The Lost Glory of the Missouri River | Worlds Revealed (2024)
Reporting in the Washington Post this week highlighted a long-standing geographical debate: which river is the longest in the world? Their reporting focused on recent debates over the length of the Amazon and the Nile – but in 19th century America, there was another contender.
In Johnson’s New Illustrated Family Atlas of 1862, the world’s longest rivers and highest mountains are stretched out alongside one another and ordered for length. What was deemed the longest river? In a bold act of American patriotism, the “Missouri and Mississippi” clocks in at #1, listed at an estimated 4,490 miles in length. The Amazon comes in 2nd at 3,795 and the Nile is in 5th place with 3,200 miles.
Going back even further in time to 1849, the pattern holds. S. Augustus Mitchell’s “New Universal Atlas” declares the Missouri River the longest in the world at an estimated 4,100 miles in length. As illustrated, the Missouri River stretches from New Orleans through St. Louis and out to the Oregon Mountains, with attached tributaries listed as the Arkansas River, the Mississippi River, and the Ohio River.
The Amazon came in 2nd at 3,700 miles, the Yangtse Kiang at 3,500 miles, the Obe River at 3,000, and the Lena River at 2,800 miles, with the Nile clocking in at the 6th longest at 2,600 miles.
The era in which both maps were published was one of American “Manifest Destiny,” a time when American exceptionalism and westward expansion was considered to be both right and inevitable. The positioning of the Missouri as the world’s longest (stretching out toward the “Oregon Mountains”) would serve to bolster a sense of both American patriotism and interest in the American west. Crossing the Missouri River was often the first big step settlers took on their journey west.
Today of course, the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers are understood to be two separate rivers. USGS lists the Missouri as the longest American river (2,540 miles) and the Mississippi River as the 2nd (at 2,340 miles). Both fall far behind the Nile (4,132 miles), Amazon (4,000 miles), and Yangtze (3,915 miles) as the world’s top three longest rivers. Even when combined river systems are considered, America’s longest rivers still remain in 4th place.
For further reading on the debate between the Amazon and Nile, see a previousWorlds Revealed series,”Extremities of the Earth: The Longest River”: Part One | Part Two
Considered the “Center of Life” for the Great Plains, the Missouri has served as the main artery for exploration, food, trade, and transportation for millions of people over thousands of years.
USGS lists the Missouri as the longest American river (2,540 miles) and the Mississippi River as the 2nd (at 2,340 miles). Both fall far behind the Nile (4,132 miles), Amazon (4,000 miles), and Yangtze (3,915 miles) as the world's top three longest rivers.
From tiny minnows to massive paddlefish, the Missouri River is home to 67 native fish species, 51 of which are imperiled. Along with multiple trout species, the upper river's native fish include arctic grayling (above), endangered pallid sturgeon and the American paddlefish, which can grow to 140 pounds.
The expedition started up the Missouri River on May 1804 aboard a large keelboat (55 feet long) and two pirogues (open boats). They would not return until two years later in September 1806.
The actual depth of the river channel typically ranges from 10-20 feet, with sharply decreasing depth outside of the channel. Lower Missouri River paddlers often take note of the river level at which the wing dams/rock dikes are exposed.
The Congo is the deepest river in the world. Its headwaters are in the north-east of Zambia, between Lake Tanganyika and Lake Nyasa (Malawi), 1760 metres above sea level; it flows into the Atlantic Ocean.
Alaska has the most rivers of any U.S. state. Alaska's vast and rugged landscape is home to thousands of rivers, ranging from small streams to major waterways like the Yukon River, which is one of the longest rivers in North America.
There it makes its final eastward turn, flowing until it joins the Mississippi River about 10 miles (16 km) north of St. Louis. The river's drainage basin occupies about 529,400 square miles (1,371,100 square km) of the Great Plains, of which 2,550 square miles (16,840 square km) are in southern Canada.
Two bull sharks, which are native to the Gulf of Mexico, separately made their way up to St.Louis in 1937 and 1995 by swimming up the Mississippi River, a recent study confirmed. There may have been other incidents as well.
Sacagawea was either 16 or 17 years old when she joined the Corps of Discovery. She met Lewis and Clark while she was living among the Mandan and Hidatsa in North Dakota, though she was a Lemhi Shoshone from Idaho.
Some Indians had met “white men” before and were friendly and open to trade. Others were wary of Lewis and Clark and their intentions and were openly hostile, though seldom violent.
The exact location is unknown and may be partially submerged by the river. A modern reconstruction of Fort Mandan and the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, managed by the North Dakota State Historical Society, is located about ten miles downriver. Learn more at Discovering Lewis and Clark.
Today, South Dakota's portion of the Missouri River is used for tourism, commerce, conservation efforts and research, and remains one of the most outstanding natural features the state has to offer. This striking South Dakota landscape boasts a maze of buttes, canyons, pinnacles and spires.
It is said this mysterious “Miniwash*tu” (water monster) still lives in the Missouri River, and that in springtime, as it moves up-stream against the current it breaks up the ice of the river. This water monster was held in awe and dread by the people.
The Missouri River in the 19th and 20th centuries was developed for socioeconomic benefits, including flood control, navigation, irrigation, hydropower, water supply, and recreation, has been associated with substantive changes in its hydrologic and sediment regimes, water quality, and channel structure.
Introduction: My name is Jonah Leffler, I am a determined, faithful, outstanding, inexpensive, cheerful, determined, smiling person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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