This introduction draws on a clip from an 1863 Harper’s Magazine that exclaims that the basin of the Mississippi River is the body of the nation. Though there are countless streams, rivulets, and run-offs that make up the entirety of the Mississippi, the basin’s sheer size makes it the second largest valley in the world, exceeded only by the Amazon basin. 

The narrative begins by detailing different aspects of the Mississippi River. Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) as narrator compares the Mississippi to other large bodies of water around the world, including the Amazon basin, the Nile, and the Seine, highlighting how the Mississippi is far larger and grander than bodies of water that are arguably more famous. Twain mentions that the Mississippi is larger in part because it is the crookedest river, with many tributaries snaking away from it at different points and in different states. He describes the Mississippi as encompassing 1,300 miles in its entirety, which would only be about 675 miles if the river ran in a straight line.

From comparing the river to other bodies of water, Twain moves to its history, beginning with DeSoto, who was the first settler to see the river.