The
Missouri River is a
tributaryA tributary is a stream or river which flows into a main stem river. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea. Tributaries and the mainstem river serve to drain the surrounding drainage basin of its surface water and groundwater by leading the water out into an ocean or some other large body...
of the
Mississippi RiverThe Mississippi River is the second longest river in the United States, with a length of from its source in Lake Itasca in Minnesota to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico....
, and is the longest river in the United States of America. The Missouri likely originates at
Brower's SpringBrower's Spring is a spring in the Centennial Mountains of Montana that is believed to be the ultimate headwaters of the Missouri River.The spring is named for Jacob V. Brower who in 1896 declared it to be the source of the Missouri in The Missouri: Its Utmost Source...
at the upper reaches of the
JeffersonThe Jefferson River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the U.S. state of Montana.The Jefferson River and the Madison River form the official beginning of the Missouri at Missouri Headwaters State Park near Three Forks. It is joined downstream by the Gallatin.The Lewis...
, before joining the confluence of the
MadisonThe Madison River is a headwater tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 183 miles long, in Wyoming and Montana. Its confluence with the Jefferson and Gallatin rivers near Three Forks, Montana form the Missouri River....
,
JeffersonThe Jefferson River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the U.S. state of Montana.The Jefferson River and the Madison River form the official beginning of the Missouri at Missouri Headwaters State Park near Three Forks. It is joined downstream by the Gallatin.The Lewis...
, and
GallatinThe Gallatin River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 120 mi , in the U.S. states of Wyoming and Montana...
rivers in
MontanaMontana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of the state contains numerous mountain ranges; other 'island' ranges are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
. From this point, it flows through
its valleyThe Missouri River Valley outlines the journey of the Missouri River from its headwaters where the Madison, Jefferson and Gallatin Rivers flow together in Montana to its confluence with the Mississippi River in the State of Missouri. At long the valley drains one-sixth of the United States, and is...
south and east into the Mississippi north of
St. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. With an estimated population of 354,361 in 2008, it is the principal municipality of Greater St. Louis, population 2,866,517, the largest urban area in Missouri and sixteenth largest in the United States...
. At in length, it drains about one-sixth of the
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
n continent. The Missouri in its original natural meandering state was the longest river in North America. Nearly of the river have been cut off in channeling and so it is now comparable in length to the Mississippi River. The combination of the two longest rivers in North America forms the
fourth longest river in the world.
At its confluence, the Missouri nearly doubles the volume of the Mississippi, accounting for 45 percent of the flow at St. Louis in normal times and as much as 70 percent of the flow during some droughts. It is the second-largest tributary by volume of the Mississippi, trailing the
OhioThe Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. It is approximately 981 miles long and is located in the eastern United States....
.
Overview
The headwaters of the Missouri are in the
Rocky MountainsThe Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in Canada, to New Mexico, in the United States. The range's highest peak is Mount Elbert in Colorado at above sea level...
of southwestern
MontanaMontana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of the state contains numerous mountain ranges; other 'island' ranges are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
, near the small town of Three Forks, rising in the
JeffersonThe Jefferson River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the U.S. state of Montana.The Jefferson River and the Madison River form the official beginning of the Missouri at Missouri Headwaters State Park near Three Forks. It is joined downstream by the Gallatin.The Lewis...
,
MadisonThe Madison River is a headwater tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 183 miles long, in Wyoming and Montana. Its confluence with the Jefferson and Gallatin rivers near Three Forks, Montana form the Missouri River....
, and
GallatinThe Gallatin River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 120 mi , in the U.S. states of Wyoming and Montana...
rivers. The longest headwaters stream, and thus the Missouri's
hydrologicHydrology is the study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water throughout Earth, and thus addresses both the hydrologic cycle and water resources...
source, likely begins at
Brower's SpringBrower's Spring is a spring in the Centennial Mountains of Montana that is believed to be the ultimate headwaters of the Missouri River.The spring is named for Jacob V. Brower who in 1896 declared it to be the source of the Missouri in The Missouri: Its Utmost Source...
, which flows to the Jefferson by way of several other named streams. From the confluence of its main tributaries near the city of
Three ForksThree Forks is a city in Gallatin County, Montana, United States. The population was 1,728 at the 2000 census. Three Forks is named because it lies near the point, in Missouri Headwaters State Park, where the Jefferson, Madison, and Gallatin Rivers converge to form the Missouri River.The three...
, the Missouri flows north through mountainous canyons, emerging from the mountains near
Great FallsGreat Falls is a city in and the county seat of Cascade County, Montana, United States. The population was 56,690 at the 2000 census. It is the principal city of the 'Great Falls, Montana Metropolitan Statistical Area', which encompasses all of Cascade County...
, where a
large cataractThe Great Falls of the Missouri River are a series of waterfalls on the Missouri River in north-central Montana in the United States. The five falls, which are located in a 10-mile area of the river, are:*Black Eagle Falls ;...
historically marked the navigable limit of the river. It flows east across the plains of
MontanaMontana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of the state contains numerous mountain ranges; other 'island' ranges are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
into
North DakotaNorth Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America; on the Canadian border halfway between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. North Dakota is the 19th largest state by area in the U.S.; it is the 3
rd least populous, with just over 641,481 residents as...
, then turns southeast, flowing into
South DakotaSouth Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. South Dakota was carved out of the southern half of the Dakota Territory and admitted to the Union on November 2, 1889...
, and along the north and eastern edge of
NebraskaNebraska is a state located on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha....
, forming part of its border with South Dakota and all of its border with
IowaIowa is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland." It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of...
, flowing past
Sioux CitySioux City is a city in Plymouth and Woodbury counties in the western part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,013 at the 2000 census; census estimates showed a slight decline to 82,807 by 2008...
and
OmahaOmaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
. It forms the entire boundary between Nebraska and
MissouriMissouri is a state in the Midwest region of the United States bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. Missouri is the 18th most populous state with a 2008 estimated population of 5,911,605. It comprises 114 counties and one independent city....
, and part of the boundary between Missouri and
KansasKansas is a state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa tribe, who inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south wind," although this was...
. At
Kansas CityKansas City is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties. It is one of two county seats of Jackson County, the other being Independence, just to the city's east...
, it turns generally eastward, flowing across Missouri where it joins the Mississippi just north of
St. LouisSt. Louis is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. With an estimated population of 354,361 in 2008, it is the principal municipality of Greater St. Louis, population 2,866,517, the largest urban area in Missouri and sixteenth largest in the United States...
.
The extensive system of tributaries drain nearly all the semi-arid northern
Great PlainsThe Great Plains are the broad expanse of prairie and steppe which lie west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S...
of the United States. A very small portion of southern
AlbertaAlberta is one of Canada's prairie provinces. It became a province on September 1, 1905.Alberta is located in western Canada, bounded by the provinces of British Columbia to the west and Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Territories to the north, and the U.S. state of Montana to the south....
,
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and south-western
SaskatchewanSaskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of and a population of 1,023,810 , mostly living in the southern half of the province. Of these, 233,923 live in the province's largest city, Saskatoon, while 194,971 live in the provincial capital, Regina...
is also drained by the river through its tributary, the
MilkThe Milk River is a tributary of the Missouri River, 729 mi long in the U.S. state of Montana and the Canadian province of Alberta.-Course and watershed:...
