The name means, simply, "big river." From northern Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, it flows some 2,400 miles through the heartland. It is the Mississippi, and its saga of adventure, conquest, disaster and riches is the story of America itself. THE MIGHTY MISSISSIPPI journeys along the river and through its past, from St. Paul to New Orleans, from its 1541 discovery by the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto to the ambitious 20th century attempts to tame its waters. It is a spellbinding tapestry of cotton kings and riverboat gamblers, Native-American legends and devastating floods, the tales of Mark Twain and the chords of the blues. Like no other program ever made, THE MIGHTY MISSISSIPPI celebrates the history, culture and romance of the "Father of Waters."