The Great Falls of the Missouri River are a series of
waterfall
A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf.
Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...
s on the upper
Missouri River in north-central
Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. From upstream to downstream, the five falls along a segment of the river
[Cutright, Paul Russell, and Johnsgard, Paul A. ''Lewis and Clark: Pioneering Naturalists.'' 2d ed. Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, 2003. ] are:
*
Black Eagle Falls
The Great Falls of the Missouri River are a series of waterfalls on the upper Missouri River in north-central Montana in the United States. From upstream to downstream, the five falls along a segment of the riverCutright, Paul Russell, and Joh ...
()
*
Colter Falls
Colter Falls, also called Coulter Falls, is a waterfall on the Missouri River in north-central Montana, and part of the Great Falls of the Missouri. Downstream of Colter Falls lies Rainbow Falls, and upstream is Black Eagle Falls. The falls is n ...
()
*
Rainbow Falls ()
*Crooked Falls, also known as Horseshoe Falls ()
*
Big Falls, also known as the Great Falls, ()
The Missouri River drops a total of from the first of the falls to the last, which includes a combined of vertical plunges and of riverbed descent. The Great Falls have been described as "spectacular", one of the "scenic wonders of America", and "a major geographic discovery". When the
Lewis and Clark Expedition
The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select gro ...
became the first white men to see the falls in 1805,
Meriwether Lewis
Meriwether Lewis (August 18, 1774 – October 11, 1809) was an American explorer, soldier, politician, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery, with ...
said they were the grandest sight he had beheld thus far in the journey.
[Pritchett, Michael. ''The Melancholy Fate of Capt. Lewis.'' Columbia, Mo.: Unbridled Books, 2007. ]
The Great Falls of the Missouri River were depicted on the territorial seal of the
Montana Territory
The Territory of Montana was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 26, 1864, until November 8, 1889, when it was admitted as the 41st state in the Union as the state of Montana.
Original boundaries
T ...
, and later on the state seal of Montana in 1893.
Names of the falls
The
Mandan
The Mandan are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains who have lived for centuries primarily in what is now North Dakota. They are enrolled in the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation. About half of the Mandan still res ...
Indians knew of cataracts and called them by a descriptive (but not formal) name: ''Minni-Soze-Tanka-Kun-Ya'',
[McEneaney, Terry. ''The Birder's Guide to Montana.'' Guilford, Conn.: Falcon Press, 1993. ] or "the great falls."
The
South Piegan Blackfeet, however, had a formal name for Rainbow Falls and called it "Napa's
Snarl
A snarl is a sound, often a growl or vicious utterance, often accompanied by a facial expression, where the upper lip is raised, and the nostrils widen, generally indicating hate, anger or pain. In addition to humans, other mammals including m ...
ing."
[Federal Writers' Project. ''Montana: A State Guide Book.'' Washington, D.C.: Federal Works Agency, Work Projects Administration, 1939. ] No record exists of a
Native American name for any of the other four waterfalls.
Four of the five waterfalls were given names in 1805 by American explorers
Meriwether Lewis
Meriwether Lewis (August 18, 1774 – October 11, 1809) was an American explorer, soldier, politician, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery, with ...
and
William Clark
William Clark (August 1, 1770 – September 1, 1838) was an American explorer, soldier, Indian agent, and territorial governor. A native of Virginia, he grew up in pre-statehood Kentucky before later settling in what became the state of Misso ...
.
Both Lewis and Clark named Crooked Falls in their journals.
Clark named three of the remaining waterfalls on his map: "Great Falls" (which retains its name to this day), "Beautiful Cascade" (now called Rainbow Falls), and "Upper Pitch" (now known as Black Eagle Falls).
[Howard, Ela Mae. ''Lewis & ClarkExploration of Central Montana.'' Rev. ed. Guilford, Conn.: Globe Pequot, 2000. ] "Beautiful Cascade" was renamed "Rainbow Falls" in 1872 by Thomas B. Rogers, an engineer with the
Great Northern Railway.
Colter Falls received its name from
Paris Gibson
Paris Gibson (July 1, 1830December 16, 1920) was an American entrepreneur and politician.
Gibson was born in Brownfield, Maine. An 1851 graduate of Bowdoin College, he served as a member of the Montana State Senate and as a Democratic member ...