. Another, separate area, in southern Saskatchewan is drained by another Missouri tributary, the
Poplar RiverThe Poplar River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 167 mi long in Saskatchewan in Canada and Montana in the United States....
.
The river roughly follows the edge of the glaciation during the last
ice ageThe general term "ice age" or, more precisely, "glacial age" denotes a geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in an expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Within a long-term ice age, individual...
. Most of the river's longer tributaries stretch away from this edge, with their origins towards the west, draining portions of the eastern Rockies.
Headwaters
The Missouri in name officially begins at
Missouri Headwaters State ParkMissouri Headwaters State Park is a Montana state park that marks the official start of the Missouri River. It includes the Three Forks of the Missouri National Historic Landmark.It is located near Three Forks, Montana at an elevation of ....
at in Montana at the confluence of the Jefferson River and Madison River. The Gallatin River joins the river about 0.6 of a mile downstream as it flows northeast. The Jefferson River originates in southwest Montana near the
Continental DivideThe Continental Divide of the Americas, or merely the Continental Divide or Great Divide, is the name given to the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas that separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific Ocean from, those river systems which drain into the...
. The Madison and Gallatin Rivers flow out of northwest
WyomingWyoming is a state in the Western United States. The majority of the state is dominated by the mountain ranges and rangelands of the Rocky Mountain West, while the easternmost section of the state includes part of a high elevation prairie region known as the High Plains. While the tenth largest...
to meet the Jefferson River.
Meriwether LewisMeriwether Lewis was an American explorer, soldier, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition also known as the Corps of Discovery, with William Clark, whose mission was to explore the territory of the Louisiana Purchase.- Biography :Lewis...
in his journal entry on July 28, 1805 wrote:
- Both Capt. C. and myself corresponded in opinon with rispect(sic) to the impropriety of calling either of these [three] streams the Missouri and accordingly agreed to name them after the President of the United States and the Secretaries of the Treasury and state.
The Lewis and Clark decision not to call the Jefferson the Missouri has spurred debate over what is the longest river in North America since the Missouri and Mississippi are nearly identical in length. With the Jefferson the Missouri would be the longest river.
Lewis (who had followed the Jefferson River to the Beaverhead River) said that on August 12, 1805, he visited Beaverhead tributary of Trail Creek just above
Lemhi PassLemhi Pass is a high mountain pass in the Rocky Mountains, on the Montana-Idaho border on the continental divide, at an elevation of 7373 feet above sea level....
on the
Continental DivideThe Continental Divide of the Americas, or merely the Continental Divide or Great Divide, is the name given to the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas that separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific Ocean from, those river systems which drain into the...
in the Beaverhead Mountains on the Montana and
IdahoIdaho is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States of America. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans." Idaho was admitted to the Union on 3 July 1890 as the 43rd state....
border at around which he described:
- the most distant fountain of the waters of the mighty Missouri in surch(sic) of which we have spent so many toilsome days and wristless(sic) nights.
However in 1888
Jacob V. BrowerJacob Vandenberg Brower was a prolific writer of the Upper Midwest region of the United States who championed the location and protection of the utmost headwaters of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers.He was born in Michigan and moved to Minnesota...
, who had championed turning the headwaters of the Mississippi River into a Minnesota state park, visited a site in Montana which today is believed to be the furthest point on the Missouri -- now called
Brower's SpringBrower's Spring is a spring in the Centennial Mountains of Montana that is believed to be the ultimate headwaters of the Missouri River.The spring is named for Jacob V. Brower who in 1896 declared it to be the source of the Missouri in The Missouri: Its Utmost Source...
. Brower published his finding in 1896 in "The Missouri: Its Utmost Source."
The site of Brower's Spring lies at around in the Centennial Mountains. The site is now commemorated by a rock pile at the source of Hellroaring Creek which flows into Red Rock River and then into Clark Canyon Reservoir where it joins the Beaverhead then the Big Hole River before ultimately hooking up with the Jefferson.
In Montana, the river is a Class I water from Three Forks to the North Dakota border for the purposes of public access for recreational purposes.
Mouth
The Missouri enters the
Upper Mississippi RiverThe Upper Mississippi River is the portion of the Mississippi River upstream of Cairo, Illinois, United States. From the headwaters at Lake Itasca, Minnesota, the river flows approximately 2000 kilometers to Cairo, where it is joined by the Ohio River to form the Lower Mississippi...
near its mile 195. The elevation is approximately . The confluence is ringed by
Camp DuboisCamp Dubois, near present day Hartford, Illinois, served as the winter camp for the Lewis and Clark Expedition from December 12, 1803, to May 14, 1804.It was located on the east side of the Mississippi River so that it was still in United States territory...
which is now part of Lewis and Clark State Memorial Park in Illinois; Columbia Bottom Conservation Area on the south bank of the Missouri in St. Louis and on the north bank of the Missouri by the Edward "Ted" and Pat Jones-Confluence Point State Park in
West Alton, MissouriWest Alton is a city in St. Charles County, Missouri, United States. The population was 573 at the 2000 census.-Geography:West Alton is located at ....
.
Geology
The river is nicknamed "Big Muddy" and also "Dark River" because of the high
siltSilt is soil or rock derived granular material of a grain size between sand and clay. Silt may occur as a soil or as suspended sediment in a surface water body...
content. The river meanders from
bluff-Geography:* a very steep and broad hill or small cliff, frequently next to a river or ocean*feeder bluffAustralia* Bluff, a town in QueenslandNew Zealand* Bluff, a town and seaport in the South IslandSouth Africa...
to bluff in the flat Midwestern states, leading to the nickname the "Wide Missouri".
Name
The popular but erroneous conception that the name means "muddy water" arose from the fact that Marquette gave it the indigenous name "Pekitanoui" meaning "muddy".
The state is named after the Missouri River which in turn is named after the Siouan Indian tribe whose
IllinoisThe Miami-Illinois language is a Native American language formerly spoken in the United States, primarily in Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, western Ohio and adjacent areas along the Mississippi River by the tribes of the Inoca or Illinois Confederacy, including the Kaskaskia, Peoria, Tamaroa,...
name,
ouemessourita (
wimihsoorita), means "those who have dugout
canoeA canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes usually are pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over .In its human-powered form, the canoe is propelled by the use of...
s". The etymology lies behind
Bob Dyer's tribute song,
"River of the Big Canoes".
The river has also been known as: Big River, Big Muddy, Emasulia sipiwi, Eomitai, Katapan Mene Shoska, Le Riviere des Missouri, Mini Sose, Missoury River, Ni-sho-dse, Nudarcha, Rio Misuri, Riviere de Pekitanoni, Riviere de Saint Philippe, Le Missouri, Le Riviere des Osages, Missures Flu, Miz-zou-rye River, Niutaci, Pekitanoui, River of the West, Yellow River.
Jolliet and Marquette
Main articles: Louis JollietLouis Jolliet, also known as Louis Joliet , was a French-Canadian explorer known for his discoveries in North America. Jolliet and missionary Father Jacques Marquette, a Catholic priest, were the first white men to explore and map the Mississippi River.-Early life:Jolliet was born in 1645 in a...
and Jacques MarquetteFather Jacques Marquette, S.J., , sometimes known as Pere Marquette, was a French Jesuit missionary who founded Michigan's first European settlement, Sault Ste. Marie, and later founded St. Ignace, Michigan...
