Missouri Headwaters State Park is a public recreation area occupying at the site of the official start of the Missouri River. The park offers camping, hiking trails, hunting, and water-related activities. It is located on Trident Road northeast of

Three Forks, Montana Three Forks is a city in Gallatin County, Montana, United States and is located within the watershed valley system of both the Missouri and Mississippi rivers drainage basins — and is historically considered the birthplace or start of the M ...

at an elevation of . The park includes the Three Forks of the Missouri

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

, designated in 1960 because the site is one where 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 ...

camped in 1805.

Setting

The bulk of Missouri Headwaters State Park is found on a peninsula flanked on the east by the

Gallatin River The Gallatin River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 120 mi (193 km long), in the U.S. states of Wyoming and Montana. It is one of three rivers, along with the Jefferson River, Jefferson and Madison River, Madison, ...

and the west by the Missouri River and the

Madison River The Madison River is a headwater tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 183 miles (295 km) long, in Wyoming and Montana. Its confluence with the Jefferson and Gallatin rivers near Three Forks, Montana forms the Missouri River. The ...

. Small parts of the park are also located on the east bank of the Gallatin River, and an island in the Missouri just below the confluence of the Madison and

Jefferson River The Jefferson River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the U.S. state of Montana. The Jefferson River and the Madison River form the official beginning of the Missouri at Missouri Headwaters State Park near Three For ...

s. The total park size is . The Jefferson River meets the Madison and Missouri roughly midway through the park's north-south extent.

History

The

encamped at the confluence site on July 26, 1805. On July 28,

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 ...

wrote in his journal: :''"Both Capt. C. and myself in opinion with to the impropriety of calling either of these '' hree' streams the Missouri and accordingly agreed to name them after the

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 ...

and the Secretaries of the

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or in p ...

and

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

..."'' The expedition were likely the first white men to ever penetrate this landscape. Lewis and Clark were at first uncertain how to proceed, and scouted each of the branches before ultimately departing on July 30 up the Jefferson River. The expedition also passed the forks on its return journey on July 13, 1806. As the west was explored and developed through the 19th century, the forks area was frequently used as a camp site by fur trappers. Acquisition for the state park was begun by preservation organizations in the 1960s.

Claims of Missouri River source

The Lewis and Clark decision not to call the Jefferson the Missouri has spurred debate over what is the longest river in North America, since the Missouri and Mississippi are nearly identical in length. The Missouri traditionally had been called the longest river in North America. However, 72 miles of it have been trimmed off in re-channeling its streambedmainly for the many

hydroelectric power Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is 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 renewable sources combined and ...

plants in the region so that it is now sometimes referred as second to the Mississippi in terms of length. If the Jefferson were included in the Missouri length, it would technically still be considered the longest river by experts of the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

. The utmost headwaters of the Missouri are subject to debate but two commonly claimed locations ultimately drain into the Jefferson. Lewis on August 12, 1805 said he visited the headwaters on Trail Creek just above

Lemhi Pass Lemhi Pass is a high mountain pass in the Beaverhead Mountains, part of the Bitterroot Range in the Rocky Mountains and within Salmon-Challis National Forest. The pass lies on the Montana-Idaho border on the continental divide, at an elevation o ...

on 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 ...

in the

Beaverhead Mountains The Beaverhead Mountains, highest point Scott Peak, el. , are a mountain range straddling the Continental Divide in the U.S. states of Montana and Idaho. (See also the GNIS link here.) They are a sub-range of the Bitterroot Range, and divide Be ...

at around 8,600 feet which he described: :the most distant fountain of the waters of the mighty Missouri in surch(sic) of which we have spent so many toilsome days and wristless(sic) nights. In 1888 Jacob V. Brower, who had championed turning the headwaters of the Mississippi River into a

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

state park, visited another site which today is also claimed to be the furthest point on the Missouri. Brower published his finding in 1896 in "The Missouri: Its Utmost Source." Brower's Spring, as the site is now known, is at around 8,800 feet in the

Centennial Mountains The Centennial Mountains are the southernmost sub-range of the Bitterroot Range in the U.S. states of Idaho and Montana. The Centennial Mountains include the Western and Eastern Centennial Mountains. The range extends east from Monida Pass along ...

. The site is commemorated by a rock pile at the source of Hellroaring Creek which flows into Red Rock River and then into Clark Canyon Reservoir where it joins the Beaverhead then the

Big Hole River The Big Hole River is a tributary of the Jefferson River, approximately long, in Beaverhead County, in southwestern Montana, United States. It is the last habitat in the contiguous United States for native fluvial Arctic grayling and is a h ...

before ultimately hooking up with the Jefferson.The True Utmost Reaches of the Missouri - Montana Outdoors - July-August 2005
/ref>

References

External links

Missouri Headwaters State Park
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks
Missouri Headwaters State Park Map
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks {{authority control State parks of Montana Provincial and state parks in the Rocky Mountains Missouri River Protected areas of Gallatin County, Montana Protected areas established in 1947 1947 establishments in Montana Lewis and Clark Expedition History of the Rocky Mountains National Historic Landmarks in Montana National Register of Historic Places in Gallatin County, Montana