The Missouri, or Muddy river, has an ordinary width of one to three miles; its length, up to the Three Forks, is nearly 3,300 [2,546] miles. It goes winding down this long course and often changes its channel, thus rendering very watchful and expert pilots necessary, who judge the depth of water by the appearance of the surface, and in spots where the water spreads out over a wide expanse they have recourse to the lead.
In the season of high water, in spring, the Missouri has generally two great rises. The first begins with the melting of the snows on the immense plains of the West. Then the numerous tributary streams discharge their superabundance of water into the mother river, which gathers them all into its vast bed. The second rise comes down from the Rocky Mountains and their subordinate chains, the chief of which in the upper country are the Black Hills, the Bell Mountains, the Little Rocky Mountains, the Bear Paw Range, the Coteau of the Prairies, etc. All these masses of water united often form an impetuous and irresistible torrent, which cuts away whole fields from one side and forms sandbanks and bars on the other. The water filters and penetrates into, and saps the base even of the high hills and bluffs that line the river, which crumble beneath their weight and often drop down to the river surface, or disappear entirely in its bed. These bluffs and hills, cut in half, are very numerous and remarkable, and reveal to the geologist all the different layers of which they are formed, to a height of more than a hundred feet.
When the boat stops to cut and load wood, which takes ordinarily one to two hours, some passengers busy themselves fishing or hunting, while the greater number go walking over the adjacent hills or through the forests along the river, making bouquets of the flowers of the wilderness or picking up shells and petrifactions of various varieties. Geologists and amateurs of natural science examine the diverse formations and layers of the soil. I will give you a