Margaret Snelling. age‑12.  o Sioux Falls, SD

How long is the Mississippi river?

The Mississippi Father of Waters. is born in Minnesota.. Its headwaters gather from several. forest‑trimmed lakes. The little stream gathers other streams growing as it gurgles along. At Minneapolis it is a great river. At St. Louis. it has traveled not much more than 1,000 miles.. There it is joined by the Missouri. The Missouri. born in the high Rockies of Montana, is already 2741 miles long. They flow together as one river for over 1100 miles to the Gulf of Mexico.

In all fairness. the two great rivers are measured as one. The early explorers did not know the Missouri was the main strewn of the huge water system. From its headwaters to the sea. the Mississippi is about‑ 2200miles. From the headwaters of the Missouri to the sea is 3872 miles.

The Mississippi‑Missouri River competes with the Nile and the Amazon for the title of World's Longest River. It is hard to say which is longest. so close is the contest. Each of the three great‑‑rivers is almost 4,000 miles