The Fundamental Power Of The Mississippi River
The Fundamental Power Of The Mississippi River This story is one in a series about the confluence of capitalism, conservation and cultural identity in the Mississippi River Basin. It is part of Waterline and is sponsored by the Walton Family Foundation. T en years ago, I climbed into a canoe and paddled onto the Mississippi River. This was a magazine assignment, one of the first big adventures in my then-new career as a freelance journalist. The story was simple; I was meant to profile a river guide who took tourists out on the nation’s mightiest river. Part of my curiosity was why anyone might do so. I assumed that the Mississippi was a dead river, just one big canal for the towboats. I was so shocked by how wrong I was — by the incredible beauty I found out there — that I spent the next decade traveling the Mississippi. At first, I was just chasing the pleasure of being able to pitch a tent on a beautiful sandbar in a landscape that felt so separate from the modern world. Eventually, th…
