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Trucker's Journal

I've been a trucker since November, 2004. Before that I was an accountant for many years. I'm having fun and actually making more than I did before. Go figure....

Name:
Location: Midwest, United States

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Rivers

12-Oct-05

I've noticed while driving around the country that many rivers have descriptive names. I've seen the White, Green, Black, Big Blue, Red, etc., Rivers. I often try to peer over the edge of the bridge and see if the White River is actually white, and so on down the color parade. I've been disappointed every time in that they seem to be a fairly uniform muddy color. The only one which seems to have the possibility of living up to its name was the Red River, which at the point where I saw it, had banks which appeared to be red clay. It appears that at certain times of the year, when the water runs high, those banks could be eroded and carry the red clay in suspension, giving a distinct red color to the water. Maybe the other rivers have similar characteristics at points where I didn't see them.

We won't even get into the other names I've seen and fancifully wondered: Hog Creek (which had no hogs floating in it), Rice Creek (ditto with the rice), and others.

I've also wondered how rivers with a geographic name relating to a state or region are named. For instance, there is both a river and a state named Mississippi. What determines which state got the name, since I'm guessing the river name came first. The Mississippi River flows by the state of the same name, but it is neither the first or last one it passes by or through, and isn't the biggest or most important state either. Anyone have a clue for me?