Fifteen dams impound the main stem of the river, with hundreds more on tributaries. Former Native American lands in the watershed were taken over by settlers, leading to some of the most longstanding and violent wars against indigenous peoples in American history.ĭuring the 20th century, the Missouri River basin was extensively developed for irrigation, flood control and the generation of hydroelectric power.
Pioneers headed west en mass beginning in the 1830s, first by covered wagon, then by the growing numbers of steamboats entering service on the river. The growth of the fur trade in the early 1800s laid much of the groundwork as trappers explored the region and blazed trails. The Missouri was one of the main routes for the westward expansion of the United States during the 19th century. The Missouri was long believed to be part of the Northwest Passage – a water route from the Atlantic to the Pacific – but when Lewis and Clark became the first to travel the river's entire length, they confirmed the mythical pathway to be no more than a legend. The first Europeans encountered the river in the late seventeenth century, and the region passed through Spanish and French hands before finally becoming part of the United States through the Louisiana Purchase. More than ten major groups of Native Americans populated the watershed. Louis, Missouri.įor over 12,000 years, people have depended on the Missouri and its tributaries as a source of sustenance and transportation. Rising in the Rocky Mountains of western Montana, the Missouri flows east and south for 2,341 miles (3,767 km) before entering the Mississippi River north of St. The Missouri River is the longest river in North America and a major waterway of the central United States.
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