, in honor of
John Colter
John Colter (c.1770–1775 – May 7, 1812 or November 22, 1813) was a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806). Though party to one of the more famous expeditions in history, Colter is best remembered for explorations he made ...
(a member of the
Lewis and Clark Expedition
The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select gro ...
).
Black Eagle Falls is named for the black eagle which built a nest in a cottonwood tree on an island in the middle of the falls.
[Vaughn, Robert. ''Then and Now, or, Thirty-Six Years in the Rockies: Personal Reminiscences of Some of the First Pioneers of the State of Montana, Indians and Indian Wars, and the Past and Present of the Rocky Mountain Country: 1864–1900.'' Chicago: Tribune Printing Company, 1900. ] It is not clear when the falls lost their original name of "Upper Pitch," but they had acquired their modern name by at least 1877.
Geological history
![Glacial lakes in Montana](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Glacial_lakes_in_Montana.jpg)
The Missouri River lies atop the
Great Falls Tectonic Zone
The Great Falls Tectonic Zone is a major intracontinental shear zone between the Hearne craton and Wyoming craton basement rock of the Archean Eon which form part of the North American continent.Boerner, D.E.; Craven, J.A.; Kurtz, R.D.; Ross, G.M. ...
, an intracontinental
shear zone
In geology, a shear zone is a thin zone within the Earth's crust or upper mantle that has been strongly deformed, due to the walls of rock on either side of the zone slipping past each other. In the upper crust, where rock is brittle, the shear ...
between two
geologic province
A geologic province is a spatial entity with common geologic attributes. A province may include a single dominant structural element such as a basin or a fold belt, or a number of contiguous related elements. Adjoining provinces may be simila ...
s of
basement rock
In geology, basement and crystalline basement are crystalline rocks lying above the mantle and beneath all other rocks and sediments. They are sometimes exposed at the surface, but often they are buried under miles of rock and sediment. The baseme ...
of the
Archean
The Archean Eon ( , also spelled Archaean or Archæan) is the second of four geologic eons of Earth's history, representing the time from . The Archean was preceded by the Hadean Eon and followed by the Proterozoic.
The Earth
Earth ...
period which form part of the North American
continent
A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions are commonly regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in area to smallest, these seven ...
, the
Hearne province and
Wyoming province. Approximately 1.5 million years ago, the Missouri River,
Yellowstone River
The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the Western United States. Considered the principal tributary of upper Missouri, via its own tributaries it drains an area with headwaters across the mountains an ...
and
Musselshell River
The Musselshell River is a tributary of the Missouri River, long from its origins at the confluence of its North and South Forks near Martinsdale, Montana to its mouth on the Missouri River. It is located east of the Continental divide entire ...
all flowed northward into a
terminal lake.
[Clawson, Roger and Shandera, Katherine A. ''Billings: The City and the People.'' Helena, Mont.: Farcountry Press, 1998. ] During the
last glacial period, the
Laurentide
The Laurentide Ice Sheet was a massive sheet of ice that covered millions of square miles, including most of Canada and a large portion of the Northern United States, multiple times during the Quaternary glacial epochs, from 2.58 million years a ...
and
Cordilleran ice sheets pushed these lakes and rivers southward.
[Montagne J.L. "Quaternary System, Wisconsin Glaciation." ''Geologic Atlas of the Rocky Mountain Region.'' Denver: Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists, 1972.] Between 15,000 and 11,000
BCE
Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...
, the Laurentide Ice Sheet blocked the Missouri River and created
Glacial Lake Great Falls.
["Luminescence Dating of Glacial Lake Great Falls, Montana, U.S.A."](_blank)
Feathers, James K., and Hill, Christopher L. ''XVI International Quaternary Association Congress.'' Stratigraphy and Geochronology Session. International Quaternary Association, Reno, 2003. About 13,000 BCE, as the glacier retreated, Glacial Lake Great Falls emptied catastrophically in a
glacial lake outburst flood
A glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) is a type of outburst flood caused by the failure of a dam containing a glacial lake. An event similar to a GLOF, where a body of water contained by a glacier melts or overflows the glacier, is called a jö ...
.
The current course of the Missouri River essentially marks the southern boundary of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. The Missouri, Yellowstone and Musselshell rivers flowed eastward around the glacial mass, eventually settling into their present courses.
