River Facts And Legends
MISSISSIPPI RIVER
One of the major rivers of North America, the Mississippi River has been a focal point in American history, commerce, agriculture, literature, and environmental awareness. The length of the Mississippi River from its source in Lake Itasca in northwestern Minnesota to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico flows 2,348 miles; it is the second longest river in the United States behind the Missouri (2,466 miles). The Mississippi River system drains the agricultural plains between the Appalachian Mountains to the east and the Rocky Mountains to the west. This drainage basin (approximately 1,234,700 square miles) covers about 40 percent of the United States and ranks as the fifth largest in the world.
Dictionary of American History
Go Mississippi
States may sing their songs of praise
With waving flags and hip-hoo-rays,
Let cymbals crash and let bells ring
Cause here's one song I'm proud to sing.
Go, Mississippi, keep rolling along,
Go, Mississippi, you cannot go wrong,
Go, Mississippi, we're singing your song,
M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I
By Houston Davis
(Mississippi State Song)
U.S. Route 61
Is the official designation for a United State highway that runs 1,400 miles (2,300 km) from New Orleans, Louisiana to the city of
Wyoming, Minnesota. The highway generally follows the course of the Mississippi, and is designated the Great River Road for much of its route. As of 2004, the highway's northern terminus in Wyoming, Minnesota is at an intersection with Interstate 35. Prior to 1991, the highway extended north on what is now MN 61 through Duluth, Minnesota to the United States-Canada border near Grand Portage . Its southern terminus in New Orleans is at an intersection with Tulane Avenue at South Broad Street. The highway is often called "The Blues Highway", because of the course it takes from St. Paul to St. Louis, through Memphis , into the Mississippi Delta, and eventually ending in New Orleans.
The route was an important north–south connection in the days before the Interstate highway system. Many southerners traveled north along Highway 61 while going to St. Louis, Missouri and Saint Paul, Minnesota. The highway was also used in the title of Minnesota native Bob Dylan's album Highway 61 Revisited, and in the song of the same name, which imagines all sorts of fantastical events (including World War 111) occurring alongside Highway 61, and before that a blues song recorded in 1957 by Sunnyland Slim, and in 1962 by Johnny Young.
From Wikipedia
Legend of Witch Dance Trail
Trail Located just a few miles North of Houston, Mississippi, on the Natchez Trace Parkway, Witch Dance is one of the most legendary places in the county when it comes to tales about ghosts and paranormal experiences. Southern folklorist, Kathryn Tucker Windham, of Selma Alabama, lists Witch Dance as one of the most haunted places in the state in her book, “13 Mississippi Ghosts and Jeffrey.” According to Windham, Witch Dance got it’s name from old tales about witches holding nighttime ceremonies along the Trace. According to the tales, Windham said that wherever the witches’ feet touched the ground, the grass withered and never grew back again. These bare spots, according to Windham, beguiled and perplexed travelers and others who frequented the Trace, making their way from the East Coast to New Orleans during the 19th Century. “Many of the travelers didn’t have much time to worry about the bare spots they encountered as they traveled down the Trace,” Windham wrote. They were too busy worried about thieves, murderers and Indians to pay much attention to the bare spots of grass. People started to take notice of the bare spots when the story of a brigand named Big Harp circulated back to the area. According to Windham, Big Harp was a bloodthirsty outlaw who preyed on the caravans of settlers moving up and down the Trace. When and Indian guide told Big Harpe about the bare spots and the legend of Witch Dance, Big Harpe leaped from spot to spot, daring the witches to come out and fight him. Eventually, Big Harpe went back to his home in Kentucky, where he was captured by a posse after stabbing a woman and her baby to death in a robbery. Windham said the legend hold that the husband of the woman decapitated Big Harpe with a knife while Harpe remained conscious. After the outlaw’s head was removed, the husband placed it in a tree, where it totted down to a bleached, white scull. A few months later, Windham’s story reads, an old hill woman who had a reputation for being a witch, pulled down the skull and ground it into powder to be used in a potion to cure her nephew’s fit. Windham said travelers who retold the story along the Trace swore they could hear crackling laughter in the bushes after retelling the tale. Another outlaw in Windham’s account of Witch Dance was more respectful of the bare spots. Joseph Thompson Hare, a Philadelphians by birth, came south to pursue a career as a robber along the Trace. According to legend, an Indian by the name of Hayfoot told Hare the story of the Witch Dance and Hare was always mindful of the bare spots and was careful not to step in them. A few years later, Hare robbed a drover on the Trace and as he was making his getaway, he spied a white horse in his path. As he grew near the horse, the animal vanished into thin air, according to Windham’s account. Hare reportedly recounted the tale up until his death in 1818. Many people in Chickasaw County still see