Water Takes About Three Months to Travel the Mississippi

The Mississippi is a long river and not a fast one. The U.S. National Park Service describes it as the second longest river in North America, flowing 2,350 miles from its source at Lake Itasca through the center of the continental United States. The Missouri River, one of its tributaries, is about 100 miles longer. According to the Park Service, it takes about three months for water that leaves Lake Itasca to reach the Gulf. The pace explains why. At the headwaters, the average surface speed of the water is about 1.2 miles per hour, roughly half as fast as people walk. The length itself is not a fixed number. The Park Service notes that different agencies report 2,300, 2,320 and 2,350 miles, depending on the year and the method of measurement.