As the ice retreated, meltwater poured through the
Highwood Mountains
The Highwood Mountains are an island range (sub-range of the Rockies entirely surrounded by prairie) which cover approximately 4,659 km² (1,799 sq mi) of the Central Montana Alkalic Province in north central Montana in the U.S. They are in C ...
and eroded the mile-long,
Shonkin Sag
The Shonkin Sag is a prehistoric fluvioglacial landform located along the northern edge of the Highwood Mountains in the state of Montana in the United States. The Sag is a river channel formed by the Missouri River and glacial meltwater pouring fr ...
—one of the most famous prehistoric meltwater channels in the world.
The Great Falls themselves formed on a
fall line
A fall line (or fall zone) is the area where an upland region and a coastal plain meet and is typically prominent where rivers cross it, with resulting rapids or waterfalls. The uplands are relatively hard crystalline basement rock, and the coa ...
unconformity
An unconformity is a buried erosional or non-depositional surface separating two rock masses or strata of different ages, indicating that sediment deposition was not continuous. In general, the older layer was exposed to erosion for an interval o ...
in the Great Falls Tectonic Zone.
[Botkin, Daniel B. ''Beyond the Stony Mountains: Nature in the American West from Lewis and Clark to Today.'' New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. ] The Missouri River settled into a bedrock canyon which lay beneath the clay laid down by Glacial Lake Great Falls.
[Fisher, Cassius A. "Geology of the Great Falls Coal Field, Montana." ''Bulletin - United States Geological Survey.'' Issue 356. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Geological Survey, 1909.] The course of the Missouri in and around the Great Falls has changed very little since then, in comparison to lower regions of the river on the
ground moraine
A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice shee ...
that forms much of the upper Great Plains.
The Great Falls of the Missouri River formed because the Missouri is flowing over and through the
Kootenai Formation
The Kootenai Formation is a Lower Cretaceous geologic formation. The Kootenai was deposited in a foreland basin east of the Sevier thrust belt in western Montana. The lithology consists of a basal conglomerate with overlying non-marine sandston ...
, a mostly nonmarine
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
laid down by rivers, glaciers, and lakes in the past.
Some of the Kootenai Formation is marine, however, laid down by shallow seas. The river is eating away at the softer nonmarine sandstone, with the harder rock forming the falls themselves. Until relatively recently (in geologic time) the Missouri River in the area had a much wider channel, but it has now settled into its current course, where it will continue to cut more deeply into the sandstone.
Discovery
Early inhabitants
The first human beings to see the Great Falls were
Paleo-Indians who migrated into the area between 9,500 and 8,270 BCE.
The earliest inhabitants of North America entered Montana east of the
Continental Divide
A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...
between the Cordilleran and Laurentide ice sheets. The area remained only sparsely inhabited, however.
[Malone, Michael P.; Roeder, Richard B.; and Lang, William L. ''Montana: A History of Two Centuries.'' 2d rev. ed. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2003. ] Salish Indians would often hunt bison in the area on a seasonal basis, but no permanent settlements existed near the Great Falls for much of
prehistory
Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...
.
Around 1600, Piegan Blackfoot Indians, migrating west, entered the area, pushing the Salish back into the
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...
and claiming the area as their own.
The Great Falls of the Missouri remained in the tribal territory of the Blackfeet until Americans
claimed the region in 1803.
[Fleming, Thomas J. ''The Louisiana Purchase.'' Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley and Sons, 2003. ]
Although the discovery of the Great Falls by Native Americans is not recorded, the South Piegan Blackfeet were well-acquainted with the Great Falls by the late 18th century,
and news of the cataracts had spread among native peoples as far east as central
North Dakota
North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...
.
Lewis and Clark
![Meriwether Lewis-Charles Willson Peale](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Meriwether_Lewis-Charles_Willson_Peale.jpg)
The United States purchased the area around the Great Falls of the Missouri from France (which claimed the area despite Native American habitation) in 1803, as part of the
Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase (french: Vente de la Louisiane, translation=Sale of Louisiana) was the acquisition of the territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. In return for fifteen million dollars, or app ...
.
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
, then
President of the United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...
, had long desired to send an expedition into the area.
