Pekitanoui,[1] Big Muddy,[2] Mighty Mo, Wide Missouri, Kícpaarukstiʾ,[3] Mnišoše[4][5]
The Missouri River as seen in Montana.
Map of the Missouri River and its tributaries in North America
Etymology
The Missouri tribe, whose name in turn meant "people with wooden canoes"[1]
Native name
Mnišóše(Lakota)[4][5]
Location
Country
United States
State
Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri
Cities
Great Falls, MT, Bismarck, ND, Pierre, SD, Sioux City, IA, Omaha, NE, Brownville, NE, Saint Joseph, MO, Kansas City, KS, Kansas City, MO, St. Louis, MO
The Missouri River is the longest river in the United States.[13] Rising in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Mountains of southwestern Montana, the Missouri flows east and south for 2,341 miles (3,767 km)[9] before entering the Mississippi River north of St. Louis, Missouri. The river drains semi-arid watershed of more than 500,000 square miles (1,300,000 km2), which includes parts of ten U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. Although a tributary of the Mississippi, the Missouri River is slightly longer[14] and carries a comparable volume of water.[11][15] When combined with the lower Mississippi River, it forms the world's fourth-longest river system.[13]
For over 12,000 years, people have depended on the Missouri River and its tributaries as a source of sustenance and transportation. More than ten major groups of Native Americans populated the watershed, most leading a nomadic lifestyle and dependent on enormous bison herds that roamed through the Great Plains. The first Europeans encountered the river in the late seventeenth century, and the region passed through Spanish and French hands before becoming part of the United States through the Louisiana Purchase.
The Missouri River was one of the main routes for the westward expansion of the United States during the 19th century. The growth of the fur trade in the early 19th century laid much of the groundwork as trappers explored the region and blazed trails. Pioneers headed west en masse beginning in the 1830s, first by covered wagon, then by the growing numbers of steamboats that entered service on the river. Conflict between settlers and Native Americans in the watershed led to some of the most longstanding and violent of the American Indian Wars.
During the 20th century, the Missouri River basin was extensively developed for irrigation, flood control, and the generation of hydroelectric power. Fifteen dams impound the main stem of the river, with hundreds more on tributaries. Meanders have been cut off and the river channelized to improve navigation, reducing its length by almost 200 miles (320 km) from pre-development times. Although the lower Missouri valley is now a populous and highly productive agricultural and industrial region, heavy development has taken its toll on wildlife and fish populations as well as water quality.
^ abcde"Missouri River". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. October 24, 1980. Retrieved May 6, 2010.
^"Spotlight on the Big Muddy" (PDF). Missouri Stream Team. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 17, 2011. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
^"AISRI Dictionary Database Search—prototype version. "River", Southband Pawnee". American Indian Studies Research Institute. Archived from the original on January 17, 2013. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
^ abKarolevitz, Robert F.; Hunhoff, Bernie (1988). Uniquely South Dakota. Donning Company. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-89865-730-2. Archived from the original on January 1, 2016. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
^ abUllrich, Jan, ed. (2011). New Lakota Dictionary (2nd ed.). Bloomington, IN: Lakota Language Consortium. ISBN 978-0-9761082-9-0. LCCN 2008922508.
^[1] Archived October 17, 2014, at the Wayback Machine USGS topographic map of the source
^Cite error: The named reference headwaters was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"Madison Lake". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. April 4, 1980. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
^ ab"Missouri River Environmental Assessment Program Summary". U.S. Geological Survey. Archived from the original on May 27, 2010. Retrieved October 8, 2010.
^Cite error: The named reference Story was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abcdCite error: The named reference missouriflow was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Pinter, Nicholas; Heine, Reuben A. "Hydrologic History of the Lower Missouri River". Geology Department. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University. Archived from the original on July 23, 2011. Retrieved May 8, 2010.
^ abHoward Perlman, USGS (October 31, 2012). "Lengths of major rivers". Ga.water.usgs.gov. USGS Water-Science School. Archived from the original on March 9, 2014. Retrieved November 21, 2012.
^Cite error: The named reference USGS was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference MississippiStLouis was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
The MissouriRiver is the longest river in the United States. Rising in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Mountains...
minerals, and recreation. The MissouriRiver, after which the state is named, flows through the center and into the Mississippi River, which makes up the eastern...
List of rivers in Missouri (U.S. state). This list is arranged by drainage basin, with respective tributaries indented under each larger stream's name...
The MissouriRiver Runner is a 283-mile (455 km) passenger train service operated by Amtrak in Missouri between Gateway Transportation Center in St. Louis...
The MissouriRiver Valley outlines the journey of the MissouriRiver from its headwaters where the Madison, Jefferson and Gallatin Rivers flow together...
thirteenth-largest river by discharge in the world. The river either borders or passes through the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky...
and very rugged area of north-central Montana, where over eons, the MissouriRiver has made countless deep cuts or "breaks" in the land. Tom Logan is a...
Mississippi River itself and its numerous natural tributaries and distributaries. The major tributaries are the Illinois, Missouri, Ohio and Red rivers. Given...
wagon route and emigrant trail in the United States that connected the MissouriRiver to valleys in Oregon Territory. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail...
The 2011 flooding event on the MissouriRiver in the United States was triggered by record snowfall in Rocky Mountains of Montana and Wyoming along with...
as MissouriRiver Pedestrian Bridge Washington Bridge (Washington, Missouri), also known as Route 47 MissouriRiver Bridge Illinois Central Missouri River...
The Osage River is a 276-mile-long (444 km) tributary of the MissouriRiver in central Missouri in the United States. The eighth-largest river in the state...
definition above, the USGS at times considers the MissouriRiver as a tributary of the Mississippi River. But it also follows the first definition above...
170-mile (3,490 km) Oregon Trail connected various towns along the MissouriRiver to Oregon's Willamette Valley. It was used during the 19th century by...
under each larger river's name; ordered alphabetically. Mississippi River (Illinois, Wisconsin) MissouriRiver (Nebraska) Big Sioux River (South Dakota)...
The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the MissouriRiver, approximately 692 miles (1,114 km) long, in the Western United States. Considered the principal...
County, Missouri, including North Kansas City, Missouri and Parkville, Missouri. North Kansas City is bounded by a bend in the MissouriRiver that defines...
River South Fork Ninnescah River Little Arkansas River Cow Creek Rattlesnake Creek Walnut Creek Pawnee River Buckner Creek Bear Creek MissouriRiver Osage...
Mississippi and MissouriRivers Flood of 1993) was a flood that occurred in the Midwestern United States, along the Mississippi and Missouririvers and their...
The Roe River runs from Giant Springs to the MissouriRiver near Great Falls, Montana, United States. The Roe River is only 201 feet (61 m) long at its...
southwesternmost part of the MissouriRiver drainage, which is in turn the northwesternmost portion of the extensive Mississippi River drainage. Its two names...
The North American river otter (Lontra canadensis), also known as the northern river otter and river otter, is a semiaquatic mammal that lives only on...
the MissouriRiver, dividing South Dakota into two geographically and socially distinct halves, known to residents as "East River" and "West River". South...