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Month: April 2023

The Mississippi River runs through New Orleans and into the Gulf of Mexico

The Mississippi River runs through New Orleans and into the Gulf of Mexico on the southeast coast of Louisiana. At the right are Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne. The International Space Station was orbiting 264 miles above western Mississippi when this photograph was taken.

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Downriver to New Orleans

New Orleans was a seaport as well as a river port, and a vital connection between the American heartland and the rest of the world. By the 1820s, cotton, grain, pork, and other agricultural products floated down the Mississippi River to the city’s docks. The rise of the steamboat brought trade upriver and opened the…

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Modern Commercial Activity

World War I produced a major resurgence in river trade. As other lines of transport became congested, the river was recognized as an increasingly valuable asset. With federal initiative, new barge lines were organized, and by 1931 the annual barge traffic moving along the river was twice the volume moved in any single year during…

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