Where rivers are born?

 

The river itself has no beginning or end.

in its beginning, it is not yet the river;

in its end, it is no longer the river.

What we call the headwaters is

 only a selection
from among the innumerable sources
which flow together to compose it.

At what point in its course

does the mississippi become what the mississippi means?”

                                                                              –T.S. Eliot
(Meyer et al., 2007)

 

Meyer, J. L., Kaplan, L. A., Newbold, D., Strayer, D. L., Woltemade, C. J., Zedler, J. B., Beilfuss, R., Carpenter, Q., Semlitsch, R., Watzin, M. C. and Zedler, P. H., 2007, Where rivers are born: The scientific imperative for defending small stream and wetlands, American Rivers and Sierra Club.