[Ambrose, Stephen. ''Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West.'' New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996. ; Gilman, Carolyn. ''Lewis and Clark: Across the Divide.'' Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books, 2003. ; Lavender, David. ''The Way to the Western Sea: Lewis and Clark Across the Continent.'' New York: Harpercollins, 1988. ] Jefferson sought and won permission and funding for an expedition from
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...
in January 1803.
On May 14, 1804, the
Lewis and Clark Expedition
The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select gro ...
departed
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...
to map the course of the Missouri River; establish whether a river route to the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
existed; study the
Indian tribes,
botany
Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...
,
geology
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...
,
terrain
Terrain or relief (also topographical relief) involves the vertical and horizontal dimensions of land surface. The term bathymetry is used to describe underwater relief, while hypsometry studies terrain relative to sea level. The Latin word ...
and wildlife in the region; and evaluate whether British and
French Canadian
French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fren ...
hunters and trappers in the area posed a challenge to American control over the region.
Expedition leaders Meriwether Lewis and William Clark first learned of the "great falls" from the Mandan Indians while wintering at
Fort Mandan
Fort Mandan was the name of the encampment which the Lewis and Clark Expedition built for wintering over in 1804–1805. The encampment was located on the Missouri River approximately from the site of present-day Washburn, North Dakota, which ...
from November 2, 1804, until April 7, 1805.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition reached the Great Falls on June 13, 1805.
Meriwether Lewis was the first White person to see the falls.
Lewis described the encounter in a now-famous passage of his expedition diary:
[Spelling and grammar are as Meriwether Lewis made them, and remain uncorrected here.]
:...my ears were saluted with the agreeable sound of a fall of water and advancing a little further I saw the spray arrise above the plain like a column of smoke which would frequently dispear again in an instant caused I presume by the wind which blew pretty hard from the S. W. I did not however loose my direction to this point which soon began to make a roaring too tremendious to be mistaken for any cause short of the great falls of the Missouri. ... I hurryed down the hill which was about 200 feet high and difficult of access, to gaze on this sublimely grand spectacle. ... immediately at the cascade the river is about 300 yds. wide; about ninety or a hundred yards of this next the Lard. bluff is a smooth even sheet of water falling over a precipice of at least eighty feet, the remaining part of about 200 yards on my right formes the grandest sight I ever beheld, the height of the fall is the same of the other but the irregular and somewhat projecting rocks below receives the water in its passage down and brakes it into a perfect white foam which assumes a thousand forms in a moment sometimes flying up in jets of sparkling foam to the height of fifteen or twenty feet and are scarcely formed before large roling bodies of the same beaten and foaming water is thrown over and conceals them. in short the rocks seem to be most happily fixed to present a sheet of the whitest beaten froath for 200 yards in length and about 80 feet perpendicular. the water after descending strikes against the butment before mentioned or that on which I stand and seems to reverberate and being met by the more impetuous courant they role and swell into half formed billows of great height which rise and again disappear in an instant. this butment of rock defends a handsom little bottom of about three acres which is diversified and agreeably shaded with some cottonwood trees; in the lower extremity of the bottom there is a very thick grove of the same kind of trees which are small, in this wood there are several Indian lodges formed of sticks. ... from the reflection of the sun on the spray or mist which arrises from these falls there is a beatifull rainbow produced which adds not a little to the beauty of this majestically grand senery. after wrighting this imperfect discription I again viewed the falls and was so much disgusted with the imperfect idea which it conveyed of the scene that I determined to draw my pen across it and begin agin, but then reflected that I could not perhaps succeed better than pening the first impressions of the mind; I wished for the pencil of Salvator Rosa or the pen of Thompson, that I might be enabled to give to the enlightened world some just idea of this truly magnificent and sublimely grand object, which has from the commencement of time been concealed from the view of civilized man; but this was fruitless and vain. I most sincerely regretted that I had not brought a
crimee obscura with me by the assistance of which even I could have hoped to have done better but alas this was also out of my reach; I therefore with the assistance of my pen only indeavoured to traces some of the stronger features of this seen by the assistance of which and my recollection aided by some able pencil I hope still to give to the world some faint idea of an object which at this moment fills me with such pleasure and astonishment, and which of its kind I will venture to ascert is second to but one in the known world. ...
