The Bozeman courier., 1927-04-08
(By DAN R. CONWAY

(This is the third Of a series Of four
articles concerning navigation on the Up
per Missouri river.)
HHHERE was, perhaps, no stream in
the world so difficult to navigate
as the Missouri river. In the
earliest days, traffic of any sort was
all but an impossibility. The Sieur
Hubert in his report to his govern
ment in 1905 stated that the birch
bark canoe could not be used to navi-
gate its waters.
One of the greatest difficulties encoun-
tered in navigating the river was caused
Dy constant changes in the shifting of the
channel. For the distance between the
mouth Of the Platte river and the Nissis-
Slppl, the Missouri on each side is lined
with bluffs which are nearly parallel to
each other at an average distance of two
miles. Except during food stage the chan
mel Is confined to from One-fOurth to one
halt this distance, leaving the remainder
nottom land. A leeway for the channel is
IufnlShed by this bottom, which is alluvial
SOIL, and which was originally covered
with a primeval forest. Scientists claim
Jhat this was made land, caused from
accretiOns. and the river has never relin.
QulShed its title to il. Perhaps it NAV
nave been thousands of years in the form
ing, but those familiar with the formations
ana the unusual characteristics Of the river
claim that sooner or later, the channel un
less restrained, will 20 back and claim its
own.
shifting Channels
These channels, in changing. always leav,
a sandbar, which, as time progresses be
comes covered with thick growth of vii
lows and young cOttOnwOods. These, il
their tangled masses, catch and retain thu
silt of subsequent floods and freshets
which, together with decaying vegetation
ultimately becomes a high and adjacen
land. 1t is easily understood. then, how
this process going on for centuries, forms
and reforms these bottom lands, mOvinl
the channel back and forth at the will o.
the elements.
Phil L. Chappen of Kansas City, Mo-, il
his contribution to the Historical COllec
t1OnS of Kansas, says: Let a hole be bOreC
anywhere in the river bottom, a mile o.
more from the present bed of the river, ant
1t is probable that at distance of abOu
twenty-five feet, or when the level of tn
water in the river is reached, wrack hea
or an old log will be struck that has lail
there embedded in the soil for centuries
thus proving cOnclusively that the channe
of the river at one time flowed there"
The Bend
The bends always proved the most dan
gerOuS localities and it was at these point
that most of the accidents that are record
ed in the rivers history, took place. Thes
bends, according to Chappell were fOrme
in the following manner: The main chan
mel of the river is disposed to follow tn
bluff shore, and does so until it meet
some obstruction. A trifing object, sue
d
will sometimes defect the current and sen
it off Obliquely to the opposite shore. A
the land where it strikes is underlaid wit
a stratum of white sand it melts befOT
the strong current as a snOwbank before
mondays sun. This undermining proceS
goes on at every rise, until in the course {
a few years a great bend is formed, thor
sands of acres of land are swept away, an
the channel of the river is a mile or MOI
from where it formerly ran"
1t is for this reason that the site of seV
eral Of the early day trading posts hay
never been located by interested historian
For example, old Fort Manuel, which wE
erected by Manuel Lisa on the Nilsson
river in northern South Dakota, stood O
a site that no more exists. The waters
the Missouri have completely washed ava
the entire ground that marked the lOcatiC
of this historical landmark, where Cha
bOnneau and Sacajawea lived for sever
months, and which was abandoned ar
finally burned by hostile Indians. The
bends of the Missouri vary in size. some
them being as much as twenty miles Ion
The banks were originally covered wi