Witch Dance and the Indian mounds around it as a place to avoid on dark, dreary nights. Part of the feat people have might be rooted in the history of the place. According to the History of Chickasaw County, the Hopewells, a paleo-Indian group, first inhabited the area around Witch Dance and were responsible for constructing the Bynum Mounds, located between Witch Dance and Houston. The Hopewells were eventually absorbed by the Chickasaw Indians, whose legends and folklore probably put much fear into white settlers in the area. According to legend, the Chickasaws were decedents of the Toltecs of Mexico. The legend holds that they left their homeland to escape oppression. They were guided in their journey by a medicine stick and a white dog. Each night, the Indians would plant the stick in the ground and whichever way it pointed, they followed. The dog would lead then to berries and food along the way. They were accompanied by “bond bearers” who carried the bones of their ancestors from Mexico to be buried in the new homeland. Eventually, the stick pointed straight up and the Indians buried their ancestors bones in Winston County at Nanih Waiya. A split occurred between the two brothers leading the Indians. One group, who followed the leader, Chocta, stayed in and around Winston County and were known as Choctaws. The Chickasaws practiced a religion similar to they practiced by the tribes in Mexico. They worshiped one god, known as Ababinili. They held all their religious services on the tops of mounds at Owl Creek and on the mounds that are common all over the game management area. Eventually, the Chickasaws were driven out of Mississippi by various treaties with the United States Government but, as many a lost coon hunter can tell, their legends and their folklore still remain to give all woodsmen goosebumps on dreary nights in October.
Reprinted from the Times Post, Houston, Mississippi, Page 5A, Wednesday, October 30, 1996
One Short A Wisconsin Tall Tale
There is a tale once told of a Mississippi riverboat captain who called all of the passengers to the top deck in the middle of the night. When the announcement was made, everyone hurried topside, wondering fearfully what had occasioned the disruption in their sleep.
Once all the passengers were present, the captain stood atop a crate and looked over the half-dressed, shivering crowd.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I fear that our ship has struck a snag and is sinking," he announced.
This statement was greeted with gasps of horror from those assembled.
"I wonder," the captain continued solemnly, "if there is anyone among us skilled in the art of prayer?"
The frightened passengers nodded wisely to one another. Yes, a prayer at such a perilous time was a very good idea.
After a moment's hesitation, a young clergyman stepped forward. "I have some skill in praying," he said.
"Excellent," said the captain. "You stand here and pray, while I hand out the life vests. We're one short."
retold by
S.E. Schlosser
One of the major rivers of North America, the Mississippi River has been a focal point in American history, commerce, agriculture, literature, and environmental awareness. The length of the Mississippi River from its source in Lake Itasca in northwestern Minnesota to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico flows 2,348 miles; it is the second longest river in the United States behind the Missouri (2,466 miles). The Mississippi River system drains the agricultural plains between the Appalachian Mountains to the east and the Rocky Mountains to the west. This drainage basin (approximately 1,234,700 square miles) covers about 40 percent of the United States and ranks as the fifth largest in the world.
Dictionary of American History
Go Mississippi
States may sing their songs of praise
With waving flags and hip-hoo-rays,
Let cymbals crash and let bells ring
Cause here's one song I'm proud to sing.
Go, Mississippi, keep rolling along,
Go, Mississippi, you cannot go wrong,
Go, Mississippi, we're singing your song,
M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I
By Houston Davis
(Mississippi State Song)
U.S. Route 61
Is the official designation for a United State highway that runs 1,400 miles (2,300 km) from New Orleans, Louisiana to the city of
Wyoming, Minnesota. The highway generally follows the course of the Mississippi, and is designated the Great River Road for much of its route. As of 2004, the highway's northern terminus in Wyoming, Minnesota is at an intersection with Interstate 35. Prior to 1991, the highway extended north on what is now MN 61 through Duluth, Minnesota to the United States-Canada border near Grand Portage . Its southern terminus in New Orleans is at an intersection with Tulane Avenue at South Broad Street. The highway is often called "The Blues Highway", because of the course it takes from St. Paul to St. Louis, through Memphis , into the Mississippi Delta, and eventually ending in New Orleans.
The route was an important north–south connection in the days before the Interstate highway system. Many southerners traveled north along Highway 61 while going to St. Louis, Missouri and Saint Paul, Minnesota. The highway was also used in the title of Minnesota native Bob Dylan's album Highway 61 Revisited, and in the song of the same name, which imagines all sorts of fantastical events (including World War 111) occurring alongside Highway 61, and before that a blues song recorded in 1957 by Sunnyland Slim, and in 1962 by Johnny Young.
