疗肝癌,见博尔赫斯孤苦伶仃,由于相悦已久,40岁的玛丽亚·儿玉,嫁给了87岁高龄的博尔赫斯。然而这段惊世骇俗的爱情,却终止于上帝的嫉妒,就在他们婚后刚8周,博尔赫斯便去了天堂。令人艳羡的婚姻戛然而止,博尔赫斯写给小娇妻的这首《月亮》,却传遍了全世界。
  • 情系小青梅:竹马撩上瘾

    情系小青梅:竹马撩上瘾

    他,冷漠高傲,少言少语,唯独她的出现使他腹黑男附体,壁咚床咚沙发咚。使得学校的花痴被卧槽刷屏。片段一:“顾简兮,凭什么墨泽哥那么喜欢你,你到底哪里比我好。”“我哪里都不比你好,可他就是那里都喜欢。你要是有看我不顺眼的地方,早点跟我说,反正我也不会改,但你别把自己憋坏了。”“你…” “我?呵,我这个人说话从来不带刺,如果哪句话伤到你了,别误会,我就是故意的。” 片段二:“简兮,我可是个正常的男人,你…是在考验我的自制力吗?”“我才没有要考验你,要上就别墨迹。”说完顾简兮便吻上他的唇。夜墨泽呼吸有些急促,问道:“不后悔?”“不后悔。”当冰山男遇上傲娇女,二人会擦出怎样的火花呢?
  • 神女重生:傲娇千金

    神女重生:傲娇千金

    她是九天仙琴,私化两代人的恩怨被贬下凡,由灵顽踏错时空,随着水晶链穿越时空。他是九天仙童,却贪婪凡间情爱难修正果,追随这她的步伐.来到人间。她与他在人间的降生,一次又一次地擦肩而过;一次又一次地阴谋再次浮现,身为傲娇王爷的他,是否能突破前世的束缚结成连理……
  • 三国懒人

    三国懒人

    白仁本想过着“采菊东篱下,悠然见南山”的懒人生活,却不想被乱世卷了进去,到最后无法脱离。挣扎,反抗,还是默默承受?(本书已经完结,新书《宋天子》正在火热连载中!)
  • 妖城传

    妖城传

    人说,世界上有一城,此城名为妖城;城说,城中里有一人,其名为式胜安。学习、战斗、争夺、逃命。过五关,斩六将,一波未平一波又起,路途逍遥问命如何,还请阅这异世之书。
  • 九功舞之祀风师乐舞

    九功舞之祀风师乐舞

    通微身负婆罗血脉,继承世代不详的诅咒,也让千夕因他而死。五年默默守护,他却始终不知她的存在,直到,他再次伤了她。通微费尽心力,助她重塑心魂,却仍是人鬼殊途。他不甘再承受这样不可触碰的痛苦,哪怕逆天而行,他也要她重生,携手共赴此间风情。当年的祁连山上,她明艳如火,他孤意似月。一场爱恨,五年离散。再相遇,他凌驾俗世,她身披嫁裳。危机之下,他救了她的性命,她做了他的妻子。天下未靖,风云再起,三生石上,能否与君再共前缘……
  • 节南山之什

    节南山之什

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 你丫抢婚有完没完

    你丫抢婚有完没完

    身为京城首富的秦府,一直有个最大的秘密那就是------秦老爷竟穷地连女儿都养不活了!只好选一个富贵女婿来担当重任。但秦小姐,却人冷如冰,难起一丝涟漪!她深信,多情是人生的最大不幸!既然婚姻只是人生必然的旅程,那嫁与不嫁?嫁与什么人又何妨?可惜,上天总好像与她做对!不,确切地说,有一个男人总是与她做对!每一个大婚之日,他都恶劣地出现!抢婚,抢婚,抢个没完没了!第一次抢婚的理由是,因为太无聊了,他要小赌!第二次抢婚的理由是,大红花轿穿过他的府门,他看着碍眼!第三次抢婚的理由是,好歹已经有了肌肤之亲,为何不给他这个奸夫打声招呼而第四次更夸张,竟然在京城地下挖了一条地道直通新房,干什么?抢婚呀!可真等到他自己也想过过当新郎的瘾时,报应终于来了,新娘子又被别的不明人士抢走了!可恶,抢婚-----可是他的专利权呀,竟然有人敢侵犯他的权利,这不是找死吗?秦涟漪-----面对尘世,就算再冷然,但她毕竟是个女人,有些东西还是放不下,生命这东西就像一朵美丽诱惑人的花,而她的生命则仿佛一朵被折断的花,拿走不是,丢弃也不是,接回去更不可能,真是左右为难。唐天齐-----她这样冷冰冰的人,难道对关系女子重大名节的事情就真的如此无动于衷?终有一天,他要找到让她惊慌失措的事情以供自己娱乐,至于现在嘛?仅仅只是个开始,后面的戏码更多,更长,更精采。林怀玉-----他曾经以为这上天是眷顾自己的,如今却觉得,这一场婚事,仿佛是月老打的一个呵欠,如今,清醒了,原本一切美好的梦想,彻底成了泡影。夜媚娘-----这一抱,那么紧紧的拥抱,尽管动机只是为了让她不伤害他的妻子,但却唤醒了她心中早已掩埋许久的温柔。唐玉轩-----她呕吐的样子很美,许多年之后,当他流离失所,四处被官兵追杀的时候,他偶尔停下来之时,他记忆最深刻的反而是她吐的一塌糊涂的那个午后。风为织-----如果没有那伙山贼,如果没有轻尘的那些隐瞒,一切是否都会不同呢?可惜,人生没有什么如果,有些东西永远回不去了!柳轻尘-----也许,再轻的尘土即使想飞上枝头,也总归只会随风而动,直到有一天风遗忘了它,尘土怎可留住风的脚步呢?秦天放-----她与他,就好像她是开在宋代文人笔下的一朵清梅,而他的心则在明代的墙角枯萎着。唐心儿-----敢和她抢男人的女人,那下场只有一个字,死,死,死!
  • Lesser Hippias

    Lesser Hippias

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 小甜心好可爱

    小甜心好可爱

    【宠文】草根少女在父母和自己的努力下考进了韵樱高中,与恶魔校草顾森羽结识,明天在那撒狗粮,时不时还闹不和,真是欢喜冤家呀!