Big Falls (also called Great Falls or Roar of Steam) is a major
waterfall located on the
Missouri River in western
Montana in the
United States. It is the lowermost and largest of the
Great Falls of the Missouri, at high and up to wide at peak flow. Although the falls used to flow powerfully year-round, most of the water is now diverted to the 60
megawatt hydroelectric
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 ...
plant of upstream
Ryan Dam
Ryan Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Missouri River, downstream from the city of Great Falls, Montana, Great Falls in the U.S. state of Montana. The dam is long and high; its reservoir is long and has a storage capacity of . It is a Run-of-th ...
, reducing it to a trickle in the summer months. The dam raised the total height of the water to 177 feet.
The
Mandan Indians knew of the group of the falls 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."
[Howard, Ela Mae. ''Lewis & Clark—Exploration of Central Montana.'' Rev. ed. Guilford, Conn.: Globe Pequot, 2000. ] The specific Grand Falls was named by
William Clark of the
Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1805.
Cottonwoods grow nearby, and the nearby
shrubland
Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It m ...
habitat provides an environment for
juniper
Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' () of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from the Arcti ...
,
mule deer, and eagles. Various species of birds live below the falls.
References
Waterfalls of Montana
Block waterfalls
Landforms of Cascade County, Montana
{{Montana-stub