![Ryan Dam](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Ryan_Dam.jpg)
The falls which Lewis had seen were the lowest of the five falls, the
Great Falls
Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements
* Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size
* Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent
People
* List of people known as "the Great"
*Artel Great (born ...
.
[Lewis, Meriwether, and Clark, William. ''The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery: The Abridgment of the Definitive Nebraska Edition.'' Abridged ed. Gary E. Moulton, ed. Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, 2003. ] Exploring the following day, Lewis discovered Crooked Falls, Rainbow Falls, Colter Falls, and Black Eagle Falls.
At the final waterfalls, Lewis saw an amazing sight:
:I arrived at another cataract of 26 feet. ... below this fall at a little distance a beatifull little Island well timbered is situated about the middle of the river. in this Island on a Cottonwood tree an Eagle has placed her nest; a more inaccessible spot I believe she could not have found; for neither man nor beast dare pass those gulphs which separate her little domain from the shores. the water is also broken in such manner as it descends over this pitch that the mist or sprey rises to a considerable height. this fall is certainly much the greatest I ever behald except those two which I have mentioned below. it is incomparably a greater cataract and a more noble interesting object than the celebrated
falls of Potomac or
Soolkiln &c.
Mounting a hill near Black Eagle Falls (probably where the town of
Black Eagle
The black eagle (''Ictinaetus malaiensis'') is a bird of prey. Like all eagles, it is in the family Accipitridae, and is the only member of the genus ''Ictinaetus''. They soar over forests in the hilly regions of tropical and subtropical South ...
is today), Lewis saw that the cataracts ended and that another large river joined the Missouri about two and a half miles further upstream.
Although it was very late in the afternoon, Lewis rushed forward to see this river and was attacked by a
grizzly bear
The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America.
In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horri ...
.
He ran more than 80 yards and launched himself into the Missouri River, and luckily the bear did not follow.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition was forced to
portage
Portage or portaging (Canada: ; ) is the practice of carrying water craft or cargo over land, either around an obstacle in a river, or between two bodies of water. A path where items are regularly carried between bodies of water is also called a ...
around the Great Falls, an arduous task that took nearly a month.
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
, an
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
slave
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
owned by William Clark and who had participated in the Expedition, was the first black American to see the Great Falls.
![Oncorhynchus clarkii virginalis](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Oncorhynchus_clarkii_virginalis.jpg)
The Lewis and Clark Expedition made a number of discoveries near the Great Falls. On June 13, Silas Goodrich
[Trotter, Pat. ''Cutthroat: Native Trout of the West.'' Boulder, Colo.: Colorado Associated University Press, 1987. ] caught numerous
Westslope cutthroat trout
The westslope cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi''), also known as the black-spotted trout, common cutthroat trout and red-throated trout is a subspecies of the cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus clarkii'') and is a freshwater fish in t ...
at the falls, the first time anyone in the expedition had seen these fish, and several samples were preserved which constituted the
type specimens
In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes t ...
for the fish.
[ Behnke, Robert J., and Tomelleri, Joseph R. ''Trout and Salmon of North America.'' New York: Simon and Schuster, 2002. ][Smith, Andrew F. ''The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink.'' New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. ] The trout was subsequently given the scientific name ''
Oncorhynchus clarki lewisi'' in honor of the expedition leaders.
The Westslope cutthroat is now the "official state fish" of Montana.
The explorers also collected the first samples of the
gumbo evening primrose and
western meadowlark
The western meadowlark (''Sturnella neglecta'') is a medium-sized icterid bird, about in length. It nests on the ground in open grasslands across western and central North America. It feeds mostly on bugs, but will also feed on seeds and berri ...
at the Great Falls.
On June 18, while reconnoitering the series of falls on the south side of the Missouri River with a group of five others, William Clark discovered
Giant Springs
Giant Springs is a large first magnitude spring located near Great Falls, Montana and is the central feature of Giant Springs State Park. Its water has a constant temperature of and originates from snowmelt in the Little Belt Mountains, awa ...
, which he correctly judged to be the largest spring in the world.
He was the first white person to see the springs, and the first white person to see the falls from the south side of the Missouri.
