The Lower Mississippi River Valley Fine Art Print Map

The Lower Mississippi River collects the waters from many of the 48 states, from Yellowstone and the Canadian border to the Blue Ridge and the Great Smokies. The lowlands between the Ozarks and the southern Appalachians have been filled by the great river’s flood sediments and planed flat by its meanders.  These river-formed lands include both the "Mississippi Delta" of cotton and the blues, its largest city Memphis; and "The Delta of the Mississippi River", below the Red River, centered on New Orleans and Baton Rouge and extending far out into the Gulf of Mexico.

This second Delta is the classic Nile Delta landform, fanning out among distributary channels. The Atchafalaya would be the main channel now if it were not for massive engineering efforts in support of navigation up to New Orleans and Baton Rouge.