Mark Twain wouldn't recognize the Mississippi these days.
Twain's beloved river has fallen to its lowest water levels in years.
Huck and Jim now couldn't find enough water to float their raft. The river known for the devastating 1927 flood has turned docile.
A severe drought has brought the river's water levels so low that people can walk over dry land to an island in Illinois previously accessible only by boat. In Baton Rouge, a 19th century ship was discovered in the river's dried-up channel.
Shipping is imperiled from Minneapolis to St. Louis, Memphis, Vicksburg, Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Riverboat cruises are being delayed.
The U.S. Corps of Engineers keeps the river flowing to the ports of Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The river wants to cut a new channel to the west, which would abandon the port cities. Now Baton Rouge and New Orleans might see the river disappear anyway.
T.S. Eliot in "The Four Quartets" called the river a fierce brown god. It was serenaded as "Old Man River" by Paul Robeson in "Showboat." Jimmie Rodgers expressed the deep emotional ties to the river in "Miss the Mississippi and You." In the Civil War, the Confederacy's loss of the river signaled the Union's victory. Lewis and Clarke crossing the river opened the way to the American West. It was the backbone of the Louisiana Purchase.
Lake Mead, Salt Lake and western rivers are other essential American waterways that are disappearing. They can''t be replaced.
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