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Big Water Visitor Center

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Big Water Visitor Center
Big Water Visitor Center
Big Water Visitor Center
Big Water Visitor Center
Big Water Visitor Center
Big Water Visitor Center
Big Water Visitor Center
Big Water Visitor Center
Big Water Visitor Center
Big Water Visitor Center
Big Water Visitor Center
Big Water Visitor Center
Big Water Visitor Center
Big Water Visitor Center
Big Water Visitor Center
Big Water Visitor Center
Big Water Visitor Center
Big Water Visitor Center
Big Water Visitor Center
Big Water Visitor Center
Big Water Visitor Center
Big Water Visitor Center
Big Water Visitor Center
Big Water Visitor Center
Big Water Visitor Center
Phone:
+1 435-675-3200

Hours:
Sunday8am - 4:30pm
Monday8am - 4:30pm
TuesdayClosed
Wednesday8am - 4:30pm
Thursday8am - 4:30pm
Friday8am - 4:30pm
Saturday8am - 4:30pm


The Missouri River is the longest river in North America. Rising in the Rocky Mountains of western Montana, the Missouri flows east and south for 2,341 miles before entering the Mississippi River north of St. Louis, Missouri. The river takes drainage from a sparsely populated, semi-arid watershed of more than half a million square miles , which includes parts of ten U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. When combined with the lower Mississippi River, it forms the world's fourth longest river system.For over 12,000 years, people have depended on the Missouri River and its tributaries as a source of sustenance and transportation. More than ten major groups of Native Americans populated the watershed, most leading a nomadic lifestyle and dependent on enormous bison herds that once roamed through the Great Plains. The first Europeans encountered the river in the late seventeenth century, and the region passed through Spanish and French hands before finally becoming part of the United States through the Louisiana Purchase. The Missouri was long believed to be part of the Northwest Passage – a water route from the Atlantic to the Pacific – but when Lewis and Clark became the first to travel the river's entire length, they confirmed the mythical pathway to be no more than a legend. The Missouri River was one of the main routes for the westward expansion of the United States during the 19th century. The growth of the fur trade in the early 19th century laid much of the groundwork as trappers explored the region and blazed trails. Pioneers headed west en masse beginning in the 1830s, first by covered wagon, then by the growing numbers of steamboats entering service on the river. Former Native American lands in the watershed were taken over by settlers, leading to some of the most longstanding and violent wars against indigenous peoples in American history. During the 20th century, the Missouri River basin was extensively developed for irrigation, flood control and the generation of hydroelectric power. Fifteen dams impound the main stem of the river, with hundreds more on tributaries. Meanders have been cut and the river channelized to improve navigation, reducing its length by almost 200 miles from pre-development times. Although the lower Missouri valley is now a populous and highly productive agricultural and industrial region, heavy development has taken its toll on wildlife and fish populations as well as water quality.
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

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