HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE MISSISSIPPI?

This weekend marks the 18th annual Riverfest, the one weekend a year when people make their way downtown to celebrate and enjoy the delights of the Mississippi. (You might want to jot down that spelling.)

The Southeast Missourian Friday asked a number of folks at Riverfest if they knew the answers to the following four questions, promising them much-desired anonymity.

Grab a pen, jot down the answer (or what you think is the answer) and compare yours with what those at Riverfest had to say. When you are finished, turn to Page 2 to get the correct answers.

* Spell Mississippi. (OK, it might be a little easier for those playing at home.)

Here's what some people said.

A 9-year-old boy attempted to spell Mississippi with a corn dog in his mouth and mustard running down his hand. He paused between each letter: "M-I-S-S-I ... P-P-I ... Missippi," he finally said, pronouncing it like he spelled it.

All the adults got it right, thankfully, though one 80-year-old man declined to answer any questions, saying it was too hot to spell anything and he had had a long day.

As if we all hadn't.

One pretty, young girl was so excited to participate that she sang the word as she spelled it, using an old mnemonic device.

"M-I-crooked-letter-crooked-letter-I-crooked-letter-crooked-letter-I-hump-back-hump-back-I."

The second question was a little harder.

* Name the first two French missionaries to explore the Mississippi.

We got a variety of colorful answers for this one, although "I really don't know" was overwhelmingly the most frequent.

"Lewis and Clark?" one gentleman asked back.

Several other people also answered Lewis and Clark.

Wrong.

While William Clark and Meriwether Lewis were indeed explorers, they were not French. They explored the Louisiana Territory and the Pacific Northwest from 1804-1806.

An overwhelming number of people had no idea who were the first French missionaries to explore the river, though one answer was especially entertaining.

"Um....DuPont and LaSall," one woman answered.

Sorry, thanks for playing.

The DuPonts are alive today and make a considerable amount of money with their chemical company. We aren't aware of any explorers in their lineage.

LaSalle was a good guess. He was a French explorer and he was involved with the Mississippi, but he wasn't one of the first two French missionaries who made their way down the river.

However, he did lead the first European expedition to track the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

* Name the state where the Mississippi starts and the one in which the river comes to an end.

A lot of people knew the answers, but one woman thought the river began in Indiana; another in Ohio.

One man thought it might start as far north as up in Alaska.

And finally:

* We asked those attending Riverfest to give us one of the nicknames of the Mississippi.

The little boy with the corn dog thought it was Muddy Waters, which is close. Another man thought it was the Muddy River.

Three people thought it might be called Ole Miss. That does involve Mississippi, though not the river; it's the nickname for the University of Mississippi.

CORRECT ANSWERS TO THE RIVER QUIZ

Question: Spell Mississippi.

Answer: See question.

Question: Name the first two French explorers to explore the Mississippi.

Answer: Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet were the first whites to explore the upper Mississippi and parts of Illinois and Wisconsin.

Question: Name the state where the Mississippi starts and the one in which the river comes to an end.

Answer: The Mississippi begins as a small, clear stream that rushes out of Lake Itasca in northwestern Minnesota. After traveling south and forming a border for several states, it winds up in the state of Louisiana, emptying into the Gulf of Mexico.

Question: What are the Mississippi River's nicknames?

Answer: The Big Muddy, The Mighty Mississippi and Old Man River.