From Wikipedia
Legend of Witch Dance Trail
Trail Located just a few miles North of Houston, Mississippi, on the Natchez Trace Parkway, Witch Dance is one of the most legendary places in the county when it comes to tales about ghosts and paranormal experiences. Southern folklorist, Kathryn Tucker Windham, of Selma Alabama, lists Witch Dance as one of the most haunted places in the state in her book, “13 Mississippi Ghosts and Jeffrey.” According to Windham, Witch Dance got it’s name from old tales about witches holding nighttime ceremonies along the Trace. According to the tales, Windham said that wherever the witches’ feet touched the ground, the grass withered and never grew back again. These bare spots, according to Windham, beguiled and perplexed travelers and others who frequented the Trace, making their way from the East Coast to New Orleans during the 19th Century. “Many of the travelers didn’t have much time to worry about the bare spots they encountered as they traveled down the Trace,” Windham wrote. They were too busy worried about thieves, murderers and Indians to pay much attention to the bare spots of grass. People started to take notice of the bare spots when the story of a brigand named Big Harp circulated back to the area. According to Windham, Big Harp was a bloodthirsty outlaw who preyed on the caravans of settlers moving up and down the Trace. When and Indian guide told Big Harpe about the bare spots and the legend of Witch Dance, Big Harpe leaped from spot to spot, daring the witches to come out and fight him. Eventually, Big Harpe went back to his home in Kentucky, where he was captured by a posse after stabbing a woman and her baby to death in a robbery. Windham said the legend hold that the husband of the woman decapitated Big Harpe with a knife while Harpe remained conscious. After the outlaw’s head was removed, the husband placed it in a tree, where it totted down to a bleached, white scull. A few months later, Windham’s story reads, an old hill woman who had a reputation for being a witch, pulled down the skull and ground it into powder to be used in a potion to cure her nephew’s fit. Windham said travelers who retold the story along the Trace swore they could hear crackling laughter in the bushes after retelling the tale. Another outlaw in Windham’s account of Witch Dance was more respectful of the bare spots. Joseph Thompson Hare, a Philadelphians by birth, came south to pursue a career as a robber along the Trace. According to legend, an Indian by the name of Hayfoot told Hare the story of the Witch Dance and Hare was always mindful of the bare spots and was careful not to step in them. A few years later, Hare robbed a drover on the Trace and as he was making his getaway, he spied a white horse in his path. As he grew near the horse, the animal vanished into thin air, according to Windham’s account. Hare reportedly recounted the tale up until his death in 1818. Many people in Chickasaw County still see Witch Dance and the Indian mounds around it as a place to avoid on dark, dreary nights. Part of the feat people have might be rooted in the history of the place. According to the History of Chickasaw County, the Hopewells, a paleo-Indian group, first inhabited the area around Witch Dance and were responsible for constructing the Bynum Mounds, located between Witch Dance and Houston. The Hopewells were eventually absorbed by the Chickasaw Indians, whose legends and folklore probably put much fear into white settlers in the area. According to legend, the Chickasaws were decedents of the Toltecs of Mexico. The legend holds that they left their homeland to escape oppression. They were guided in their journey by a medicine stick and a white dog. Each night, the Indians would plant the stick in the ground and whichever way it pointed, they followed. The dog would lead then to berries and food along the way. They were accompanied by “bond bearers” who carried the bones of their ancestors from Mexico to be buried in the new homeland. Eventually, the stick pointed straight up and the Indians buried their ancestors bones in Winston County at Nanih Waiya. A split occurred between the two brothers leading the Indians. One group, who followed the leader, Chocta, stayed in and around Winston County and were known as Choctaws. The Chickasaws practiced a religion similar to they practiced by the tribes in Mexico. They worshiped one god, known as Ababinili. They held all their religious services on the tops of mounds at Owl Creek and on the mounds that are common all over the game management area. Eventually, the Chickasaws were driven out of Mississippi by various treaties with the United States Government but, as many a lost coon hunter can tell, their legends and their folklore still remain to give all woodsmen goosebumps on dreary nights in October.
Reprinted from the Times Post, Houston, Mississippi, Page 5A, Wednesday, October 30, 1996
One Short A Wisconsin Tall Tale
There is a tale once told of a Mississippi riverboat captain who called all of the passengers to the top deck in the middle of the night. When the announcement was made, everyone hurried topside, wondering fearfully what had occasioned the disruption in their sleep.
Once all the passengers were present, the captain stood atop a crate and looked over the half-dressed, shivering crowd.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I fear that our ship has struck a snag and is sinking," he announced.
This statement was greeted with gasps of horror from those assembled.
"I wonder," the captain continued solemnly, "if there is anyone among us skilled in the art of prayer?"
The frightened passengers nodded wisely to one another. Yes, a prayer at such a perilous time was a very good idea.
After a moment's hesitation, a young clergyman stepped forward. "I have some skill in praying," he said.
"Excellent," said the captain. "You stand here and pray, while I hand out the life vests. We're one short."
retold by
S.E. Schlosser