Missouri River
The Missouri River and its tributaries
Missouri in St. Joseph
The Missouri River [ mɪzʊɹɪ ˌ ɹɪvɚ ], which is also the nickname " Big Muddy " bears because of its high mud fraction, with 4130 km, the longest tributary of the Mississippi River and the USA 's longest river, because it is longer than the current, into which he opens.
With this current forms as the Missouri Missouri - Mississippi the longest river in North America.
River
The course follows the river for the most part roughly the edge of the ice during the last ice age. One of the two sources of the Missouri, Jefferson, rises in the mountains of southwestern Montana, four kilometers west of the village near the Elkhorn watershed between the Atlantic and the Pacific. The other source river, the Madison Springs in Yellowstone National Park in the state of Wyoming. The two rivers unite in the Missouri Headwaters State Park seven kilometers northeast of the town of Three Forks, Montana form and from there to the river Missouri.
The longer these headwaters, the Jefferson River (328 miles), it is clear from the two rivers Big Hole River and Beaverhead River ( in the upper reaches of Red Rock River). The source of the Red Rock River and so the real origin of the Missouri River is located about 45 kilometers east of West Yellowstone in northwestern Wyoming. The Red Rock flows into the Clark Canyon Reservoir and is then called Beaverhead. The Beaverhead takes north to the town of Twin Bridges coming from the West Big Hole River and becomes the Jefferson River.
The chainage of the Missouri River is done so through the Red Rock Beaverhead - Jefferson - Missouri - line.
After the confluence of the two rivers mentioned seven kilometers north-east of Three Forks of the Missouri flows northward through mountainous canyons and dips east of Great Falls from the mountains, where large rapids historically mark the navigable limit of the river. Here are the Giant Springs, the Roe River to dine ( 61 meters in length ). He then flows eastwards through the plains of Montana. 240 river miles and several miles of lake front, are protected as the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, before the river in Fort Peck Lake is dammed. In the far west of North Dakota, just south of Buford the Yellowstone River flows into the Missouri; fact that there is broader than the Missouri. In Reservoir Lake Sakakawea where these two rivers meet, the Missouri crossed the border into North Dakota. It then flows southeastward through this State and South Dakota, and along the northern and eastern edge of Nebraska and then forms the natural border between South Dakota and Iowa. He continues to flow past Sioux City and Omaha and forms the border between Nebraska and Missouri and the northern part of the border between Kansas and Missouri. In Kansas City, the current turns east through Missouri, until it flows north of St. Louis on the border with Illinois in the Mississippi.
History
The name was given by the Missouri historic inhabitants of the estuary, the Indian people of Missouri. They were called by their neighbors, the people of Illinois wi - mihs - oor - ita what " with the wooden canoes " means. This indicates that the Missouri used dugout canoes and not covered with bark or skins canoes. The Missouri was very important for the extension of the still young United States to the west. Through the Louisiana Purchase, the river was part of the United States and has been successfully used by the expedition of Lewis and Clark in the search for a way to the Pacific Ocean. In 1829 the German naturalist took Duke Paul Wilhelm of Württemberg ( 1797-1860 ) as the first the sources of the Missouri. Officially, the discovery of Henry Schoolcraft is attributed, but not until 1831 was there. During the late 19th century, the river was an important transport route for goods and passengers before the occurrence of the railways. The use of paddle steamers on the upper river half facilitated the white settlement of Dakota and Montana. In the 20th century the upper Missouri was dammed for the purpose of flood control, irrigation and hydropower.
Catchment area
Its catchment area covers one-sixth of the total area of the United States. The river forms, combined with the Mississippi, the fourth- longest river system in the world. This extensive system of tributaries covered almost the entire semi-arid northern Great Plains ( Great Plains ) of the United States, and through the Milk River, a small portion of Alberta, Canada. The longer tributaries extending from that edge away to the west and drain portions of the eastern Rocky Mountains.