Despite large seasonal temperature fluctuations, this region has the greatest diversity of plants and animals of the three. These modifications have reduced the river's length from some 2,540 miles (4,090km) in the late 19th century to 2,341 miles (3,767km) in the present day. Major Nebraska Rivers and Their Drainages: Part 6 There, most of these people would set out overland along the large but shallow and unnavigable Platte River, which pioneers described as "a mile wide and an inch deep" and "the most magnificent and useless of rivers". [168] Along with nearly 100 smaller dams on tributaries, namely the Bighorn, Platte, Kansas, and Osage Rivers, the system provides irrigation water to nearly 7,500sqmi (19,000km2) of land. In some regions, the industry continued well into the 1840s, but in others such as the Platte River valley, declines of the beaver population contributed to an earlier demise. [144] Replaced in 1926 with a more modern structure, the dam was little more than a small weir atop Black Eagle Falls, diverting part of the Missouri's flow into the Black Eagle power plant. The deal was signed in 1803, doubling the size of the United States with the acquisition of the Louisiana Territory. [141], However, the peace and freedom of the Native Americans did not last for long. Mississippi River Facts - U.S. National Park Service It slows into the Lake Oahe reservoir just before the Cannonball River confluence. By 1954, the rising waters of Canyon Ferry Lake submerged the old 1898 dam, whose powerhouse still stands underwater about .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);clip-path:polygon(0px 0px,0px 0px,0px 0px);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}1+12 miles (2.4km) upstream of the present-day dam.[153]. Aside from the historical aspect of this site in the Lewis and Clark expedition, there are other reasons to stop and visit: campsites, foot-trails, and rafting, and . The Missouri River - A Complete Guide - Discovering Montana The Yellowstone River is considered the principal tributary of the upper Missouri. [220], The Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, some 3,700 miles (6,000km) long, follows nearly the entire Missouri River from its mouth to its source, retracing the route of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. [24] This capacity makes it the largest reservoir system in the United States and one of the largest in North America. [91] A large cluster of walled Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara villages situated on bluffs and islands of the river was home to thousands, and later served as a market and trading post used by early French and British explorers and fur traders. Missouri River - Wikipedia [24] Despite this, the river still transports more than half the total silt that empties into the Gulf of Mexico; the Mississippi River Delta, formed by sediment deposits at the mouth of the Mississippi, constitutes a majority of sediments carried by the Missouri. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. The Missouri swings east at Kansas City, where the Kansas River enters from the west, and so on into north-central Missouri. Before the construction of dams, the river flooded twice each year once in the "April Rise" or "Spring Fresh", with the melting of snow on the plains of the watershed, and in the "June Rise", caused by snowmelt and summer rainstorms in the Rocky Mountains. [29] Winter temperatures in the northern and western portions of the basin typically drop to -20F (-29C) or lower every winter with extremes as low as 60F (51C), while summer highs occasionally exceed 100F (38C) in all areas except the higher elevations of Montana, Wyoming and Colorado. Both the Colorado and Columbia Rivers flow to the Pacific Ocean. [149][150], Holter Dam, about 45 miles (72km) downstream of Helena, was the third hydroelectric dam built on this stretch of the Missouri River. [231] The Missouri flows through or past many National Historic Landmarks, which include Three Forks of the Missouri,[232] Fort Benton, Montana,[233] Big Hidatsa Village Site,[234] Fort Atkinson, Nebraska[235] and Arrow Rock Historic District.[236]. Blue River in Kansas City | The Nature Conservancy [106] Conflict between settlers and Native Americans in the watershed led to some of the most longstanding and violent of the American Indian Wars. The Missouri Headwaters State Park provides a campground, picnic areas, foot trails to points of interest, and interpretive displays of the area's cultural and natural history. Fort Orleans was either abandoned or its small contingent massacred by Native Americans in 1726. Farther on, the river passes through the Fort Peck Dam, and immediately downstream, the Milk River joins from the north. However, only 11,000 square miles (28,000km2) of farmland in the basin is irrigated. Map of the Missouri River and its tributaries in. Headwaters of the Mississippi River - Atlas Obscura [104], Bourgmont established Fort Orleans, the first European settlement of any kind on the Missouri River, near present-day Brunswick, Missouri, in 1723. At the Mandan villages in North Dakota, they forcefully expelled several British traders, and while talking to the populace they pinpointed the location of the Yellowstone River, which was called Roche Jaune ("Yellow Rock") by the French. [187] Many of the earlier vessels were built on the Ohio River before being transferred to the Missouri. Construction of this massive public works project provided jobs for more than 50,000laborers during the Depression and was a major step in providing flood control to the lower half of the Missouri River. [203] In 2006, barges on the Missouri hauled only 200,000 short tons (180,000t) of products which is equal to the daily freight traffic on the Mississippi. [2][83] In its pre-development state, the river transported some 175 to 320million short tons (159 to 290million metric tons) per year. [123][124] In 1828, the American Fur Company founded Fort Union at the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers. The