Meriwether Lewis revisited the Great Falls on July 11, 1806, as the Corps of Discovery returned east. Lewis and nine men stopped at the Great Falls with the intention of exploring the
Marias River
The Marias River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 210 mi (338 km) long, in the U.S. state of Montana. It is formed in Glacier County, in northwestern Montana, by the confluence of the Cut Bank Creek and the Two Medi ...
and discovering its source. But during the night, Indians stole half the party's 17 horses, forcing three of the men to stay behind.
[Saindon, Robert A. ''Explorations Into the World of Lewis and Clark.'' Vol. 3. Scituate, Mass.: Digital Scanning Inc, 2003. ]
Settlement of the area
![Montana-StateSeal](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Great_Seal_of_Montana.svg)
Following the return passage of Lewis and Clark in 1805/06 there is no record of any white man visiting the Great Falls of the Missouri until explorer and
trapper
Animal trapping, or simply trapping or gin, is the use of a device to remotely catch an animal. Animals may be trapped for a variety of purposes, including food, the fur trade, hunting, pest control, and wildlife management.
History
Neolithic ...
Jim Bridger
James Felix "Jim" Bridger (March 17, 1804 – July 17, 1881) was an American mountain man, trapper, Army scout, and wilderness guide who explored and trapped in the Western United States in the first half of the 19th century. He was known as Old ...
reached them in 1822.
White people next visited the Great Falls when Bridger and Major
Andrew Henry led a fur-trading expedition there in April 1823 (and were attacked by Blackfeet Indians while camping at the site). British explorer
Alexander Ross trapped around the Great Falls in 1824. In 1838, a mapping expedition sent by the U.S. federal government and guided by Bridger spent four years in the area.
Margaret Harkness Woodman became first white woman to see the Great Falls in 1862.
The first permanent settlement near the Great Falls was
Fort Benton, established in 1846 about downstream from the Great Falls.
[Cutright, Paul Russell, and Brodhead, Michael J. ''Elliott Coues: Naturalist and Frontier Historian.'' Reprint ed. Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 2001. ] The Great Falls marked the limit of the navigable section of the Missouri River, and the first
steamboat
A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...
arrived at the falls in 1859.
In 1860, the
Mullan Road
Mullan Road was the first wagon road to cross the Rocky Mountains to the Inland of the Pacific Northwest. It was built by U.S. Army troops under the command of Lt. John Mullan, between the spring of 1859 and summer 1860. It led from Fort Benton, ...
linked Fort Benton with
Fort Walla Walla
Fort Walla Walla is a United States Army fort located in Walla Walla, Washington. The first Fort Walla Walla was established July 1856, by Lieutenant Colonel Edward Steptoe, 9th Infantry Regiment. A second Fort Walla Walla was occupied Septemb ...
in the
Washington Territory
The Territory of Washington was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington. It was created from the ...
.
Politically, the Great Falls of the Missouri River passed through numerous hands in the 19th century. It was part of the unincorporated
frontier
A frontier is the political and geographical area near or beyond a boundary. A frontier can also be referred to as a "front". The term came from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"—the region of a country that fronts o ...
until May 30, 1854, when Congress established the
Nebraska Territory
The Territory of Nebraska was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until March 1, 1867, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Nebraska. The Nebraska ...
. Indian attacks on white explorers and settlers dropped significantly after
Isaac Stevens
Isaac Ingalls Stevens (March 25, 1818 – September 1, 1862) was an American military officer and politician who served as governor of the Territory of Washington from 1853 to 1857, and later as its delegate to the United States House of Represen ...
negotiated the
Treaty of Hellgate
The Treaty of Hellgate was a treaty agreement between the United States and the Bitterroot Salish, Upper Pend d'Oreilles, Pend d'Oreille, and Lower Kutenai tribes. The treaty was signed at Hell Gate, Montana, Hellgate on 16 July 1855. Signatories ...
in 1855, and white settlement in the area began to occur.
On March 2, 1861, it became part of the
Dakota Territory
The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of No ...
. The Great Falls were incorporated into the
Idaho Territory
The Territory of Idaho was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 3, 1863, until July 3, 1890, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as Idaho.
History
1860s
The territory w ...
on March 4, 1863, and then into the
Montana Territory
The Territory of Montana was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 26, 1864, until November 8, 1889, when it was admitted as the 41st state in the Union as the state of Montana.