The first Europeans to see the river were the
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
explorers
Louis JollietLouis Jolliet, also known as Louis Joliet , was a French-Canadian explorer known for his discoveries in North America. Jolliet and missionary Father Jacques Marquette, a Catholic priest, were the first white men to explore and map the Mississippi River.-Early life:Jolliet was born in 1645 in a...
and
Jacques MarquetteFather Jacques Marquette, S.J., , sometimes known as Pere Marquette, was a French Jesuit missionary who founded Michigan's first European settlement, Sault Ste. Marie, and later founded St. Ignace, Michigan...
who shortly after looking at the
PiasaThe Piasa or Piasa Bird is a legendary creature that was depicted in one of two murals painted by Native Americans on bluffs above the Mississippi River. Its original location was at the end of a limestone bluff in Madison County, Illinois near present day Alton, Illinois...
petroglyphPetroglyphs are images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, pecking, carving, and abrading. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions of the technique to refer to such images...
painting on the bluffs of
Mississippi RiverThe Mississippi River is the second longest river in the United States, with a length of from its source in Lake Itasca in Minnesota to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico....
above
Alton, IllinoisAlton is a city in Madison County, Illinois, United States, about 15 miles north of St. Louis, Missouri. The population was 34,511 at the 2006 census.-History:...
heard the Missouri rushing into the Mississippi.
Marquette wrote:
- While conversing about these monsters sailing quietly in clear and calm water, we heard the noise of a rapid into which we were about to run. I never saw anything more terrific, a tangle of entire trees from the mouth of the Pekistanoui with such impetuosity that one could not attempt to cross it without great danger. The commotion was such that the water was made muddy by it and could not clear itself.
- Pekitanoui is a river of considerable size, coming from the northwest, from a great distance; and it discharges into the Mississippi. There are many villages of savages along this river, and I hope by this means to discover the Vermillion or California Sea.
Marquette and Joliet referred to the river as "Pekistanoui" and they made a reference to a tribe who lived upstream on the river as "
Oumessourita" which was pronounced "
OO-Missouri."), (meaning "those who have dugout
canoeA canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes usually are pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over .In its human-powered form, the canoe is propelled by the use of...
s") This was the Illinois (tribe) name for the Missouri (tribe) whose village was nearly upstream near
Brunswick, MissouriBrunswick is a rural city in Chariton County, Missouri, United States. The population was 925 at the 2000 census. Brunswick is home to the world's largest pecan...
.
Marquette wrote that natives had told him that it was just a six day canoe trip up the river (about 60 miles) where it would be possible to portage over to another river that would take people to California.
Jolliet and Marquette never explored the Missouri beyond its mouth.
Bourgmont
Main articles: Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de BourgmontÉtienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont was a French explorer who made the first maps and documented his travels on the Missouri and Platte rivers. He wrote two accounts of his travels with descriptions of the Native American tribes he encountered...
and Fort OrleansFort Orleans was a French fort in colonial North America, the first fort built by any European country on the Missouri River. It was to be a linchpin in the vast New France empire stretching from Montreal to New Mexico. Occupied from 1723-1726, it was the first multi-year European settlement in...
The Missouri remained formally unexplored and uncharted until
Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de BourgmontÉtienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont was a French explorer who made the first maps and documented his travels on the Missouri and Platte rivers. He wrote two accounts of his travels with descriptions of the Native American tribes he encountered...
wrote "Exact Description of Louisiana, of Its Harbors, Lands and Rivers, and Names of the Indian Tribes That Occupy It, and the Commerce and Advantages to Be Derived Therefrom for the Establishment of a Colony" in 1713 followed in 1714 by "The Route to Be Taken to Ascend the Missouri River." In the two documents Bourgmont was the first to use the name "Missouri" to refer to the river (and he was to name many of the tributaries along the river based on the Native American tribes that lived on them). The names and locations were to be used by cartographer
Guillaume DelisleGuillaume Delisle was a French cartographer who lived in Paris.His father, Claude Delisle studied law and then later settled in Paris as private teacher in geography and history, and afterwards filled the office of royal censor...
to create the first reasonably accurate map of the river.
Bourgmont himself was living with the Missouri tribe at its Brunswick village with his Missouri wife and son. He had been on the lam from French authorities since 1706 when he deserted his post as commandant of
Fort DetroitFort Pontchartrain du Détroit or Fort Détroit was a fort established by the French officer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac in 1701. The location of the former fort is now in the city of Detroit in the U.S...
after he was criticized by
Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de CadillacAntoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac was a French explorer and adventurer in New France, now an area of North America stretching from Eastern Canada in the north to Louisiana in the south...
for his handling of an attack by the
Ottawa (tribe)The Odawa or Ottawa, said to mean "traders," are a Native American and First Nations people. They are one of the Anishinaabeg, related to but distinct from the Ojibwa nation...
in which a priest, a French sergeant and 30 Ottawa were killed. Bourgmont had further infuriated the French by illegally trapping and for immoral behavior when he showed up at French outposts with his Native American wife.
However after Bourgmont's two documents,
Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de BienvilleJean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville[
pronounce] was a colonizer, born in Montreal, Quebec and an early, repeated governor of French Louisiana, appointed 4 separate times during 1701-1743. He was a younger brother of explorer Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville...
, founder of Louisiana, said that rather than arresting Bourgmont they should decorate him with
Cross of St. LouisThe Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis was a military Order of Chivalry founded on April 5, 1693 by Louis XIV and named after Saint Louis . It was intended as a reward for exceptional officers, and is notable as the first decoration that could be granted to non-nobles...
and name him "commandant of the Missouri" to represent France on the entire river. Bourgmont's reputation was further enhanced when the
PawneeThe Pawnee are a Native American tribe that historically lived along the Platte, Loup and Republican Rivers in present-day Nebraska and in Northern Kansas...
, who had been befriended by Bourgmont, massacred the Spanish
Villasur expeditionThe Villasur expedition of 1720 was a Spanish military expedition intended to check the growing French presence on the Great Plains of central North America. Led by Lieutenant-General Pedro de Villasur, the expedition ended with a defeat at the hands of the Pawnee.In the first part of the 18th...
in 1720 near modern day
Columbus, NebraskaColumbus is a city in Platte County, Nebraska, United States, 80 miles west by north of Omaha on the Loup River, a short distance above the confluence with the Platte. In 1900, 3,522 people lived in Columbus, Nebraska; in 1910, 5,014; and in 1940, 7,632. The population was 20,971 at the 2000...
which temporarily ended Spanish designs on the Missouri River and cleared the way for a
New FranceNew France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period extending from the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River, by Jacques Cartier in 1534, to the cession of New France to Spain and Britain in 1763...
empire stretching from Montreal, Canada to
New MexicoNew Mexico is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. Inhabited by Native American populations for many centuries, it has also been part of the Imperial Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain, part of Mexico, and a U.S. territory. Among U.S...
.
After squabbling with French authorities over financing of a new fort on the Missouri and also suffering a yearlong illness, Bourgmont established
Fort OrleansFort Orleans was a French fort in colonial North America, the first fort built by any European country on the Missouri River. It was to be a linchpin in the vast New France empire stretching from Montreal to New Mexico. Occupied from 1723-1726, it was the first multi-year European settlement in...
