the junction of three rivers--the Jefferson, the Gallatin and the
Madison. By a strange incongruity, the headwaters of the Missouri are
within a mile of those of the Columbia, although the two rivers run in
opposite directions, the Columbia entering the Pacific Ocean and the
Missouri finding an inlet to the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi. At
a distance of 441 miles from the extreme point of the navigation of the
head branches of the Missouri, are what are denominated as the "Gates of
the Rocky Mountains," which present an exceedingly grand and picturesque
appearance. For a distance of about six miles the rocks rise
perpendicularly from the margin of the river to the height of 1,200
feet. The river itself is compressed to the breadth of 150 yards, and
for the first three miles there is but one spot, and that only of a few
yards, on which a man can stand between the water and the perpendicular
ascent of the mountain.

At a distance of 110 miles below this point, and 551 miles from the
source, are the "Great Falls," nearly 2,600 miles from the egress of the
Missouri into the Mississippi River. At this place the river descends by
a succession of rapids, and falls a distance of 351 feet in sixteen and
one-half miles. The lower and greater fall has a perpendicular pitch of
98 feet, the second of 19, the third of 47 and the fourth of 26 feet.
Between and below these falls there are continuous rapids of from 3 to
18 feet descent. The falls, next to those of Niagara, are the grandest
on the continent.

Below the "Great Falls" there is no substantial obstruction to
navigation, except that during the midsummer and fall months, after the
July rise, there is frequently insufficient water for steamboating. This
results from the fact that, although the Missouri River drains a large
area of country and receives many tributaries, some of which are