Mississippi River watershed

       Here's one image of the watershed.

            

            By the way, there's a nifty model of the same thing at the Mud Island setup in Memphis, Tennessee.  The setup/display takes many acres outside. There the river exits into a large swimming pool that looks like the Gulf of Mexico.

            The last time I was there around a decade ago, it seemed to be poorly maintained, so I don't know what to expect in 2013. For example, in one place the river was flowing backwards in one drainage area. But all in all, it was still a nifty display back then.

            I was impressed as an old Marine, and I suspect many kids were, too. The entire river was "mapped" to include contour lines, physically displayed in concrete.  Think of a 3D map.

            And I got to eat at the pool area. Even if was mostly fast food, I enjoyed it.

            For the inside type of people, there was plenty of stuff, too.

            And don't forget about the Lewis and Clark Expedition which actually explored and mapped this area over two-hundred years ago, at risk of life, also. Such explorations are still going on around our big world, by the way, to include risk of life still.