, which was the first fort and first longer term European settlement of any kind on the Missouri, in late 1723 near his home at Brunswick. In 1724 Bourgmont led an expedition to enlist
ComancheThe Comanche are a Native American ethnic group whose range consisted of present-day eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas, all of Oklahoma, and most of northwest Texas. Originally, the Comanches were hunter-gatherers, with a typical Plains Indian culture....
support in the fight against the Spanish. In 1725 Bourgmont brought the chiefs of the Missouri River tribes to
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to see the glory of France including the palaces of
VersaillesVersailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial center...
, and Fountainbleau and a hunting expedition on a royal preserve with Louis XV. Bourgmont was raised to the rank of the nobility, remained in France and did not accompany the chiefs back to the New World. Fort Orleans was either abandoned or its small contingent massacred by Native Americans in 1726.
It is unclear how far up the Missouri Bourgmont traveled. He is the documented first European discoverer of the Platte River. In his writings he described the blonde-haired Mandans, so it is possible that he made it as far north as their villages in central North Dakota.
MacKay and Evans
The Spanish took over the Missouri River in the
Treaty of Paris (1763)The Treaty of Paris, often called the Peace of Paris, or the Treaty of 1763, was signed on February 10, 1763, by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal in agreement. It ended the Seven Years' War. The treaty marked the beginning of an extensive period of British dominance...
that ended the
French and Indian WarThe French and Indian War, also known as the War of the Conquest or referred as part of the larger conflict known as the Seven Years' War, was a war fought in North America between 1754 and 1763...
/Seven Years War. The Spanish claim to the Missouri was based on
Hernando de Soto'sHernando de Soto was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who, while leading the first European expedition deep into the territory of the modern-day United States, was the first European to discover the Mississippi River....
"discovery" of the Mississippi River on May 8, 1541. The Spanish initially did not extensively explore the river and let French fur traders continue their activities although under license.
After the British began to exert influence on the Upper Missouri River via the
Hudson's Bay CompanyThe Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and is one of the oldest in the world...
, news of English incursions came following an expedition by Jacques D’Eglise in 1790. The Spanish chartered the "Company of Discoverers and Explorers of the Missouri" (popularly referred to as the "Missouri Company") and offered a reward for the first person to reach the Pacific via the Missouri. In 1794 and 1795 expeditions led by Jean Baptiste Truteau and Antoine Simon Lecuyer de la Jonchšre did not even make it as far north as the
MandanThe Mandan are a Native American tribe that historically lived along the banks of the Missouri River and two of its tributaries—the Heart and Knife Rivers—in present-day North and South Dakota...
villages in central
North DakotaNorth Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America; on the Canadian border halfway between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. North Dakota is the 19th largest state by area in the U.S.; it is the 3
rd least populous, with just over 641,481 residents as...
.
The most significant expedition though was the MacKay and Evans Expedition of 1795-1797. James MacKay and
John EvansJohn Thomas Evans was a Welsh explorer who produced an early map of the Missouri River.John Evans was born in Waunfawr, near Caernarfon...
were hired by the Spanish to search a route to the Pacific Ocean and to tell the British to leave the upper Missouri.
McKay and Evans established a winter camp about south of
Sioux City, IowaSioux City is a city in Plymouth and Woodbury counties in the western part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,013 at the 2000 census; census estimates showed a slight decline to 82,807 by 2008...
on the Nebraska side where they built Fort Columbus. Evans went on to the Mandan village where he expelled British traders. While talking to Native Americans they pinpointed the location of the
Yellowstone RiverThe Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the western United States. Considered the principal tributary of the upper Missouri, the river and its tributaries drain a wide area stretching from the Rocky Mountains in the vicinity of the Yellowstone National...
(which they called "Yellow Rock").
They created a detailed map of the upper Missouri that was used by
Lewis and ClarkThe Lewis and Clark Expedition was the first overland expedition undertaken by the United States to the Pacific coast and back. The expedition team was headed by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and assisted by Sacajawea and Toussaint Charbonneau. The expedition's goal was to gain an accurate...
.
Lewis and Clark
Main articles: Louisiana PurchaseThe Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition by the United States of America of of the French territory Louisiana in 1803. The U.S...
and Lewis and Clark
On October 27, 1795, the United States and Spain signed
Pinckney's TreatyPinckney's Treaty, also known as the Treaty of San Lorenzo or the Treaty of Madrid, was signed in San Lorenzo de El Escorial on October 27, 1795 and established intentions of friendship between the United States and Spain. It also defined the boundaries of the United States with the Spanish...
giving American merchants the "right of deposit" in New Orleans, meaning they could use the port to store goods for export. The treaty also recognized American rights to navigate the entire Mississippi River.
In 1798 Spain revoked the treaty.
On October 1, 1800, the Spanish secretly returned Louisiana to the French under Napoleon in the
Third Treaty of San IldefonsoThe Third Treaty of San Ildefonso was a secretly negotiated treaty between France and Spain in which Spain returned the colonial territory of...
. The transfer was so secret that the Spanish continued to administer the territory. In 1801 they restored the United States rights to use the river and New Orleans.
Thomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States , the principal author of the Declaration of Independence , and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his promotion of the ideals of republicanism in the United States...
, fearing the cutoffs could occur again, sought to negotiate with France to buy New Orleans for the asking price of $10 million. Napoleon countered with an offer of $15 million for all of the Louisiana Territory including the Missouri River. The deal was signed on May 2, 1803.
On June 20, 1803,
Thomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States , the principal author of the Declaration of Independence , and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his promotion of the ideals of republicanism in the United States...
instructed
Meriwether LewisMeriwether Lewis was an American explorer, soldier, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition also known as the Corps of Discovery, with William Clark, whose mission was to explore the territory of the Louisiana Purchase.- Biography :Lewis...
to explore the Missouri and look for a water route to the Pacific.
Although the deal was signed, Spain still balked at an American takeover, citing that France had never formally taken over the Louisiana Territory. Spain was to formally tell Lewis not to take the journey and expressly forbade Lewis from seeing the McKay and Evans map which was the most detailed and accurate of its time. Lewis was to gain access to it surreptitiously. To avoid jurisdictional issues with Spain they wintered in 1803-1804 at
Camp DuboisCamp Dubois, near present day Hartford, Illinois, served as the winter camp for the Lewis and Clark Expedition from December 12, 1803, to May 14, 1804.It was located on the east side of the Mississippi River so that it was still in United States territory...
on the Illinois (United States) side of the Mississippi.
Lewis and William Clark left on May 14, 1804 and returned to St. Louis on September 23, 1806.
American Frontier
The river defined the American frontier in the 19th century, particularly downstream from
Kansas City, MissouriKansas City is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties. It is one of two county seats of Jackson County, the other being Independence, just to the city's east...
, where it takes a sharp eastern turn into the heart of the state of Missouri.
All of the major trails for the opening of the American West have their starting points on the river, including the
CaliforniaThe California Trail was a major overland emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California. It was used primarily from 1841 to 1869...
,
MormonThe Mormon Trail or Mormon Pioneer Trail is the route that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints traveled from 1846 to 1868...
,
OregonThe Oregon Trail was one of the main overland migration routes on the North American continent, leading from locations on the Missouri River to the Oregon Territory. The eastern half of the trail was also used by travelers on the California Trail, Bozeman Trail, and Mormon Trail which used much of...
