The Surprisingly Humble Source Of The Mighty Mississippi
The headwaters of America’s most prolific river
The Mississippi River winds its way across 2,340 miles of the American heartland. It is the second-longest river in the United States and has the largest watershed by far. The Mississippi watershed covers an enormous 1,260,000 square miles. At its widest point, the Mississippi River is eleven miles across in Lake Winnibigoshish. At its deepest point, the Mississippi is 200 feet deep, near New Orleans. The Mississippi River and its tributaries drains into portions of 32 US states and two Canadian provinces.
For such a mighty river (one of the mightiest and well-known in the world) you would think that it would have an equally mighty source. But that is not the case. Surprisingly, the Mississippi River orinates in an unremarkable lake in Minnesota. If you didn’t know that this lake, Lake Itasca, was the headwaters of the Mississippi, you likely glance twice at it.
Lake Itasca is just 1.8 square miles in area (470 hectares; 1,200 acres) and is located in a meager Minnesota state park. It is a glacial lake fed by a number of tributaries that flow into it at all times of the year. The lake is not large or remarkable in any way.
