Friday news

By
Friday, September 03, 2004

*Despite three tropical systems in the past three weeks, the barrier islands have fared OK as far as erosion goes
-Charleston Post and Courier, 9-3-04

*Beaches, marshes and boat landings throughout the Lowcountry should get a good cleaning this month
-Hilton Head Island Packet Online, 9-3-04

*How the Apalachicola Northern Railroad gave Port St. Joe its name
-Port St. Joe Star, 9-2-04

Indian name for Mississippi.
The Ojibway Indians living on the banks of the Mississippi river called it "Messipi- Big River.

We find up to 400 species of wild life calling this river home. and close to 40% of all North American duck, goose, swan, and wading birds rely on the river as their migration corridor. There are 241 species of fish that live in the Mississipi, and 12 million Americans  live in the 125 Counties that border it.

History of the River.
This river reeks with history, when its waters were traversed by many river boats powered by both side and stern paddle wheels, and the song " Ole Man River" immortalises the timelessness of this great waterway. Mark Twain made it famous with his stories based upon the river, and its traffic.

Number 4. The Irtysh River.
Length 3,100 miles. Country Russia. Empties into the Ob River. Sourced in the Mongolian Altai mountains, the first 618 kilometers of its journey the Irtysh wanders through Chinese Territory, its course takes it North West through the 700 square mile lake of Zaysun to Kazakhstan until it meets up with the Ob river in Western Siberia. Steamers navigate this Russian river between April and November, and then it is frozen over.

The river's name Irtysh means "earth mover", and prior to the Russians arriving in the late 16th. Century, its environs were occupied by both Chinese and Mongels. Along its banks before reaching Omsk are large power
stations devouring vast quantities of the river's water to operate them. The river then moves through the Kazakhstan steppes to arrive at the Ob river, being up to 20 kilometers wide before narrowing to about 2 k's just short of Omsk. This large city served by the river was founded in 1716 and sits at the confluence of the Irtysh and Omka rivers, and is home for about 1 million, the city boasts oil refining capacity, chemical and metallurgy plants.

Number 3.

The Yangtze River. Length 3,915 miles. location China.
Empties into the East China Sea.

The third longest river in the world, and the longest in
Asia, the Yangtze has its headwaters

at 16,000 feet in the South West section of Qinghai, and
moves south and then east through

the three gorges. These are: Qutang, Wu and Xiling gorges.

Three Gorges Dam project.

Some 20,000 labourers are working flat out to build the
world's largest dam here, as broad

as the Golden Gate Bridge and twice as high, scheduled for
completion in 2009, at a total

cost of US $ 7.2 Billion.

It aims to produce 18,000 Mega watts of power.

Deposit of Silt.

The river drops a 170 million cubic meters of silt
annually that assists a large plain in

Jiangsu Province, where the major crop Rice, is the staple
food of the Chinese.

Population along the banks of the Yangtze River.

Some 400 million Chinese inhabit the areas that surround
the river as it winds across

China making its exit to the East China Sea, just north of
Shanghai.