headwaters of the Mississippi River can be found at Lake Itasca. Lisa and his crew traveled up the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers, trading manufactured items in return for furs from local Native American tribes, and established a fort at the confluence of the Yellowstone and a tributary, the Bighorn, in southern Montana. The Jefferson and Madison Rivers converge with the Gallatin joining one mile downstream to become the Missouri River. F Martin", Missouri River Navigation: Data on Commodity Shipments for Four States Served by the Missouri River and Two States Served by Both the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, Past and Future Grain Traffic on the Missouri River, "The Missouri River: A view from upstream", "Let the river roll: MODOT studies ways to increase waterway freight", "Missouri River flooding hurts barge industry: After years of drought, flooding ruins expectations for recovery of shipping", "About the Upper Mississippi River System", "Upper Mississippi River navigation season ending", Factors Affecting Lock Delay on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers and Effect of Lock Delay on Barge Rates, "The Missouri River System's "Other" Fish", The Effects of Channelization in the Missouri River on Fish and Fish-Food Organisms, "Missouri River tops annual rating of threatened waterways", "Today's Missouri River: A North Dakota Perspective", "Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail", "Missouri National Recreational River Water Resources Information and Issues Overview Report", "No Ordinary Sensations of Pride and Pleasure: Shipwrecks and Related Sites Between Fort Randall, South Dakota and Sioux City, Iowa Missouri River", "Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument", "Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge", "Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge Overview", Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Greenhouse gas emissions by the United States, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Missouri_River&oldid=1156242109, Bodies of water of Broadwater County, Montana, Rivers of Lewis and Clark County, Montana, Bodies of water of McCone County, Montana, Bodies of water of Roosevelt County, Montana, Wild and Scenic Rivers of the United States, Articles with dead external links from June 2016, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0, This page was last edited on 21 May 2023, at 22:38. (Printed from the Copy. These people had many reasons to embark on this strenuous year-long journey economic crisis, and later gold strikes including the California Gold Rush, for example. When the glaciers retreated, the Missouri flowed in a new course along the south side of the Bearpaws, and the lower part of the Milk River tributary took over the original main channel. Transport of the thousands of beaver pelts required ships, providing one of the first large motives for river transport on the Missouri to start. Marias River flows through Lake Elwell, which was formed by the construction of the Tiber Dam in 1956. Meanders have been cut off and the river channelized to improve navigation, reducing its length by almost 200 miles (320km) from pre-development times. They came from many different places some from the Canadian fur corporations at Hudson Bay, some from the Pacific Northwest (see also: Maritime fur trade), and some from the midwestern United States. There are also several large endorheic basins between the Missouri and Nelson watersheds in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan. [140] When the settlers intruded onto the lands, they were attacked by Native Americans. Many present-day names of geographic features in the upper Missouri basin originated from their expedition. [205], There are no lock and dams on the lower Missouri River, but there are plenty of wing dams that jettie out into the river and make it harder for barges to navigate. Even under the very best of circumstances, it was never a huge industry". [24], The United States Geological Survey operates fifty-one stream gauges along the Missouri River. A handful, such as the Western Engineer and the Yellowstone, could make it up the river as far as eastern Montana. Efforts are being made to revive the shipping industry on the Missouri River, because of the efficiency and cheapness of river transport to haul agricultural products, and the overcrowding of alternative transportation routes. The Gallatin, Madison, Snake, Shoshone, Clarks Fork, and Fall . However, damming and channeling the river has kept it from reaching its natural sediment sources along most of its course. In 1803, Jefferson instructed Meriwether Lewis to explore the Missouri and search for a water route to the Pacific Ocean. The dam lies directly above the 87-foot (27m) Big Falls, the largest waterfall of the Missouri. [102] In 1718, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville requested that the French government bestow upon Bourgmont the Cross of St. Louis because of his "outstanding service to France". During the 20th century, the Missouri River basin was extensively developed for irrigation, flood control, and the generation of hydroelectric power. [84] The construction of dams and levees has drastically reduced this to 20 to 25million short tons (18 to 23million metric tons) in the present day. [20] Downstream, it begins to define the border between the states of Nebraska and Missouri, then flows between the states of Missouri and Kansas. The river's average discharge at Bismarck, 1,314.5 miles (2,115.5km) from the mouth, is 21,920cuft/s (621m3/s). The large bison population of the region gave rise to the term great bison belt, an area of rich annual grasslands that extended from Alaska to Mexico along the eastern flank of the Continental Divide. [10] River development was stimulated by a variety of factors, first by growing demand for electricity in the rural northwestern parts of the basin, and by floods and droughts