, and
Santa FeThe Santa Fe Trail was a 19th century transportation route through central North America that connected Missouri with Santa Fe, New Mexico. First used in 1821 by William Becknell, it served as a vital commercial and military highway until the introduction of the railroad to Santa Fe in 1880...
trails. The first westward leg of the
Pony ExpressThe Pony Express was a fast mail service crossing the North American continent from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, from April 1860 to October 1861...
was a ferry ride across the Missouri at St. Joseph, Missouri. The first westward leg of the
First Transcontinental RailroadThe First Transcontinental Railroad is the popular name of the U.S. railroad line built between 1863 and 1869 by the Central Pacific Railroad of California and Union Pacific Railroad from Council Bluffs, Iowa/Omaha, Nebraska to Alameda, California...
was a ferry ride across the Missouri between
Council Bluffs, IowaCouncil Bluffs is a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States and is on the east bank of the Missouri River. The population was 58,268 at the 2000 census...
and
Omaha, NebraskaOmaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
.
The
Hannibal BridgeThe First Hannibal Bridge was the first bridge to cross the Missouri River and was to establish Kansas City, Missouri as a major city and rail center....
was the first bridge to cross the river when it opened in Kansas City in 1869, and was a major reason why Kansas City became the largest city on the river upstream from its mouth at St. Louis.
Extensive use of
paddle steamerA paddle steamer is a ship or boat driven by a steam engine that uses one or more paddle wheels to develop thrust for propulsion. It is also a type of steamboat. Boats with paddle wheels on the sides are termed sidewheelers, while those with a single wheel on the stern are known as sternwheelers....
s on the upper river helped facilitate European settlement of the
DakotasThe Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when that final extent of the territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of North and South Dakota....
and
MontanaMontana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of the state contains numerous mountain ranges; other 'island' ranges are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
.
The
Department of the MissouriDepartment of the Missouri was a division of the United States Army that functioned through the American Civil War and the Indian Wars afterwards.-Civil War:...
, which was headquartered on the banks of the river at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, was the military command center for the
Indian WarsIndian Wars is the name used in the United States to describe a series of conflicts between the colonial or federal government and the native people of North America....
in the region.
The northernmost navigable point on the Missouri before extensive navigation improvements was
Fort Benton, MontanaFort Benton is a city in and the county seat of Chouteau County, Montana, United States. A portion of the city was designated as a National Historic Landmark District in 1961....
, at approximately 2,620 feet.
River modifications
Since the lower river meanders through a broad floodplain in Midwestern states, it has often changed course and in its wake left numerous
oxbow lakeAn oxbow lake is a U-shaped body of water formed when a wide meander from the mainstem of a river is cut off to create a lake. This landform is called an oxbow lake for the distinctive curved shape that results from this process. In Australia, an oxbow lake is called a billabong...
s (
Big LakeBig Lake is a oxbow lake in Holt County, Missouri near Big Lake, Missouri.It is believed to have formed from the Missouri River sometime before Lewis & Clark visited the area in 1804. It is the largest oxbow lake in the state of Missouri....
is the largest such lake in Missouri). In the early 1800s the United States Supreme Court (which decides state border disputes) ruled that when the river changed course the border also changed (as happened with the
Fairfax DistrictFairfax Airport was an airport in Kansas City, Kansas from 1921 until it closed in 1985. It is most famously associated with the construction of most of the B-25 Mitchell bombers....
at
Kansas City, KansasKansas City is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and is the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is a satellite city of Kansas City, Missouri and is the third largest city in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. The city is part of the "Unified Government" which also includes the...
which switched from Missouri to Kansas.) However, in the late 1800s the Court began ruling on absolute boundaries, creating geographic oddities such as
Carter Lake, IowaCarter Lake is a city in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States. The population was 3,248 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Carter Lake is located at ....
, which is now a piece of Iowa on the west side of the Missouri between downtown Omaha and
Eppley AirfieldEppley Airfield is a commercial airport located three miles northeast of the central business district of Omaha, a city in Douglas County, Nebraska, United States. It is the largest airport in the state of Nebraska...
, and the
French BottomsRosecrans Memorial Airport is a joint civil-military public airport located three miles northwest of the city of St. Joseph in Buchanan County, Missouri, USA....
in St. Joseph, Missouri, a piece of Missouri on the west of the river, requiring Missouri residents to go through Kansas to reach Rosecrans Airport.
In the 20th century, the upper Missouri was extensively dammed for
flood controlIn communications, flood control is a feature of many communication protocols designed to prevent overwhelming of a destination receiver. Such controls can be implemented either in software or in hardware, and will often request that the message be resent after the receiver has finished...
,
irrigationIrrigation is an artificial application of water to the soil. It is usually used to assist in growing crops in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
, and hydroelectric power. After President
Franklin D. RooseveltFranklin Delano Roosevelt , the only U.S. President elected to more than two terms, was a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
signed the
Flood Control Act of 1944The Pick-Sloan Flood Control Act of 1944 , enacted in the 2nd session of the 78th Congress, is U.S. legislation that authorized the construction of thousands of dams and levees across the United States...
, the Pick-Sloan Plan turned the Missouri River into the largest reservoir system in North America. There are six
damA dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions...
s in four states:
Fort Peck DamThe Fort Peck Dam is the highest of six major dams along the Missouri River, located in northeast Montana in the United States, near Glasgow, and adjacent to the community of Fort Peck. At in length and over in height, it is the largest hydraulically filled dam in the United States, and creates...
in Montana;
Garrison DamGarrison Dam is a major earth embankment dam on the Missouri River in central North Dakota. At over two miles in length, it is the fifth-largest earthen dam in the world, constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from 1947-53...
in North Dakota;
Oahe DamThe Oahe Dam is a large man-made dam along the Missouri River, just north of Pierre, South Dakota in the United States. It creates Lake Oahe, the fourth largest man-made reservoir in the United States, which stretches up the course of the Missouri to Bismarck, North Dakota. The dam's powerplant...
,
Big Bend DamBig Bend Dam is a major rolled earth dam along the Missouri River in central South Dakota.The dam, 95 feet high and 10,570 feet in length, was constructed as part of the Pick-Sloan Plan for Missouri watershed development authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1944. Construction began in 1959 and...
, and
Fort Randall DamThe Fort Randall Dam is an earth embankment dam impounding the Missouri River in South Dakota, United States and forming Lake Francis Case. It is one of seven Missouri River dams, four being located in South Dakota....
in South Dakota; and
Gavins Point DamGavins Point Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Missouri River in the U.S. states of Nebraska and South Dakota. Built from 1952 to 1957, it impounds Lewis and Clark Lake build from 1952. The dam is on the Nebraska-South Dakota border, west of Yankton, South Dakota.Gavins Point Dam is the most...
on the South Dakota-Nebraska border.
These dams were constructed without locks, so commercial navigation on the Missouri cannot proceed above the Gavins Point Dam. The
Corps of EngineersThe United States Army Corps of Engineers is a federal agency and a major Army command made up of some 34,600 civilian and 650 military personnel, making it the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency...
maintains a 9-foot-deep (3 m) navigation channel for 735 miles (1183 km) between
Sioux City, IowaSioux City is a city in Plymouth and Woodbury counties in the western part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,013 at the 2000 census; census estimates showed a slight decline to 82,807 by 2008...
and
St. LouisSt. Louis is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. With an estimated population of 354,361 in 2008, it is the principal municipality of Greater St. Louis, population 2,866,517, the largest urban area in Missouri and sixteenth largest in the United States...
in non-winter months. The dams aid navigation on the lower river by reducing fluctuations in water levels.
