- 1. The Mississippi River is the second-longest river in the United States, stretching over 2,300 miles from its source at Lake Itasca in Minnesota to its confluence with the Gulf of Mexico. It passes through or borders 10 states, serving as a major transportation route for goods and products. The river has played a significant role in the history and culture of the region, serving as a lifeline for trade, travel, and agriculture. Its vast basin is home to diverse wildlife and ecosystems, making it an important natural resource. The Mississippi River continues to be a symbol of American heritage and a vital part of the country's landscape.
What is the longest river in North America?
A) Columbia River
B) Colorado River
C) Amazon River
D) Mississippi River
- 2. In which state does the Mississippi River have its source?
A) Mississippi
B) Tennessee
C) Louisiana
D) Minnesota
- 3. Which major city lies at the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers?
A) St. Louis
B) Memphis
C) Minneapolis
D) New Orleans
- 4. The Mississippi River flows into which body of water?
A) Lake Superior
B) Gulf of Mexico
C) Pacific Ocean
D) Atlantic Ocean
- 5. What is the Mississippi River's nickname?
A) Big Muddy
B) Old Man River
C) Great River
D) Mighty Mississippi
- 6. What is the name of the largest tributary of the Mississippi River?
A) Ohio River
B) Missouri River
C) Illinois River
D) Arkansas River
- 7. What is the Old Man River famous for according to the traditional song 'Ol' Man River'?
A) Stopping for no one
B) Looking mighty and strong
C) Singing a happy song
D) Just keeps rolling along
- 8. What is the name of the fundamental law governing water pollution in the U.S. that was greatly inspired by the Mississippi River's condition?
A) Environmental Protection Act
B) Clean Water Act
C) Pollution Prevention Act
D) Water Quality Act
- 9. What is the name of the historic paddlewheel steamboat that regularly cruised the Mississippi River?
A) Delta Queen
B) Queen Mary
C) S.S. Minnow
D) Titanic
- 10. Where does the Mississippi River divide the states of Iowa and Illinois?
A) Quad Cities
B) Riverfront Cities
C) Twin Cities
D) Gateway Cities
- 11. Which famous author wrote 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn', a novel featuring the Mississippi River?
A) Mark Twain
B) Harper Lee
C) F. Scott Fitzgerald
D) Ernest Hemingway
- 12. In which year did the Mississippi River experience a historic flood?
A) 2005
B) 1969
C) 1927
D) 1989
- 13. In which war did the Mississippi River play a crucial role as a strategic waterway?
A) American Civil War
B) World War I
C) Vietnam War
D) War of 1812
- 14. What is the historic city that sits at the head of navigation on the Mississippi River?
A) Kansas City
B) Memphis
C) St. Paul
D) Baton Rouge
- 15. Where does the Mississippi River originate?
A) Great Lakes
B) Lake Itasca
C) Gulf of Mexico
D) Mississippi Delta
- 16. Which famous civil rights leader worked as a sharecropper and later organized voter registration along the Mississippi River?
A) Ella Baker
B) Martin Luther King Jr.
C) Fannie Lou Hamer
D) Malcolm X
- 17. What is the significance of the Mississippi River to the history of the United States?
A) It has the fastest flowing waters in the country.
B) It is the source of the country's hydroelectric power.
C) It is the longest river in the world.
D) It served as a major transportation route for trade and settlement.
- 18. What is the meaning of the name 'Mississippi' in Ojibwe language?
A) Fast Flowing Water
B) Big River
C) Muddy Waters
D) Great Savior
- 19. How long is the Mississippi River?
A) 3,000 miles (4,828 km)
B) 2,340 miles (3,770 km)
C) 4,000 miles (6,437 km)
D) 1,500 miles (2,414 km)
- 20. How many U.S. states does the Mississippi River's watershed drain?
A) 40 U.S. states
B) 32 U.S. states
C) 20 U.S. states
D) 15 U.S. states
- 21. What percentage of the Mississippi River's drainage basin is in Canada?
A) Ten percent
B) Fifty percent
C) Twenty-five percent
D) About one percent
- 22. What is the Mississippi River's rank by discharge flow worldwide?
A) First-largest
B) Tenth-largest
C) Fifth-largest
D) Twentieth-largest
- 23. What is the primary contributor to the Gulf of Mexico dead zone?
A) Industrial waste
B) Urban sewage
C) Agricultural runoff
D) Oil spills
- 24. How many dams are located in the Upper Mississippi River?