Original boundaries
T ...
on May 28, 1864.
It became part of the state of Montana upon that territory's admission to statehood on November 8, 1889.
The Great Falls of the Missouri River became the site of a permanent settlement in 1883.
Businessman
A businessperson, businessman, or businesswoman is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial or industrial) for th ...
Paris Gibson
Paris Gibson (July 1, 1830December 16, 1920) was an American entrepreneur and politician.
Gibson was born in Brownfield, Maine. An 1851 graduate of Bowdoin College, he served as a member of the Montana State Senate and as a Democratic member ...
visited the Great Falls in 1880, and was deeply impressed by the possibilities for building a major industrial city near the falls with power provided by
hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other Renewabl ...
.
[Roeder, Richard B. "Paris Gibson and the Building of Great Falls." ''Montana: Magazine of Western History.'' 42:4 (Autumn 1992).]["Great Falls, Montana." In ''Encyclopedia of the Great Plains.'' David J. Wishart, ed. Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, 2004. ][Myers, Rex C., and Fritz, Harry W. ''Montana and the West: Essays in Honor of K. Ross Toole.'' Boulder, Colo.: Pruett Publishing Co., 1984. ; Martin, Albro. ''James J. Hill and the Opening of the Northwest.'' St. Paul, Minn.: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1991. ] He returned in 1883 with surveyors and
plat
In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Surveys to show the distance and bear ...
ted a city (to be named Great Falls) on the south side of the river.
The city's first citizen, Silas Beachley, arrived later that year.
With investments from
railroad
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
owner
James J. Hill
James Jerome Hill (September 16, 1838 – May 29, 1916) was a Canadian-American railroad director. He was the chief executive officer of a family of lines headed by the Great Northern Railway, which served a substantial area of the Upper Midwes ...
and
Helena
Helena may refer to:
People
*Helena (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name)
*Katri Helena (born 1945), Finnish singer
*Helena, mother of Constantine I
Places
Greece
* Helena (island)
Guyana
* ...
businessman
C. A. Broadwater, houses, a store, and a flour mill were established in 1884.
[Malone, Michael P. ''James J. Hill: Empire Builder of the Northwest.'' Reprint ed. Stillwater, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996. ] A
planing mill A planing mill is a facility that takes cut and seasoned boards from a sawmill and turns them into finished dimensional lumber. Machines used in the mill include the planer and matcher, the molding machines, and varieties of saws. In the planing mil ...
, lumber yard, bank, school, and newspaper were established in 1885.
By 1887 the town had 1,200 citizens, and in October of that year the
Great Northern Railway arrived in the city.
Great Falls, Montana
Great Falls is the third most populous city in the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Cascade County. The population was 60,442 according to the 2020 census. The city covers an area of and is the principal city of the Great Falls, M ...
, was incorporated on November 28, 1888,
Black Eagle Dam
Black Eagle Dam is a hydroelectric gravity weir dam located on the Missouri River in the city of Great Falls, Montana. The first dam on the site, built and opened in 1890, was a timber-and-rock crib dam.Peterson, p. 59. This structure was the ...
was built in 1890, and by 1912 Rainbow Dam and Volta Dam (now Ryan Dam) were all operating.
The city of
Great Falls, Montana
Great Falls is the third most populous city in the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Cascade County. The population was 60,442 according to the 2020 census. The city covers an area of and is the principal city of the Great Falls, M ...
, derives its name from the waterfalls. The small town of
Black Eagle, Montana
Black Eagle is a census-designated place (CDP) in Cascade County, Montana, United States. The population was 904 at the 2010 census. It is a suburb of Great Falls.
History
With early activity from smelters and refineries, Black Eagle was first ...
, derives its name from Black Eagle Falls,
and
Cascade County (in which both are located) is named for the cataracts and rapids which make up the falls.
Dams
![Rainbow Falls Great Falls MT1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Rainbow_Falls_Great_Falls_MT1.jpg)
Only one of the waterfalls that comprise the Great Falls of the Missouri River, Crooked Falls, exists in its natural state today. Dams built on the falls beginning in the 1880s have significantly altered and even submerged the five waterfalls. Black Eagle Dam was built in 1890, and half of Black Eagle Falls are now submerged in the reservoir behind the dam.
This structure was the first hydroelectric dam built in the state.