Thirty-five percent of the Missouri River is impounded, 32 percent has been channelized, and 33 percent is unchannelized.
The only significant stretch of free-flowing stream on the lower Missouri is the
Missouri National Recreational RiverThe Missouri National Recreational River is located on the border between Nebraska and South Dakota. The designation was first applied in 1978 to a 59-mile section of the Missouri River between Gavins Point Dam and Ponca State Park. In 1991, an additional 39-mile section between Fort Randall Dam...
section between
Gavins Point DamGavins Point Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Missouri River in the U.S. states of Nebraska and South Dakota. Built from 1952 to 1957, it impounds Lewis and Clark Lake build from 1952. The dam is on the Nebraska-South Dakota border, west of Yankton, South Dakota.Gavins Point Dam is the most...
and
Ponca State ParkPonca State Park, located two miles north of Ponca in northeastern Nebraska, is situated on among the high bluffs and forested steep hills along the banks of the Missouri River. The park is adjacent to the Missouri National Recreational River...
,
NebraskaNebraska is a state located on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha....
. This federally-designated "Wild and Scenic River" is among the last unspoiled stretches of the Missouri, and exhibits the islands, bars, chutes and snags that once characterized the "Mighty Mo".
The dikes, revetments, and levees constructed by the Corps of Engineers as part of the Missouri River Navigation and Flood Control Project have transformed the once sprawling and constantly changing river into a narrower, deeper, fixed channel designed to more easily maintain the navigation channel. The river carries a large amount of silt and sand, but high water velocity in the navigation channel normally prevents settling out and sand bar accumulations. As a result, unlike the Mississippi River, the Missouri River rarely requires dredging to maintain the navigation channel. The huge amounts of sediment in the Big Muddy have long provided a free source of sand, mined by commercial dredgers to be used in concrete and asphalt for construction, mainly below Rulo, Nebraska. In recent years, the quantity of sand commercially dredged from the Missouri River has dramatically increased as Kansas City, Columbia, and St. Louis have grown. In 2000, 7.4 million tons of sand and gravel were dredged out of the navigation channel. As commercial sand dredging has increased, the Missouri River bed has gradually cut deeper into the flood plain. Between 1990 and 2005 the river around Kansas City, Missouri has degraded as much as .
Traffic
Barge traffic has been steadily declining from 3.3 million tons in 1977 to 1.3 million tons in 2000. The declining barge traffic industry has stirred controversies over the management of the river and whether upstream dams should release more water to maintain commercial navigation standards.
Casinos
The states of Iowa and Missouri have sought to revive their waterfronts by permitting
riverboat gamblingA riverboat casino is a type of casino found in several areas of the United States which use a riverboat as a casino. Several states authorized this type of casino to limit the areas where casinos could be constructed.-History:...
. The initial gambling regulations required the casinos to navigate the river. They were subsequently amended so that the casinos could be permanent land-based structures as long as they had a moat with Missouri River water surrounding them.
Popular depictions
The American painter
George CatlinGeorge Catlin was an American painter, author and traveler who specialized in portraits of Native Americans in the Old West.- Biography :...
traveled up the Missouri in the 1830s, making portraits of individuals and tribes of Native Americans. He also painted several Missouri River landscapes, notably "
Floyd's Bluff" and "
Brick Kilns", both from 1832.
The
SwissSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
painter
Karl BodmerKarl Bodmer was a Swiss painter of the American West. He accompanied German explorer Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied from 1832 through 1834 on his Missouri River expedition...
accompanied
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
explorer Prince Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied from 1832 through 1834 on his Missouri River expedition. Bodmer was hired as an artist by Maximilian for the purpose of recording images of the
Native AmericanNative Americans in the United States is the phrase that describes indigenous peoples from North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of...
tribes that they encountered in the American West.
In 1843, the American painter and
naturalistNatural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards the observational than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research that is published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, Natural history is the systematic...
John James AudubonJohn James Audubon was a French-American ornithologist, naturalist, hunter, and painter. He painted, catalogued, and described the birds of North America in a form far superior to what had gone before...
traveled west to the upper Missouri River and the
Dakota TerritoryThe Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when that final extent of the territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of North and South Dakota....
to do fieldwork for his final major opus,
Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America. A typical example from this folio is
"American Bison".
MissouriMissouri is a state in the Midwest region of the United States bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. Missouri is the 18th most populous state with a 2008 estimated population of 5,911,605. It comprises 114 counties and one independent city....
painter
George Caleb BinghamGeorge Caleb Bingham – 19th century American painter of the American West. The majority of Bingham's paintings and virtually all of his drawings are held in American museums, with the largest selection of paintings at the St. Louis Museum of Art. No museums outside of the United States hold any...
immortalized the fur traders and
flatboatA flatboat is a rectangular boat with a flat bottom and square ends used to transport freight and passengers on inland waterways. The flatboat could be any size but, essentially, it is large , sturdy tub with a hull that displaces water and so floats in the water; therefore, the flatboat is not a...
men who plied the Missouri River in the early 1800s; these same
boatmen were known for their river chanties, including the haunting American folk song "
Oh Shenandoah"Oh Shenandoah" is an American folk song, dating to the early 19th century.-Lyrics:...
". Each verse of "
Oh Shenandoah"Oh Shenandoah" is an American folk song, dating to the early 19th century.-Lyrics:...
" ends with the line, "...'cross the wide Missouri."
The Missouri may be the setting of the
Pete SeegerPeter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and a key figure in the mid-20th century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early '50s as a member of The Weavers, most notably the 1950 recording of Leadbelly's...
song
Waist Deep in the Big Muddy"Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" is a song written by Pete Seeger in 1967 and made famous because of its censorship from a popular television program of that era.-Story:...
. (There is considerable ambiguity as to location, however. Seeger sings that the action took place in
"Loo-siana"The State of Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state divided into parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
and there is also a
Big Muddy RiverThe Big Muddy River is located in Illinois. It joins the Mississippi River south of Murphysboro, Illinois. The Big Muddy has been dammed near Benton, Illinois, forming Rend Lake.The Big Muddy has a mud bottom for most of its length...
in
IllinoisIllinois , the 21st state admitted to the United States of America, is the most populous and demographically diverse Midwestern state and the fifth most populous state in the nation...
. One could not "press on" very far into the Missouri and remain only "waist deep.") The song is set in 1942, during training for
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, but its image of a foolish captain who pushes his men further and further into a hopeless situation was clearly meant to parallel the
Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War or the Second Indochina War was a Cold War military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1959 to 30 April 1975...
. In the song, a Captain leading a squad on training
maneuverManeuver, manoeuvre may be a synonym for strategy or tactic or:- Military or naval movement :* Military maneuver, aka Military exercise* Maneuver warfare...
s insists on crossing the titular river, insisting that it is safe to cross. The Captain sinks into the mud, drowns, and his squad turns back, led by the Sergeant who had questioned the Captain's orders.
