Adsactly Education - Missouri River Part 3
Adsactly Education: Missouri River Part 3
In the first part of this series (available here) we covered the flow, geology and early history of the indigenous people of the Missouri. The second part (available here) detailed the part the river played in the westward expansion of the US.
Bridges and Dams
Do you think the first Transcontinental Railroad in the US actually connected the East and West coasts? You would be mistaken. The road actually ran from Omaha Nebraska to Sacramento California. The reason for that is because there was no bridge over the Missouri River. The Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869 but the bridge that actually connected to the east coast lines wasn’t built until 1872. Passengers could ride from New York City to near the river where they disembarked and rode a ferry across to Omaha where they picked up the train for Sacramento.
There is no possible way to overstate or overestimate the importance of the Railroads in the settlement of the Western United States. That bridge that the Union Pacific built over the Missouri River averaged 320 freight trains crossing it every 24 hours by 1888 when a new bridge was built.
The railroads changed the way the country viewed itself. The overland transcontinental travel time was reduced from at least 6 weeks to 6 days. People in the east started viewing the west as a part of the United States rather than some exotic place on the other side of the continent. Goods and materials flowed both ways over the plains. Products manufactured in the east built the west and raw material and food poured into the east.
The first dam on the river was Black Eagle Dam in the area of Great Falls Montana was built in 1891. It was built as a hydro electric project to bring power to Montana. It diverted part of the flow of the river into a hydro producing reservoir. In all, there are 5 hydro producing dams, all on the upper Missouri and all built by the 1930s. The Corps of Engineer Dams also produce a large amount of electricity making the Missouri a very large producer of power.
More imposing and impressive are the ‘flood control’ structures built by the Army Corps of Engineers. There are a total of six of these starting at the Ft. Peck dam in Montana and ending with Gavins Point Dam in Missouri. They were conceived after a number of serious floods that inundated cities and towns. Ft. Peck dam was constructed as a public works project during the great depression and completed in 1940. The six big dams built by the Corps of Engineers have huge reservoirs behind them which can hold up to three years of total flow of the river, making the reservoir system one of the largest in the world.
The impoundment basins behind the dams also provide irrigation water to more than 7500 sq miles (19,000 sq. km) of farmland, some of the most productive land on earth.
Navigation
Original navigation of the Missouri River was accomplished by the Native Americans with canoes and leather skinned boats. The fur traders started using rafts and barges to haul the furs to St. Louis where they were sold to furriers from the eastern US.
The first known Steamboat on the river was in service by 1819 ferrying mostly passengers going west and furs and timber going east. The Missouri was not as predictable as the Mississippi but there were still a large number of Steamboats running the river by the time of the Civil War. Shortly after the war the railroads started cutting into the Steamboat business and they all but disappeared from the river by the turn of the 20th Century.
By the early 20th Century engineers started straightening and deepening parts of the river so tugs could push barges all the way to Sioux City Iowa. As early as 1925 the Army Corps of Engineers took over building and maintaining the shipping channel in the Missouri. Small ‘wing dams’ and dredging made a relatively straight and clear channel to Sioux City. The Corps maintains that channel yet today.
A River at Risk
There are multiple factors which put the Missouri at risk. The long run through the alluvial Great Plains generates a staggering amount of sediment which can block channels and leave shipping traffic high and dry.
Construction of the ship channel has actually helped the sediment problem on the River but that sediment is piling up behind dams and naturally occuring barriers. At some point the dredging and channelization will not work. Coupled with a huge reduction in barge tonnage on the river there is talk about letting the river take it’s course which would put people and business at risk during a flood event.
Most of the river’s naturally occuring riparian zone in the multiple floodplains along the river have been removed in favor of farmland. This leads to terrible water quality from agricultural runoff and the increased flow zones when levees are constructed to protect the farmlands. It also leads to increased flood damage downstream because the historic flooding zones took some of the fury out of high water events. By protecting those zones with levees and channels more water ends up downstream faster. A bad mix in a flood event.
Manufacturing and industry along the river have also contributed to the degraded water quality, particularly in the lower river.
The Missouri has proven to be susceptible to global warming with it’s epic changes in flow rate. Two huge flood events and a prolonged drought already this century hint at more bad outcomes to people living along the river.