[Hebgen, Max. "Hydroelectric Development in Montana." ''Transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers.'' 1914.]
Rainbow Falls was dammed in 1910 when Rainbow Dam was built.
The reservoir behind the dam submerged Colter Falls.
Volta Dam was built on top of the Great Falls in 1915, and later renamed Ryan Dam in 1940 in honor of
John D. Ryan, the president and founder of the
Montana Power Company
The Montana Power Company (MPC) was an electric utility company based in Butte, Montana, which provided electricity to Montana consumers and industry from 1912 to 1997.
History
The Montana Power Company was founded in 1912 by John D. Ryan, the ...
.
Historic district and interpretive centers
The
Great Falls Portage
The Great Falls Portage is the route taken by the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1805 to portage around the Great Falls (Missouri River), Great Falls of the Missouri River during the outbound portion of the expedition. The portage took 31 days. ...
, a
National Historic Landmark District
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, ce ...
designated in 1966, commemorates the route by which Lewis and Clark bypassed the falls. The landmarked areas, including the expedition camps at either end of the portage, are located well above and below the series falls.
[ and ] The Great Falls are also part of the
Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail
The Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail is a route across the United States commemorating the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804 to 1806. It is part of the National Trails System of the United States. It extends for some from Pittsburgh, Pen ...
, established by Congress in 1978.
[Fanselow, Julie. ''Traveling the Lewis and Clark Trail.'' 4th ed. Guilford, Conn.: Globe Pequot, 2007. ]
The Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Interpretive Center was built in 1998 on a cliff overlooking the Missouri River near Crooked Falls. It provides an extensive look into Lewis and Clark's discovery of the Great Falls and their portage around them, as well as exhibits on native peoples of the area.
In 1989, the City of Great Falls, the
Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks
The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (MFWP) is a government agency in the executive branch state of Montana in the United States with responsibility for protecting sustainable fish, wildlife, and state-owned park resources in Montan ...
, and other public and private bodies established the River's Edge Trail, a series of paved and unpaved trails that follow the Great Falls as well as the Lewis and Clark Expedition portage route (along with other scenic and historic area of the City of Great Falls and town of Black Eagle).
In art
The first known drawing of the Great Falls was entered by Meriwether Lewis in his diary.
In 1807, Lewis commissioned the
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
engraver John James Barrelet to make drawings of the Great Falls.
After Lewis's death in 1810, William Clark visited his home and found the drawings, but they have since disappeared.
The Great Falls have been depicted in well-known paintings over the years. The waterfalls may be seen in the background of
John Mix Stanley
John Mix Stanley (January 17, 1814 – April 10, 1872) was an artist-explorer, an American painter of landscapes, and Native American portraits and tribal life. Born in the Finger Lakes region of New York, he started painting signs and portraits ...
's large painting "Barter for a Bride" (originally titled "A Family Group"), which was painted some time between 1854 and 1863 and now hangs in the Diplomatic Reception Room in the
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...
in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
The noted Western painter
O. C. Seltzer depicted the cataracts in his 1927 work, "Lewis and Clark With Sacajawea at the Great Falls of the Missouri, 1804."
The first known photograph of the Great Falls was taken by noted Western photographer
James D. Hutton
James Dempsey Hutton (c. 1828–1868) was an artist, surveyor, cartographer and early photographer active in Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota and North Dakota in the years before the American Civil War. He served as an engineer in the Confederate ...
about 1859 or 1860.
[Palmquist, Peter E., and Kailbourn, Thomas R. ''Pioneer Photographers of the Far West: A Biographical Dictionary, 1840-1865.'' Palo Alto, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2000. ]
References
External links
Full online text of the Lewis and Clark journalsLewis and Clark National Historic Trail – United States National Park ServiceLewis and Clark National Historic Trail Interpretive Centerin Great Falls, Montana
River's Edge Trailin Great Falls, Montana
Giant Springs State Park: State of Montana Fish, Wildlife, and ParksDepartment of Environmental Sciences, University of Montana-Western
{{Missouri River
1800s in the United States
History of the Pacific Northwest
History of United States expansionism
Landforms of Cascade County, Montana
Louisiana Purchase
Missouri River
Waterfalls of Montana
Tourist attractions in Great Falls, Montana