page_title: Brower's Spring
hierarchical_section_title: Brower's Spring
caption_attribution_description: English: A likely location of Brower's Spring
context_page_description: Brower's Spring is a spring in the Centennial Mountains of Montana that was marked by a surveyor in 1888 as the ultimate headwaters of the Missouri River and thus the fourth longest river in the world, the 3,902-mile-long Mississippi-Missouri River.
  The spring is named for Jacob V. Brower who in 1896 declared it to be the source of the Missouri in his book published by the Pioneer Press titled The Missouri river and its utmost source. He visited the site in 1895 and buried a copper plate upon which the name of the river and the date were engraved.
  The spring is 100 miles further than the spot Meriwether Lewis reported in 1805 as the source of the river above Lemhi Pass on Trail Creek. Both sources are near the Continental Divide in Montana. It is 298.3 miles upstream from where the name "Missouri River" is first used.
  Though the copper plate has not been located, the site of Brower's Spring is believed to be at about 8,800 feet on the north fork of where Hell Roaring Creek divides near its source. It is commemorated by a rock pile.
context_section_description: Brower's Spring is a spring in the Centennial Mountains of Montana that was marked by a surveyor in 1888 as the ultimate headwaters of the Missouri River and thus the fourth longest river in the world, the 3,902-mile (6,280 km)-long Mississippi-Missouri River.
  The spring is named for Jacob V. Brower who in 1896 declared it to be the source of the Missouri in his book published by the Pioneer Press titled  The Missouri river and its utmost source.  He visited the site in 1895 and buried a copper plate upon which the name of the river and the date were engraved.
  The spring is 100 miles (160 km) further than the spot Meriwether Lewis reported in 1805 as the source of the river above Lemhi Pass on Trail Creek.  Both sources are near the Continental Divide in Montana.  It is 298.3 miles (480.1 km) upstream from where the name  "Missouri River" is first used.
  Though the copper plate has not been located, the site of Brower's Spring is believed to be at about 8,800 feet (2,700 m)  on the north fork of where Hell Roaring Creek divides near its source.  It is commemorated by a rock pile.  Hell Roaring Creek flows west into the Red Rock River, which flows through Upper, then Lower Red Rock Lakes, west through Lima Reservoir, and then northwest into Clark Canyon Reservoir. From Clark Canyon Reservoir the Beaverhead River flows northeast to join the Big Hole River, forming the Jefferson River, which with the Madison and Gallatin Rivers form the Missouri at Missouri River Headwaters State Park at Three Forks, Montana.
  Brower's location is just below a ridge extending to the southeast from Mt. Jefferson 2 miles (3 km) to the northwest, and is 1.6 miles (2.6 km) southwest of the Sawtell Peak Observatory in Idaho, about 20 miles (32 km) southwest of West Yellowstone, Montana, and about 1,600 feet (500 m) southwest of the nearest point on the North American Continental Divide.  
  Brower's Spring is not listed as an official name on the Geographic Names Information System maintained by USGS.
caption: A probable location for Brower's Spring in Montana
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "5312", "Image ImageLength": "2988", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Make": "samsung", "Image Model": "SM-N920V", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CC 2014 (Windows)", "Image DateTime": "2017:01:22 01:57:55", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "300", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[44, 33, 0]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "W", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[111, 28, 27]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "2664", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[18, 5, 7]", "GPS GPSDate": "2016:08:09", "Image GPSInfo": "764", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1066", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7802", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/502", "EXIF FNumber": "19/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "40", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2016:08:09 12:05:13", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2016:08:09 12:05:13", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "897/100", "EXIF ApertureValue": "37/20", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "7", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "37/20", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "43/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2988", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "5312", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "28", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "B16LSIA00SM B16LSIL03SM"}