Put your finger on almost any great American city — New York, Chicago, New Orleans, Los Angeles — and you will find water beside it: an ocean, a lake or a mighty river. Water has always been America's highway, its larder and its power source, and this chapter follows it across the map.
The Mississippi–Missouri: the country's main artery
The Mississippi River flows down the middle of the country from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. Add its longest tributary, the Missouri River, and together they form one of the longest river systems in the world — about 6,000 km. This giant system drains the heart of the country: rain falling on all or part of about 31 states eventually finds its way into it. The name 'Mississippi' comes from Ojibwe words — misi-ziibi — meaning 'great river'. The Ojibwe named it perfectly.
The five Great Lakes: remember HOMES
Up on the border with Canada sit five inland seas so large you cannot see across them. Remember them with the word HOMES:
| Letter | Lake | Claim to fame |
|---|---|---|
| H | Huron | Second largest by surface area |
| O | Ontario | Smallest by surface area; below Niagara Falls |
| M | Michigan | The only one entirely inside the USA |
| E | Erie | The shallowest |
| S | Superior | Largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area |
Together the Great Lakes hold about a fifth of all the fresh surface water on Earth. All except Lake Michigan are shared with Canada.
Three coasts
America faces the sea on three sides: the Atlantic coast in the east (old ports, big historic cities), the Pacific coast in the west (trade with Asia), and the warm Gulf coast in the south along the Gulf of Mexico (fishing, shipping and oil). That is an enormous amount of coastline for trade — one reason the USA became an economic giant.
Why great cities grew on water
Chicago grew on Lake Michigan, the hinge between Great Lakes shipping and the river routes to the Mississippi — grain and goods from the whole Midwest funnelled through it.
New York City owns one of the world's finest natural harbours on the Atlantic, making it America's front door for trade and, for millions of immigrants, the first sight of the country.
Ports and trade today
Water transport is still the cheapest way to move heavy goods. Barges carry grain down the Mississippi, giant container ships dock at coastal ports, and 'lakers' haul iron ore across the Great Lakes. Before roads and railways existed, rivers were the roads — and for heavy cargo, they still beat lorries hands down.