A) 43 dams
B) 50 dams
C) 60 dams
D) 30 dams
- 25. What is the only true waterfall on the entire Mississippi River?
A) Saint Anthony Falls
B) Minnehaha Falls
C) Cascades Falls
D) Niagara Falls
- 26. What is the width of Lake Winnibigoshish, the widest point of the Upper Mississippi?
A) 15 miles (24 km) across
B) Over 11 miles (18 km) across
C) 5 miles (8 km) across
D) 20 miles (32 km) across
- 27. What is the elevation of the Upper Mississippi River at St. Paul, Minnesota?
A) 750 feet (230 m) above sea level
B) 799 feet (244 m) above sea level
C) 1,475 feet (450 m) above sea level
D) 687 feet (209 m) above sea level
- 28. What is the topography of the Upper Mississippi River from the St. Croix River to Dubuque, Iowa?
A) Marshy and swampy
B) Narrow and rocky
C) Entrenched with high bedrock bluffs
D) Flat and meandering
- 29. What percentage of the Mississippi and Red Rivers' combined flow is diverted to the Atchafalaya River?
A) 20%
B) 10%
C) 50%
D) 30%
- 30. What is the stream gradient of the entire Mississippi River?
A) 1.0%
B) 0.5%
C) 0.01%
D) 0.05%
- 31. What is the total drop in elevation from Lake Itasca to the Gulf of Mexico?
A) 220 meters
B) 450 meters
C) 310 kilometers
D) 67 meters
- 32. Which is the highest point within the Mississippi River's watershed?
A) Mount Mitchell
B) Mount Whitney
C) Mount Rushmore
D) Mount Elbert
- 33. What is the approximate retention time for water traveling from Lake Itasca to the Gulf of Mexico?
A) 30 days
B) 120 days
C) 90 days
D) 60 days
- 34. What percentage of the continental United States' landmass is covered by the Mississippi River's catchment?
A) Nearly 40%
B) 10%
C) 25%
D) 50%
- 35. What is the Mississippi River's rank by volume among the world's rivers?
A) Fifth largest
B) Tenth largest
C) Twenty-second largest
D) Fourteenth largest
- 36. What percentage of the Amazon River's flow does the Mississippi River have on average?
A) 20%
B) 8%
C) 15%
D) 5%
- 37. How much sediment did the Mississippi River transport per year before 1900?
A) 500 million short tons
B) 600 million short tons
C) 440 million short tons
D) 300 million short tons
- 38. What was the estimated sediment transport by the Mississippi River per year during the last two decades?
A) 200 million short tons
B) 180 million short tons
C) 100 million short tons
D) 160 million short tons
- 39. What programs contributed to the reduction of sediment transport in the Mississippi River?
A) Water conservation programs
B) Soil erosion control programs
C) Wetland protection programs
D) Floodplain management programs
- 40. In what year did salt water travel 64 miles upstream due to drought?
A) 2022
B) 2012
C) 1999
D) 1988
- 41. What structures did the United States Army Corps of Engineers construct to contain saltwater intrusion?
A) Saltwater sills or underwater levees
B) Floodgates
C) River dams
D) Desalination plants
- 42. What does fresh river water from the Mississippi appear as on NASA's MODIS images?
A) A blue streak
B) A white cloud
C) A green patch
D) A dark ribbon
- 43. What geological feature formed as a result of the uplift and erosion of the Appalachian-Ouachita range?
A) The Great Plains
B) The Reelfoot Rift
C) The Appalachian Mountains
D) The Rocky Mountains
- 44. What was the main influence in shaping the current form of the Mississippi River basin?
A) The Appalachian Mountains
B) The Sierra Nevada
C) The Rocky Mountains
D) The Laurentide Ice Sheet
- 45. During which stage did the Mississippi River get diverted near Rock Island, Illinois?
A) Wisconsin Stage
B) Illinoian Stage
C) Pleistocene Stage
D) Holocene Stage
- 46. Which river became the main course of the Mississippi around 2500 BC?
A) Bayou Teche
B) Arkansas River
C) Ohio River
D) Missouri River
- 47. What was the first bridge across the Mississippi River?
A) Built in 1844
B) Built in 1876
C) Built in 1855 in Minneapolis
D) Built in 1860
- 48. Which bridge is known as the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad Bridge?
A) Clinton Railroad Bridge
B) Eisenhower Bridge
C) Fred Schwengel Memorial Bridge
D) Great River Bridge
- 49. Which bridge is the northernmost river crossing in the St. Louis metropolitan area?
