The Mississippi River

[davver]

Does the Mississippi really join up with Lake Michigan? Which would mean it cuts the US completely in half.

[mightyWBA]

The Mississippi River has its source in Lake Itasca Minnesota so doesn't start in Lake Michigan.

[Grunty]

If it did, it would still be only a river. I don't think half the country would float away.

[waimarie]

I have a nephew who sailed a home made boat from northern France through to the Med en route to Greece. So, I suppose you could say France is cut in half, east/west.

[waimarie]

p.s. As far as I'm aware, the western bit is still there !!

[jno]

I think you can now take a boat from the mouth of the Rhine, via the Main canal, into the Danube and out into the Black Sea, thus bisecting all Europe. Alternatively, you may be able to go by water from St Petersburg to Moscow (that's as far as I got), Kiev and out into the northern Black Sea on the Dnieper.

[Monkzie]

Techncally, you're correct davver. However, this connection between the River Mississippi and Lake Michigan isn't natural - it occurs because of a canal that was built between the closest points of the Mississippi River and the Chicago River, which flows through the heart of America's 2nd city. Interestingly enough, those Chicagoans were a smart bunch of people - at the turn of the last century, they found a way to actually REVERSE the flow of the Chicago River! Whereby it used to flow into Lake Michigan (and deposit all the sewerage and pollution pumped into the river and the mouth of the river), now all the pollution and sewerage flow from Chicago to the canal and eventually onto the River Mississippi. But the short answer to your question is yes.