In the late 1880's and early 1900's the Mississippi River Commission (MRC) conducted an extensive high-resolution survey of the Mississippi River from Cairo, Illinois to Minneapolis, Minnesota. These data were published as a series of 89 survey maps and index. In the 1990's, the Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC) in conjunction with the US Army Corps of Engineers Upper Mississippi River Restoration- Environmental Management Program -- Long Term Resource Monitoring Program element (LTRMP) for the Upper Mississippi River automated the maps' land cover/use symbology to create a turn of the century/pre-impoundment land cover/use data set. Other data on the maps that were not automated include; elevation contours, water depth soundings, proposed water control structures (e.g., wing dams), levees, benchmarks, railroads, and city streets.