A) Clark Bridge
B) Norbert F. Beckey Bridge
C) Eads Bridge
D) Chain of Rocks Bridge
- 50. Which bridge was the longest arch bridge in the world when completed in 1874?
A) Helena Bridge
B) Chain of Rocks Bridge
C) Eads Bridge
D) Harahan Bridge
- 51. Which bridge is the second-longest cable-stayed bridge in the Western Hemisphere?
A) John James Audubon Bridge
B) Crescent City Connection
C) Horace Wilkinson Bridge
D) Huey P. Long Bridge
- 52. In what year was the United States Army Corps of Engineers established?
A) 1802
B) 1900
C) 1848
D) 1829
- 53. What was the depth of the channel recommended by the Corps of Engineers at the Des Moines Rapids?
A) 5-foot-deep
B) 4.5-foot-deep
C) 7-foot-deep
D) 9-foot-deep
- 54. In what year did the Moline Lock, bypassing the Rock Island Rapids, open?
A) 1877
B) 1837
C) 1866
D) 1907
- 55. What was one of the health benefits of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal?
A) Generating hydroelectric power
B) Controlling floods
C) Addressing waterborne diseases by redirecting waste
D) Providing irrigation water
- 56. What was the primary purpose of the Keokuk dam when it was built?
A) To create a reservoir
B) To prevent flooding
C) To generate electricity
D) To facilitate navigation
- 57. What did the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1930 authorize for the Mississippi River?
A) A 15-foot-deep navigation channel
B) A 6-foot-deep navigation channel
C) A 9-foot-deep navigation channel
D) A 12-foot-deep navigation channel
- 58. How many new locks and dams were built on the upper Mississippi in the 1930s?
A) Fifteen
B) Thirty
C) Ten
D) Twenty-three
- 59. When was the auxiliary flow control station adjacent to the Old River Control Structure completed?
A) 2000
B) 1970
C) 1990
D) 1986
- 60. Which basin does part of the Mississippi's flow get routed into, bypassing Baton Rouge and New Orleans?
A) The Red River Basin
B) The Ohio River Basin
C) The Tennessee River Basin
D) The Atchafalaya Basin
- 61. Which structure directs excess water down the east side of the Atchafalaya River?
A) The Morganza Spillway
B) The Bonnet Carré Spillway
C) The Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway
D) The Old River Control Structure
- 62. What is one factor blamed for increases in the risk and frequency of flooding on the Mississippi River?
A) Agricultural practices
B) Urban sprawl
C) Deforestation
D) Climate change
- 63. Approximately how many years ago was the Central United States covered by an inland sea?
A) 50,000 years
B) 25,000 years
C) 75,000 years
D) 100,000 years
- 64. Which period saw the lifestyle of Native Americans in the Mississippi River basin become more settled?
A) Mississippian period
B) Mesoamerican period
C) Woodland period
D) Hopewell period
- 65. What was the name of the most prominent Mississippian culture city?
A) Bemijigamaag-ziibi
B) Cahokia
C) Omashkoozo-zaaga'igan
D) Gichi-ziibiwininiwag
- 66. What was the French name for the Mississippi River during French Louisiana?
A) Omashkoozo-ziibi
B) Missisipi
C) Rivière Saint-Louis
D) Gichi-ziibi
- 67. Which Native American people called the Mississippi River 'Big Greasy River'?
A) Arapaho
B) Ojibwe
C) Pawnee
D) Cheyenne
- 68. What is the Arapaho name for the Mississippi River?
A) Beesniicíe
B) Máʼxe-éʼometaaʼe
C) Misi-ziibi
D) Kickaátit
- 69. What was the original French rendering of the Anishinaabe name for the Mississippi River?
A) Gichi-ziibi
B) Messipi
C) Bemijigamaag-ziibi
D) Omashkoozo-ziibi
- 70. Which Native American nation is not listed as inhabiting the Mississippi basin?
A) Cheyenne
B) Navajo
C) Sioux
D) Ojibwe
- 71. What was the Mississippi River called after the confluence with the Crow Wing River?
A) Misi-ziibi
B) Omashkoozo-ziibi
C) Bemijigamaag-ziibi
D) Gaa-miskwaawaakokaag-ziibi
- 72. Who was the first recorded European to reach the Mississippi River?
A) Hernando de Soto
B) René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle
C) Alonso Álvarez de Pineda
D) Louis Jolliet
- 73. What name did Hernando de Soto give to the Mississippi River?
