The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-08-20
MISSOURI RIVER is QUEER
"Biq Muddy" Has Characteristics
That Are Decidedly Different.

#HHMa.t .F## ---- #rMEF#n
Christian Science Monitor: From
the days when heavily and richly
cargoed floating palaces" set out
gayly from st. Louis for the gold
diggin's'' Of Montana and came back.
in part at least, with the yellow fruit
of the miners toll in the placer
fields of Helena and round about;
from the days when traffic between
the lower river towns and Kansa
City, Leavenworth, Atchison, st.
Joseph, Nebraska City, Brownsville.
Plattsmouth, Council Bluffs, Omaha,
and Sioux City was carried on about
exclusively by stern and side wheel
ers, the vagaries and eccentricities
of the Missouri river have afforded
much material for the display of that
particular form of wit which Is com.
pretended in the term exaggerated
American humor." The Missouri riv-
er has not changed its ways with the
decline of s~teamboating. but, since
the shipment Of millions of dollars
worth of freight and the conven-
fence of thousands of travellers an
'nually are no longer dependent upon
it, the occasion for making fun of it,
or for saying sarcastic things about
IT,, Is HO IOlSGI pIeStIlI. IL "
al and travel of the great
central valley of the country are
now moved almost solely by rail;
the Missouri, like the Mississippi
and the Ohio, is now crossed but
seldom navigated. as compared with
other days; st. Louis and Fort Ben
ton are weeks closer TO each other
than they used to be, but still there
is a side to all this that renders it
rather deplorable than otherwise.
That is t o say, it would be better
for the country If, instead OF
donine the great inland waterways. 1t
had improved them as they should
have been improved.
The Missouri is in the nature of q
contradiction. from its source to its
junction with the Mississippi, a dis
lance of 3,096 miles. For instance,
after it is formed by the combination
of the jefferson and Gallatin rivers
in the Rocky mountains. instead OF
flowing east or north, as one might
reasonably expect 1t to do. 1t flows
north for a distance Of 500 miles;
then it takes an easterly direction
for 1.2O0 miles, and then flows south
easterly for the remainder Of the dis
lance. After it meets the MISSISSIPPI
p1. II julio tdaC W. Sh III " NJ
vious course toward the Gulf of Mex.
leo but for many miles below the
confluence it refuses to mingle with
the Father of Waters; 1t takes n
side of the bed. leaving the Missis-
sippi to take the other. the line
which marks the muddy from the
clear water being plainly disoernible
almost. If not quite down to st.
Louis. American Indian for Mis-
souri, is big Muddy and by this
name the river is known Familiarity
to dwellers along Its banks. 1t Is
also known, at certain seasons of the
year as big Dusty" AS a construc-
ter of %sandbars the Missouri has few
equals and no superiors, In any part
of the earth, so far explored. It II
equally proficient in demolishing
sandbars. When they are In their
prime and at low water, they arc
unrivaled as dust distributors. Some
times they remain where they were
formed until they are covered with
vegetation and a growth Of trees.
Although long under suspicion, an
souri, at length begins to win conf
.dence. Then some man puts up a
log cabin on it, pre-empts it, files a
claim to 1t. does everything but squat
upon it, and would do this If he Is be-
ginning to feel secure in the posses
sion of a tract of valuable alluvial
acreage, the Missouri comes down
from the mountains smilingly in a
June rise" eddies and swirls about
it, plays with it, gnaws great chunks
out of 1t, sweeps over 1t, submerges
1t, wipes it off the topography of the
globe.
The material Of this island is used
to form other sandbars and other
islands farther downstream, however,
and, when it has neither bars nor
islands to feed on. the river helps
itself to farms on either side, some.