The Mighty Mississippi

The Mississippi river is the major waterway in the South. It drains over half of the United States and when it reaches Louisiana it is hard to get away from the fact that it is an economic powerhouse. New Orleans sits on the east bank of the Mississippi, but because of a frivolity of nature and the way the river bends and meanders, the river actually flows north from near the French Quarter and when you're looking across the river, you notice that the morning sun is in your eyes. That's right, dear pilgrim, looking across the Mississippi from the Canal Street wharf, you're looking east and the river is flowing north.

Not for long, though, because it quickly changes direction and heads south toward the Gulf of Mexico. Still, it's jarring to look across the river and everything seems backwards. Go to a good map and look at the river. It doesn't make any sense, but there you have it.

Still, walking from Canal Street, onto the levee, you're jarred with how much river traffic moves along that vast waterway and the relative size of the vessels. For example, just this morning I watched this big freighter make the turn headed upstream. She was empty, judging from how high out of the water she seemed to be, bound upstream for the grain fields, or scrap yards, or who knows what she would be carrying.



Then, minutes after she had cleared the bridge, we find a jaunty little fisherman, headed downstream with nets in her rigging.



If you look beyond the little fishing vessel, you'll see lines of barges lining the west bank of the river, loaded with all manner of raw materials. New Orleans is an industrial port, and all you need do is walk up the levee from the tourist pits to see the raw power of his huge river. I could sit and watch it all day.