Impressions of a River

The Mississippi River is impressive by any standard. It forms the third largest drainage basin in the world. It runs for 2,340 miles, almost all of them navigable due to an extensive system of locks and dams. At least 300 species of birds migrate along it, and more than 200 fish species live in it. Countless works of literature, music, and visual arts feature the river.

The few days we spent beside this tiny section of the Mississippi were informative. While on the river, we saw interesting examples of why it's nicknamed "The Great River Road." First we saw a huge, glistening white yacht. I'm talking about an ocean-going, four-stories above the water, enormous, billionaires' playpen sort of yacht.

Next, we saw a rusty grain barge, floating low in the water. It was anchored and waiting for a tugboat to push it upriver. (We lucked out and happened to see that the next day.) The captain said it holds something like three dozen grain elevators' worth of seed. Over one billion bushels of grain--about 60 percent of all grain exports--move via the Mississippi River annually. That matters a great deal to Nebraska, and it was interesting to see how it happens.

The last vessel we saw during our one-hour cruise was headed downriver, pushing 15 barges. The whole assemblage had to be at least three quarters of a mile long; it took a good five minutes to pass our riverboat in the opposite direction. I was awestruck by the sheer magnitude of the loads and energy required to move them.

A sensory impression I'll remember is the humming sound of insects and birds coming from the islands. It was louder than the riverboat's engine, which is to say very loud, and had a throbbing rhythm. The parks service takes a hands-off approach to the islands in this area. There are no cleared areas or manufactured paths, though in a couple of places I saw animal trails to the water. The vegetation is a tangled mess, a paradise for insects and birds I'm sure!