The original article said the Mississippi was 3,700 miles long. It's 3,700 kilometers long, or about 2,300 miles. -- Nate
The Mississippi is not the longest river in North America, the Missouri is. Various sources confirm this, one of which is the USGS: http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/riversofworld.html. Although that site gives the Mississippi's length as 2,340 miles, I think it's best to use round numbers as we have done. For example, another USGS site (http://biology.usgs.gov/s+t/SNT/noframe/ms137.htm) says 3,705 km, which would be 2302 miles; Webster's New World 3rd Ed says 2348 miles. Probably they are all correct given different methods of measurement. -- Nate