Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1908-09-13
two sections Of the river in a broader

two sections of the river in broader
sense.
The Missouri river system Of wat
.ers was the grand theatre Of the fur
trade begun in 1907 Immediately af-
ter the return of the Lewis & Clark
expedition, expanded into it's more
permanent proportions in the twent-
les and ended in the sixties and hav-
ing it's general Headquarters and its
business inspiration in that now
great city whose foundations were
laid and whose commercial destiny
was foreshadowed by trade whose
salient lines, extending up the val
leys of the Mississippi and the Mis-
souri, and overland to Santa Fe, re-
,vealed it's principal sustenance in the
great Missouri river region. st.
Louis is frrevocably fixed in history
as the head of that movement which
meant so much not only for trade
and commerce but for civilization
in the western half of the continent,
and to the Missouri river she ows
the main credit for the possibilities
which came from that movement as
related to her growth and prestige.
And it needs no further assembling
of evidences than the pages Of un-
disputable history to prove that it
was the upper Missouri river territory
which furnished by far the greater
resources which entered into that
trade from the Missouri Valley re-
gion at large. $751;"
Upper Missouri Country a CONNER
ciaI Empire.
History will repeat itself: The up
per Missouri river valley and it's trib-
utary resources will in future as in
the past, provide the camping
ground for commercial campaigns
out of which will come the lions
share Of trade to all cities on and
tributary to that stream above It's
junction with the Mississippi; and
st. Louis herself may come within
the principle OF this proposition. OF
that city says Major Crittenden in his
History of the American Fur Trade
of the Far Vest: est. Louis was an
offspring Of the fur trade and her
growth for three-fourths of cen
fury depended almost entirely upon
IT," And, speaking OF the upper
Missouri region in this connection,
he adds: "E was In these remote
fields that the foundations Of great
fortunes were laid, ana that the
substantial business character Of st.
Louis began its development.
Missouri the Greatest Waterway.
We mean not to speak in dispara-
cement of the great Mississippi-to
do so would be an insult to fact and
to history in the light of accomplish
ed things. But we may indicate in
some way her relations to the Mis-
souri, for trade purposes when we
suggest that the former has but l.
O24 miles of navigable waters above
their junction while the latter has
2,2S5 miles; that the head of water
trade on the Mississippi at st. Paul
is too remote to be controlling fac
tor in the more northerly mountain
region, while the vicinity Of Fort
Benton and the entire expanse of the
Missouri river valley to southwark,
in upper Missouri territory, is in
practically absolute control Of the
mountain region to westward; that
as between the two great valleys
above their junction, the Missouri is
mistress over two and one-half times
the territory subject to the Mississ-
ippi, while at least two-thirds Of the
area thus credited to the Missouri
is in the upper Missouri region; that
as time goes on the Pacific, not the
Atlantic, will be the objective in the
ocean trade, which, in proportions so
vast as to be beyond comprehension,
will be developed over the expanse
embraced in both valleys, in which
the competition, involving rail as
we'll as water carriage, will prepon-
derate in favor Of the river nearest
the Orient; and that in the coming
trade towards the Gulf and In con-
nection with the Isthmian canal, it Is
believed that the contributions from
the two valleys above st. Louis will,
as to raw materials, be such as to
preponderate in favor of the Mis-
souri,, while as to finished products it
will remain to be seen whether the
deep-Water canal from the Lakes to
the Mississippi will result in sec
uring to the Mississippi a perma-
nent advantage as against the Mis-
souri,; for, with deep water chan
mel up the Missouri to, say Kansas
City, the artificial connection be-
tween the Lakes and the Mississippi
will thus be offset by very material
80 - u ~.