that plagued rapidly growing agricultural and urban areas along the lower Missouri River. In 1949 this was increased to $12.6million. Many migratory animals naturally inhabit the plains area. River floating and fishing are popular activities. [207][208], Historically, the thousands of square miles that comprised the floodplain of the Missouri River supported a wide range of plant and animal species. [14][35] The Yellowstone River has the highest discharge, even though the Platte is longer and drains a larger area. Just west of Bozeman, Montanawhere the Gallatin, Jefferson, and Madison rivers converge at Three ForksAmerica's longest river is born. Biodiversity generally increased proceeding downstream from the cold, subalpine headwaters in Montana to the temperate, moist climate of Missouri. "[152] In 1949, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) began construction on the modern Canyon Ferry Dam to provide flood control to the Great Falls area. In late June, Jolliet and Marquette became the first documented European discoverers of the Missouri River, which according to their journals was in full flood. However, flooding in 2011 closed record stretches of the river to boat traffic "wash[ing] away hopes for a bounce-back year". At Great Falls, a section of the Black Eagle Dam was dynamited to save nearby factories from inundation. This rock-filled timber crib dam generated seven and a half megawatts of electricity for Helena and the surrounding countryside. Richard Opper, former executive directorMissouri River Basin Association[181], Boat travel on the Missouri began with the wood-framed canoes and bull boats that Native Americans used for thousands of years before the colonization of the Great Plains introduced larger craft to the river. However, this ended after news of incursions by trappers working for the Hudson's Bay Company in the upper Missouri River watershed was brought back following an expedition by Jacques D'Eglise in the early 1790s. Mississippi River - Wikipedia The Missouri River | Outside Bozeman [78] Left without their primary source of sustenance, many of the remaining indigenous people were forced onto resettlement areas and reservations, often at gunpoint. [217], Restoration projects have re-mobilized some of the sediments that had been trapped behind bank stabilization structures, prompting concerns of exacerbated nutrient and sediment pollution locally and downstream in the northern Gulf of Mexico. With over 1,500sqmi (3,900km2) of open water, the six reservoirs of the Missouri River Mainstem System provide some of the main recreational areas within the basin. From Bozeman, head west to Three Forks on I-90 and take Hwy. [24] The vast majority of precipitation occurs in summer in most of the lower and middle basin, although the upper basin is known for short-lived but intense summer thunderstorms such as the one which produced the 1972 Black Hills flood through Rapid City, South Dakota. [212] Finally, the Central Prairie ecoregion is situated on the lower part of the Missouri, encompassing all or parts of Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. It drifts across Montana, the Dakotas, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri, where it meets the Mississippi River, providing water and sustenance to the Great Plains along the way. Yellowstone River - Wikipedia They camped here for several days, exploring the area while they prepared to continue their journey. [127] The fur trade finally disappeared in the Great Plains around 1850, with the primary center of industry shifting to the Mississippi Valley and central Canada. [61] The lowest, a mere 602cuft/s (17.0m3/s) caused by the formation of an ice dam was measured on December 23, 1963. Channel control has reduced the volume of sediment transported downstream by the river and eliminated critical habitat for fish, birds and amphibians. Low oxygen levels in rivers and the vast Gulf of Mexico dead zone at the end of the Mississippi Delta are both results of high nutrient concentrations in the Missouri and other tributaries of the Mississippi. Unit WF 5 includes the river channel up to the ordinary high water mark. Brower's Spring is a spring in the Centennial Mountains of Beaverhead County, Montana that was marked by a surveyor in 1888 as the ultimate headwaters of the Missouri River and thus the fourth longest river in the world, the 3,902-mile-long (6,280 km) Mississippi -Missouri River. [39], The Missouri's headwaters above Three Forks extend much farther upstream than the main stem. Parts of other rivers in the basin are set aside for preservation and recreational use notably the Niobrara National Scenic River, which is a 76-mile (122km) protected stretch of the Niobrara River, one of the Missouri's longest tributaries. "[99][100] They recorded Pekitanoui or Pekistanoui as the local name for the Missouri. The large reservoirs of the Mainstem System help provide a dependable flow to maintain the navigation channel year-round, and are capable of halting most of the river's annual freshets. The Pick plan, with an emphasis on flood control and hydroelectric power, called for the construction of large storage dams along the main stem of the Missouri. The Niobrara River flows for approximately 568 miles with an average discharge of 1,718 cfs. Lewis and Clark reach the Headwaters Historical Marker It then passes through Canyon Ferry Lake, a reservoir west of the Big Belt Mountains. The watershed. At the confluence, the Yellowstone is actually the larger river. The trail, which spans through eleven U.S. states, is maintained by various federal and state government agencies; it passes through some 100historic sites, notably archaeological locations including the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site. [39] However, including the longest headwaters tributaries, the 453-mile (729km) Republican River and the 156-mile (251km) Arikaree River, brings the total length to 749 miles (1,205km).
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