Environment & Energy

I think the "Mississippi River" was always regarded as the name of that particular waterway which runs from the northern tier of our country south to the gulf. Yes, based on volume of water at the points where the Missouri River and Ohio River meet the Mississippi River, the distinction between "mainline" and "tributary" is not clear in my mind. However, I will say this. I think I misused the word "confluence" in my previous post. There is a true confluence between the Allegheny River and the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh. One river comes from the north, and the other from the south. They form a point at which neither one looks to be feeding into the other. The two rivers just simply come together. On the other hand, the merging points of the Missouri/Mississippi Revers and the Ohio/Mississippi Rivers have a different cartological look than the confluence at Pittsburgh. Since the Mississippi River is the central receiver in the watershed which bears its name, I can see where it is considered the mainline, rather than a tributary to the Missouri River and the Ohio River.