A) Río del Espíritu Santo
B) Ne Tongo
C) Colbert River
D) River of the Immaculate Conception
- 74. What did a Sioux Indian name the Mississippi River in 1673?
A) Río del Espíritu Santo
B) Colbert River
C) Ne Tongo
D) River of the Immaculate Conception
- 75. When was the continental divide between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi Valley breached?
A) 1718
B) 1699
C) 1673
D) 1848
- 76. What was the region claimed by La Salle called?
A) La Louisiane
B) La Balise
C) New Orleans
D) Illinois
- 77. Who rediscovered the mouth of the Mississippi after La Salle's death?
A) Jacques Marquette
B) Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville
C) Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne
D) Louis Jolliet
- 78. Who established New Orleans along the Mississippi River in 1718?
A) Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville
B) Louis Jolliet
C) Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville
D) René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle
- 79. Who began work on the first levees on the Mississippi River in 1727?
A) Étienne Perier
B) Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne
C) Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville
D) René-Robert Cavelier
- 80. What type of labor was used to build the first levees on the Mississippi River?
A) French settlers
B) Enslaved African laborers
C) Spanish explorers
D) Indigenous laborers
- 81. Which empire controlled the land west of the Mississippi River after the Treaty of Paris in 1763?
A) United States
B) France
C) Spain
D) Great Britain
- 82. What did Britain gain from Spain in the Treaty of Paris (1763) in exchange for regaining Cuba?
A) Florida
B) New Orleans
C) Louisiana Territory
D) Mississippi River
- 83. In which year did Spain cede an undefined portion of West Florida to France?
A) 1800
B) 1819
C) 1763
D) 1795
- 84. Which treaty allowed the United States to secure effective control of the Mississippi River?
A) Louisiana Purchase
B) Treaty of Ghent
C) Treaty of Paris (1783)
D) Adams–Onís Treaty
- 85. Who commanded the American forces during the attack on New Orleans after the War of 1812?
A) General Thomas Jefferson
B) General George Washington
C) General Ulysses S. Grant
D) General Andrew Jackson
- 86. Who wrote the guidebook detailing the features and navigable waterways of the Mississippi River basin?
A) Zadok Cramer
B) Meriwether Lewis
C) Thomas Jefferson
D) Lewis and Clark
- 87. What natural disaster in 1811 and 1812 affected the Mississippi River basin?
A) Floods
B) Hurricanes
C) Earthquakes
D) Tornadoes
- 88. When was 'Life on the Mississippi' first published as a serial in Harper's Weekly?
A) 1865
B) 1885
C) 1875
D) 1895
- 89. Which steamboat was the first to travel the full length of the Lower Mississippi from the Ohio River to New Orleans?
A) Anchor Line
B) Virginia
C) New Orleans
D) St. Louis
- 90. Which steamboat company operated a luxurious fleet between St. Louis and New Orleans from 1859 to 1898?
A) Anchor Line
B) Mississippi Line
C) River Line
D) Steamboat Line
- 91. Who was the Italian explorer that wrote about his journey on the Virginia to Fort St. Anthony?
A) Marco Polo
B) Giacomo Beltrami
C) Christopher Columbus
D) Amerigo Vespucci
- 92. What campaign completed control of the lower Mississippi River?
A) Vicksburg Campaign
B) Sherman's March
C) Gettysburg Campaign
D) Atlanta Campaign
- 93. What event in 1918-19 blocked river traffic north of Memphis, Tennessee?
A) A ship collision
B) The 'Big Freeze'
C) Industrial accidents
D) The Great Flood
- 94. Who was the first person to swim the length of the Mississippi River?
A) Martin Strel
B) Fred Newton
C) John Smith
D) William Brown
- 95. What grade did the 'America's Rivershed Initiative' give the Mississippi basin in 2015?
A) A
B) B
C) C
D) D+
- 96. Who swam the entire length of the Mississippi River in 2002?
A) Martin Strel
B) William Smith
C) Fred Newton
D) John Doe
- 97. Who invented water skiing on the Mississippi River?
A) Henry Ford
B) John Smith
C) Ralph Samuelson
D) Thomas Jefferson
- 98. In what year did Ralph Samuelson perform the first water ski jump?
A) 1922
B) 1925
C) 1928
D) 1920
- 99. How many National Park Service sites are there along the Mississippi River?
A) Seven
B) Six
C) Eight
D) Five
- 100. Which of the following is not a National Park Service site along the Mississippi River?
A) Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve
B) Yellowstone National Park
C) Gateway Arch National Park
D) Effigy Mounds National Monument
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