Welcome!

We are a nonprofit regional publisher focused on the most beautiful and interesting stretch of the Mississippi River, in the Driftless Area.

The 400-mile stretch of the Mississippi River from Minneapolis, Minn., to Davenport, Iowa, stands apart from the rest of the river in many ways: It’s full of countless islands, lakes and sloughs, rather than the levee districts and intensive agriculture prevalent along the river downstream. This is largely due to the 261-mile National Upper Mississippi River Wildlife and Fish Refuge, which was established here in 1924.

This stretch of the Mississippi flows through the middle of the Driftless Area, a region of steep bluffs and valleys, which probably contains the highest concentration of cold-water streams in the world. These and many other qualities define a contiguous geological and cultural landscape that Big River Magazine has been covering successfully for 31 years, despite the difficulties of serving a largely rural area that includes parts of four states.