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