The Missouri River is a river at risk, and much of that risk has been generated by human engineering. For a waterway that is so vital to the well being of the entire continent amazingly little attention is being paid to it’s long term health.
While the words and ideas in this post are strictly those of the author this source was referred to by me to insure numerical and historical accuracy.
Wikipedia: Missouri River
Unsourced Photos are used courtesy of the author.
Authored by: @bigtom13
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It's time we started to respect the natural environment instead of destroying it. We still have time to do this, but not much. Reject the Super Sewer and vote for bringing our rivers back to life.
There is hope! The League believes that a healthy Missouri River will be able to produce self-sustaining fish and wildlife populations. We just need to work together to get there.
There is still time, particularly for the Missouri. But it takes willpower, and we seem to be lacking some of that commodity.
amazing post bro @ adsactly. yes the Missouri River was accomplished by the Native Americans. This river si the famous river inthe Native America.
I am very much happy to see that others doing the same and this would become the culture on the steem.
Thank you for everything you do to improve this already great platform. Much appreciation from me!
It certainly played a huge part, but I have one part left in the series. The Missouri's mother, the Mississippi. The impact on the entire continent is enormous.
😮! That’s something! It’s also hard to believe that all dams were built at the same time, before 1930, when all over the world wars were in its peak. But no matter what, Americans kept building (I think mostly immigrants from all over the world).
Why am I not surprised? I actually would be shocked if these issues were caused by nature.
Very interesting and educational series of Missouri River.
America did keep building through the entire depression. I read an estimate that the Missouri River Dams kept 50,000 Laborers employed steadily for 8 or 9 years.
Glad you enjoyed the series. It's always good to have you along.
Hello friend @bigtom13, how are you feeling? I hope you are well.... first of all I would like to apologize for all this time in which I was a little away from steemit and @adsactly, actually I was very busy with my final thesis degree, for all that I apologize, but well.... I'm back, maybe in one of these days I'll go to your discord chat and talk a little bit...
From what I read in your post this river seems very interesting to me, in fact I didn't know it existed, there's one thing that strikes me as particularly interesting is that salmon runs are worth more than $50 million a year for Idaho, a landlocked state. However, you also mentioned that this is not its net value, since it is very difficult to calculate because many are caught, however you mentioned that the total value is 500 million dollars.
Another thing that caught my attention is that this river is a source of renewable energy, since 65% of the hydroelectric energy produced in the northeast comes from here, without a doubt this river must continue to be exploited (in the good sense) but knowing that all the resources of this world are finite, that is to say that they can be exhausted, so it must be a correct exploitation.
This river has a lot to give, however the amount of money it generates is large, but it is very good to get as much benefit, as the generation of hydroelectric power, in short... Greetings to you friend @bigtom13 and to all the community of writers of @adsactly, without further ado I say goodbye, I hope for your next contents, greetings from Venezuela!
I'm really glad you are back. This platform begs for good people.
I agree with you entirely. We need to protect our rivers that give us so much. The Colorado provides drinking water to 40 million people. The Columbia/Snake provides power, transport and nearly incalculable fishery. The Missouri/Mississippi drains 45% of the US. We desperately need these rivers now and on into the future.
Thanks for a very valuable comment.
You are most welcome and thank you so much for your good support..
Wow excellent post, very instructive especially for those who do not know the history. The rivers were the main sources of food and shelter for man, and I loved knowing part of the history of this majestic and great Missouri River. In my country Venezuela, we have the Orinoco River, which is the largest and one of the most important in South America, possessing a rich fauna among which are the anacondas and large caimans. Thank you once again, I am a faithful believer that every day you learn something new and today I had to learn and know about the Missouri River and I thank you for it.
I am familiar with the Orinoco only through what I've read. Enough to know it is one of the great rivers of the world. But the rivers of the western US? Not just reading for those. I have been boots on the ground, butt in the water and in boats on all of them. There is nothing theoretical about these rivers for me. They are a part of my life.
Interesting, i have always been amazed by the architectural ideas and plans, their execution
Yes. There are bridges and dams on the river that are well over 100 years old.
Thanks for educational post ( sir or brother).
You are welcome.
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This was pretty good, just found you, so I think I will start following.
This was pretty good,
Just found you, so I think I
Will start following.
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thanks for sharing river information
Glad to do so. You are welcome.