A. B. Guthrie, Jr.Alfred Bertram Guthrie, Jr. was an American novelist, historian, and literary historian who won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1950 for his The Way West. The author called himself "Bud" because he felt that Alfred Bertram "was a sissy name."-Biography:A. B. Guthrie, Jr...
's popular
WesternThe Western is a fiction genre seen in film, television, radio, literature, painting and other visual arts. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the later half of the 19th century in what became the Western United States , but also in Western Canada, Mexico , Alaska The Western...
novel
The Big Sky (1947) tells the story of a group of men who, in the early 19th century, made the long journey up the Missouri from St. Louis to Montana.
Howard HawksHoward Winchester Hawks was an influential American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era...
made a film based on the book a few years later.
Tributaries
The following rivers are listed going downstream based on the states where they enter the Missouri.
Montana
- Jefferson River
The Jefferson River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the U.S. state of Montana.The Jefferson River and the Madison River form the official beginning of the Missouri at Missouri Headwaters State Park near Three Forks. It is joined downstream by the Gallatin.The Lewis...
- Madison River
The Madison River is a headwater tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 183 miles long, in Wyoming and Montana. Its confluence with the Jefferson and Gallatin rivers near Three Forks, Montana form the Missouri River....
- Gallatin River
The Gallatin River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 120 mi , in the U.S. states of Wyoming and Montana...
- Sixteen Mile Creek
- Dearborn River
The Dearborn River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 70 mi long, in western Montana in the United States. It rises in the Lewis and Clark National Forest, near Scapegoat Mountain in the Lewis and Clark Range of the Rocky Mountains at the continental divide, in western Lewis and...
- Smith River
Smith River is a tributary of the Missouri River, in central Montana, in the United States. It rises in southern Meagher County in the Castle Mountains and flows northwest in the valley between the Big Belt and Little Belt mountains, past White Sulphure Springs and past Smith River State Park...
- Sun River
The Sun River is a tributary of the Missouri River in the Great Plains, approximately 130 mi long, in Montana in the United States....
- Belt Creek
Belt Creek is a tributary, approximately 80 mi long, of the Missouri River in western Montana in the United States.It originates in the Lewis and Clark National Forest north of Big Baldy Mountain, in the Little Belt Mountains in western Judith Basin County. It flows northwest through mountainous...
- Marias River
The Marias River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 210 mi long, in the U.S. state of Montana. It is formed in the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Glacier County, in northwestern Montana, by the confluence of the Cut Bank Creek and the Two Medicine River...
- Arrow Creek
Arrow Creek is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 45 miles long, in Montana in the United States. It rises in the Lewis and Clark National Forest near Highwood Baldy in the Highwood Mountains in southern Chouteau County. It flows south, then east, then northeast and joins the...
- Judith River
The Judith River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 124 mi long, running through central Montana and the United States. It rises in the Little Belt Mountains and flows northeast past Utica and Hobson...
- Cow Creek
Cow Creek is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 30 mi long, in north central Montana in the United States.It rises in the Bear Paw Mountains in western Blaine County and flows southeast, joining the Missouri in the Missouri Breaks approximately 20 mi northwest of Winifred....
- Musselshell River
The Musselshell River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 292 miles long, in central Montana in the United States. It rises in several forks in the Crazy, Little Belt, and Castle mountains in central Montana. The main branch is formed by the confluence of the North Fork and South...
- Milk River
The Milk River is a tributary of the Missouri River, 729 mi long in the U.S. state of Montana and the Canadian province of Alberta.-Course and watershed:...
- Redwater River
The Redwater River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 110 mi , in eastern Montana in the United States.It rises in on the northern slope of the Big Sheep Mountains, in northwestern Prairie County, and flows northeast across the plains past Brockway and Circle and joins the Missouri...
- Poplar River
- Big Muddy Creek
North Dakota
- Yellowstone River
The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the western United States. Considered the principal tributary of the upper Missouri, the river and its tributaries drain a wide area stretching from the Rocky Mountains in the vicinity of the Yellowstone National...
- Little Muddy Creek
Little Muddy Creek is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 45 mi long, in northwestern North Dakota in the United States.It rises in the prairie country of northern Williams County and flows west, then south, joining the Missouri near Williston. The lower 5 mi of the creek form a...
- Tobacco Garden Creek
Tobacco Garden Creek is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 30 mi long, in northwestern North Dakota in the United States. It rises in the badlands south of the Missouri in McKenzie County, and flows SE, then NNE. It joins the Missouri in Tobacco Garden Bay, an inlet of Lake Sakakawea....
- Little Missouri River
The Little Missouri River is a tributary of the Missouri River, 560 mi long, in the northern Great Plains of the United States.The Little Missouri River rises in northeastern Wyoming, in western Crook County approximately twenty miles west of Devil's Tower. It flows northeastward, across a corner...
- Knife River
This article is about the river in North Dakota. For other meanings, see Knife River The Knife River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 120 mi long, in North Dakota in the United States....
- Heart River
The Heart River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 180 mi long, in western North Dakota in the United States.-Course:...
- Cannonball River
The Cannonball River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 135 mi long, in southwestern North Dakota in the United States....
South Dakota
- Grand River
The Grand River is a tributary of the Missouri River in North Dakota and South Dakota in the United States. The length of the combined branch is 110 mi...
- Moreau River
The Moreau River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 200 mi long, in South Dakota in the United States.It rises in two forks in northwestern South Dakota, in the Badlands of Harding County. The North Fork rises approximately 10 mi northeast of Crow Buttes...
- Cheyenne River
The Cheyenne River is a tributary of the Missouri River in the U.S. states of Wyoming and South Dakota. It is approximately 295 mi long....
- Bad River
The Bad River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 110 mi long, in central South Dakota in the United States.It rises in southern Haakon County, approximately 15 mi north of Cottonwood, and flows SE then ENE, passing Midland and Capa. It joins the Missouri at Fort Pierre.The river...
- White River
The White River is a tributary of the Missouri River, 507 mi long, in the U.S. states of Nebraska and South Dakota.It rises in northwestern Nebraska, in the Pine Ridge escarpment north of Harrison, at an altitude of 4,800 ft . It flows SE then NE past Fort Robinson and north of Crawford...
South Dakota/Nebraska
- Niobrara River
The Niobrara River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 430 mi long, running through the U.S. states of Wyoming and Nebraska...
(Nebraska)
- James River
The James River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 710 mi long, in the U.S. states of North Dakota and South Dakota. The river provides the main drainage of the flat lowland area of the Dakotas between the two plateau regions known as the Coteau du Missouri and the Coteau...
(South Dakota)
- Vermillion River
The Vermillion River is a tributary of the Missouri River, 45 mi long, in eastern South Dakota in the United States.It is formed by the confluence of the East Fork Vermillion River and West Fork Vermillion River. The East Fork, approximately 55 mi long, rises in Lake Whitewood in Kingsbury County...
(South Dakota)
Nebraska/Iowa
- Perry Creek
Perry Creek is a tributary of the Missouri River in the state of Iowa. It rises in central Plymouth County and flows generally to the south-by-southwest, crossing the Woodbury County line at the city limits of Sioux City, north of Briar Cliff University and the Sioux City Country Club...
(Iowa)
- Floyd River
The Floyd River is a tributary of the Missouri River, 92 mi long, in northwestern Iowa in the United States. It enters the Missouri at Sioux City, and is named for Charles Floyd, a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.-Course:...
