How do Bowater Paper and Cargill use the Mississippi River in their businesses?

Question

I need to know how these companies use the Mississippi, whether its shipping or anything else.

Answer 1

Both companies use the Mississippi River and it's tributaries for the transportation of bulk commodities. These tributaries include the Missouri, Ohio, and many other rivers that stretch their tentacles from the western slopes of the Applachain Mountains in the eastern USA to the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains in the western USA. Essentially, these rivers provide a very economical transportation system for America's heartland and cover an enormous territory.

These bulk commodities include grain, liquid chemicals, solid chemicals, and building materials such as cement, sand, and stone. River barges are the most economical way to transport many of these items in large quantities.

It works something like this: Winter wheat and corn is harvested in great quantities in states like South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois and finds it's way to huge grain storage facilities along the river system. From there, these commodities are loaded onto barges, taken down river, and offloaded at even bigger grain storage facilities along the Mississippi River in the New Orleans and Batton Rouge area of Louisiana. Ocean going ships are loaded from these facilities and the grain is exported all over the world.

In southern Louisiana, the Mississippi River is lined with mile after mile of chemical plants and refineries. Some of these facilities produce chemical fertilizers needed by the same farmers up river that produce the grain. Chemical fertilizers are loaded on barges on the southern Mississippi and taken upriver to facilities where they are offloaded and stored. Rail cars and trucks are loaded at these river facilities in order to distribute these bulk products to the individual inland farms that need them.

The Mississippi River system is an integral part of our country's transportation system, and has been so since the country was first settled by european immigrants. The native american indians also used it to travel and trade among each other.

Good luck with your search for information.