It is singular, too, and exhibits still more clearly what we have said of deposits, that the lower river for the most part runs along the summit of a ridge of its own formation, and annually this ridge is becoming more elevated. The inland deposits are made by the bayous and their overflow. The lands close to the river are disproportionately higher than those farther back. The average distance from the river to the swamp is about two and a half miles. And the slope in some places sinks to a depression of eighteen feet to a mile. It is upon this strip of tillable earth that the river plantations are located. By a system of drainage even much of the swamp lands now unconverted might soon be turned to profitable use.
The numerous islands and old channels of the Mississippi are also another source of wonder to the traveller. The 'cut offs,' previously explained, are mainly the cause of both. In the first instance, the river forces its way by a new route, and joins the river below; this necessarily detaches a certain amount of land from the main shore. As for the second, after the river has taken this new route, its main abrasive action follows with it. The water in the old channel becomes comparatively quiet, sediment is rapidly deposited, and in course of time the old bed loses its identity, or becomes a beautiful lake, numerous instances of which occur between the Ohio and the Red Rivers.
As the Mississippi reaches the neighborhood of the Balize the east banks slope to the sea level very rapidly, running off toward the end at a declination of three feet to a mile; after which, the land is soon lost in wet sea marsh, covered by tides. On the west side the land declines more slowly, and in some places is deeply wooded. The chenières begin where the declination ends, and the great reservoirs of the coast, the lakes and lagoons, begin.
The incessant changes in the channel and filling up of the Mississippi preclude the possibility of a table of distances mathematically accurate, yet we have taken from accepted authorities the number of miles from the Gulf to the principal points along its banks. The table may be of service to the many that are daily tending to the great Father of Rivers, and those at home may be able to form, perhaps, a better estimate of the immense length of the stream, by having before them these figures:
Table of Distances and Altitudes on the Mississippi.
| From | the Gulf of Mexico | Miles. | Above level of the sea. |
|---|---|---|---|
| To | New Orleans, La., | 110 | 10.5 |
| " | Donaldsonville, La., | 188 | .... |
| " | Plaquemine, La., | 210 | .... |
| " | Baton Rouge, La., | 240 | .... |
| " | Port Hudson, La., | 263 | .... |
| " | Bayou Sara, La., | 275 | .... |
| " | Mouth of the Red River, La., | 315 | 76 |
| " | Fort Adams, Miss., | 327 | .... |
| " | Natchez, Miss., | 387 | 86 |
| " | Grand Gulf, Miss., | 450 | .... |
| " | Warrenton, Miss., | 500 | .... |
| " | Vicksburg, Miss., | 512 | .... |
| " | Mouth of the Yazoo River, Miss., | 522 | .... |
| " | Milliken's Bend, La., | 538 | .... |
| " | Lake Providence, La., | 588 | .... |
| " | Greenville, Miss., | 657 | .... |
| " | Napoleon, Ark., and mouth of the Arkansas River, | 730 | .... |
| " | Mouth of White River, Ark., | 756 | .... |
| " | Helena, Ark., | 838 | .... |
| " | Mouth of St. Francis River, Ark., | 848 | .... |
| " | Memphis, Tenn., | 928 | .... |
| " | New Madrid, Mo., | 1,113 | .... |
| " | Columbus, Ky., | 1,167 | .... |
| " | Cairo, Ill., and mouth of Ohio River, | 1,187 | 324 |
| " | Cape Girardeau, Mo., | 1,237 | .... |
| " | St. Louis, Mo., | 1,388 | 382 |
| " | Mouth of the Illinois River, | 1,422 | .... |
| " | Upper Iowa River, Io., | 1,984 | .... |
| " | Mouth of St. Peter's River, Minn., | 2,198 | 744 |
| " | Falls of St. Anthony, Minn., | 2,206 | 856 |
| " | Lake Cass, Minn., | 2,761 | 1,402 |
| " | Itasca Lake, Minn., | 2,890 | 1,575 |
| " | Springs on the summit of Hauteurs de Terre, | 2,896 | 1,680 |
The Lower Mississippi presents another feature that should not be forgotten, and which sets forth a great design. Immense forests of cottonwood and ash are to be seen growing along its banks. These trees are of rapid growth, and afford excellent (in fact the best, with the exception of coal) fuel for steamers. Indeed, they constitute much the greater portion of wood consumed in river navigation. So suitable is the rich alluvion of the river banks to the growth of these trees, that in ten years they attain to a sufficient size for felling. Plantations lying uncultivated for a single year, in the second present a handsome young growth of cottonwood. This fact is now very well proven on the Mississippi; the war has ruined agricultural labor almost entirely. No apprehensions are ever felt by steamboat men on the subject of fuel; the supply is inexhaustible and reproducing.
The other woods found upon the river, but not, let it be said, to the extent of the cottonwood or the ash, are the live and water oak, swamp dogwood, willow, myrtle, wild pecan, elm, and ash. The cypress tree is found in extensive forests back from the river in the swamps. This tree attains an enormous height, and is without branches until attaining the very top, and then they are short and crooked, presenting a very fine and sparse foliage. The wood of the cypress is very little used upon the river, not, perhaps, in consequence of its inferiority of quality, but the difficulty of access to it.
In conclusion, we cannot withhold a few words upon the singular typical similarity between the appearance of vegetation upon its banks and the river itself. Gray forests of cypress, the blended foliage of the oak, the cottonwood, and the ash, with a charming intermixture of that beautiful parasitic evergreen, the mistletoe, above Vicksburg, suggest the blooming grandeur of the stream. Below, the appearance of a new parasite, the Spanish moss, draping the trees with a cold, hoary-looking vegetation, casts a melancholy and matured dignity upon the scene. Like the gray locks of age, it reminds the passer by of centuries gone, when the red savage in his canoe toiled upon its turbid flood; it recalls the day of discovery, when De Soto and La Salle sought its mighty torrent in search of gain, and found death; and now looms before us the noblest picture of all, the existence of a maturing civilization upon its banks. Associated thus with an ever-present suggestion of a remarkable and ever-forming antiquity, the Mississippi becomes indeed the wonder of waters. Ponce de Leon, that most romantic of early Spanish explorers, traversed the continent in search of a 'fountain of everlasting youth;' the powerful republic of the West, has found in the 'Father of Waters' a fountain and a stream of everlasting, vigorous life, wealth, and convenience.