(Iowa)
- Little Sioux River
The Little Sioux is a river in the United States. It rises in southwest Minnesota near the Iowa border, and continues to flow southwest for 221 miles across northwest Iowa into the Missouri River at Little Sioux. The Little Sioux River was known as Eaneah-waudepon or "Stone River" to the Sioux...
(Iowa)
- Soldier River
The Soldier River is a tributary of the Missouri River, about 80 mi long, in western Iowa in the United States. Several portions of the river's course have been straightened and channelized....
(Iowa)
- Boyer River
The Boyer River is a tributary of the Missouri River, 139 mi long, in western Iowa in the United States. Most reaches of the river's course have been straightened and channelized....
(Iowa)
- Mosquito Creek
Mosquito Creek, about 60 mi. long, is a tributary of the Missouri River in southwest Iowa in the United States. It rises near Earling, in Shelby County, and flows in a generally southwesterly direction, meeting the Missouri approximately 5 mi. downstream of Council Bluffs.-External links:*...
(Iowa)
- Platte River
The Platte River is a river in the Western United States, approximately long. It is a tributary of the Missouri River, which in turn is a tributary of the Mississippi River. The Platte is one of the most significant river systems in the watershed of the Missouri, draining a large portion of the...
(Nebraska)
- Little Nemaha River
The Nemaha River basin includes the areas of the U.S. state of Nebraska below the Platte River basin that drain directly into the Missouri River. The major streams of the drainage include Weeping Water Creek, Muddy Creek, Little Nemaha River, and Big Nemaha River...
(Nebraska)
- Big Nemaha River
The Nemaha River basin includes the areas of the U.S. state of Nebraska below the Platte River basin that drain directly into the Missouri River. The major streams of the drainage include Weeping Water Creek, Muddy Creek, Little Nemaha River, and Big Nemaha River...
(Nebraska)
Kansas/Missouri
- Platte River
The Platte River is a tributary of the Missouri River, about 170 mi long, in southwestern Iowa and northwestern Missouri in the United States...
(Missouri)
- Kansas River
The Kansas River is a river in northeastern Kansas in the United States. It is the southwestern-most part of the Missouri River drainage, which is in turn the northwestern-most portion of the extensive Mississippi River drainage. Its name come from the Kanza people who once inhabited the area...
(Kansas)
Missouri
- Blue River
The Blue River is a stream that flows through Johnson County, Kansas and Jackson County, Missouri in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. The river rises in Johnson County near the border of the states of Kansas and Missouri...
- Grand River
The Grand River is a river that stretches from northernmost tributary origins between Creston and Winterset in Iowa approximately to its mouth on the Missouri River near Brunswick, Missouri....
- Chariton River
The Chariton River is a long tributary to the Missouri River in southeast Iowa and northeast Missouri.It has been called Missouri's "Grand Divide" because streams west of the Chariton flow into the Missouri and streams east of it flow into the Mississippi River.The river is believed to have been...
- Lamine River
The Lamine River is a tributary of the Missouri River, about 70 mi long, in central Missouri in the United States. It is formed in northern Morgan County about 4 mi southeast of Otterville by the confluence of Flat Creek and Richland Creek, and flows generally northwardly through Cooper and...
- Osage River
The Osage River is a tributary of the Missouri River, 360 mi long, in central Missouri in the United States. The Osage River is one of the larger rivers in Missouri. The river drains a mostly rural area of 15,300 sq mi...
- Gasconade River
The Gasconade River is a tributary of the Missouri River, about 265 mi long, in south-central and central Missouri in the United States....
Populated places
Although the Missouri drains about one-sixth of North America, its basin is relatively lightly populated with only 10 million people.
For a full list, see List of cities and towns along the Missouri River.
From mouth upstream to source:
- St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. With an estimated population of 354,361 in 2008, it is the principal municipality of Greater St. Louis, population 2,866,517, the largest urban area in Missouri and sixteenth largest in the United States...
- Saint Charles, Missouri
St. Charles is a city in, and the county seat of, St. Charles County, Missouri. It lies just to the northwest of St. Louis, Missouri, on the Missouri River, and played for a time a significant role in the United States' westward expansion...
- Jefferson City, Missouri
Jefferson City is the capital of the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Cole County. Located in Callaway and Cole counties, it is the principal city of the Jefferson City metropolitan area, which encompasses the entirety of both counties. As of 2008, the population was 40,771...
(capital)
- Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties. It is one of two county seats of Jackson County, the other being Independence, just to the city's east...
- Kansas City, Kansas
Kansas City is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and is the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is a satellite city of Kansas City, Missouri and is the third largest city in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. The city is part of the "Unified Government" which also includes the...
- Saint Joseph, Missouri
Saint Joseph is the largest city in Northwest Missouri, serving as the county seat for Buchanan County. With a 2007 estimated population of 73,912, Saint Joseph is the eighth largest city in the state. The St...
- Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
- Council Bluffs, Iowa
Council Bluffs is a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States and is on the east bank of the Missouri River. The population was 58,268 at the 2000 census...
- Sioux City, Iowa
Sioux City is a city in Plymouth and Woodbury counties in the western part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,013 at the 2000 census; census estimates showed a slight decline to 82,807 by 2008...
- Pierre, South Dakota
The city of Pierre is the capital of the U.S. state of South Dakota and the county seat of Hughes County. The population was 13,876 at the 2000 census, making it the second least populous state capital after Montpelier, Vermont...
(capital)
- Bismarck, North Dakota
Bismarck is the capital of the U.S. state of North Dakota, the county seat of Burleigh County, and the second most populous city in North Dakota after Fargo. Its population was 55,532 at the 2000 census. Its metropolitan population was 94,719 in 2000, but was estimated in 2008 to have grown to...
(capital)
- Great Falls, Montana
Great Falls is a city in and the county seat of Cascade County, Montana, United States. The population was 56,690 at the 2000 census. It is the principal city of the 'Great Falls, Montana Metropolitan Statistical Area', which encompasses all of Cascade County...
See also
- List of crossings of the Missouri River
- Geography of the United States
The United States is a country in the Western Hemisphere. It consists of forty-eight contiguous states on the North American continent; Alaska, an enormous peninsula which forms the northwestern most part of North America, and Hawaii, an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean. It also holds several...
- Across the Wide Missouri
Across the Wide Missouri is a 1947 historical work by Bernard DeVoto. It is the second volume of a trilogy that includes The Year of Decision and The Course of Empire ....
- Pick-Sloan Legislation
- Roe River
The Roe River runs between Giant Springs and the Missouri River in Great Falls, Montana, United States. The Roe River is only 61 meters at its longest constant point....
and D RiverThe D River is a river in Lincoln City, Oregon, United States. Proclaimed the "shortest river in the world" by the State of Oregon, it was listed in the Guinness World Records as the world's shortest river at . This title was lost in 1989 when Guinness named the Roe River in Montana as the world's...
, for the shortest river counterpart
- Flood of 1993
- Montana Wilderness Association
The Montana Wilderness Association was founded in 1958 by Montana volunteers and is governed by a state council of citizen volunteers from across the state, elected by the membership. As a community-based organization, it works at the local level through seven chapters and field offices in ...
- Montana Stream Access Law
The Montana Stream Access Law says that anglers and floaters have full use of most of the rivers in Montana for fishing and floating, along with swimming and other river related activities...
External links