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Little Missouri River
The Little Missouri River flows from south to northeast through the rugged badlands and rolling prairie of western North Dakota. The river
is the only river that the State has designated as a scenic river. The Little Missouri River flows through
the Little Missouri National Grasslands and Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
Captain Lewis
Friday, April 12, 1805, on the Missouri River, near the entrance of the Little Missouri River
. . . We proceeded on six miles and came too on the lower side of the entrance of the little Missouri on the Lard shore in a fine plain where we
determined to spend the day for the purpose of celestial observation. we sent out 10 hunters to procure fresh meat. at this place made
the following observations.
Point of Observation No 1.
Observed sun's magnetic azimuth with Circumfertr S. 88° E.
Time by Chronometer A.M. . . . . 8.h 20.m 25.s
Altitude by sextant 52°. 20'. 45".
Sun's Magnetic Azimuth by Circumferenter S. 87° E.
Time by Chronometer. . . . . . . . 8°. 25'.& 22".
Altitude by Sextant . . . . . . 53°. 55'. 30".
Observed equal altitudes of the sun with Sextant.
h m s
8. 30. 11. the P.M. observation
A.M. ". 31. 52.5 P.M. was lost in conse-
". 33. 31. quence of the Clouds.
Altd. by Sextant at the time of observation 55°. 28'. 45".
Observed Meridian altitude of the . s U.L. with Octant by the back observation 81°. 25'. 15".
Latitude deduced from this observation. . . .
Plath Sextant, 1890?, Historic Coast and Geodetic
Survey Collection |
Octant with Artificial Horizon, Historic Coast and
Geodetic Survey Collection
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The little Missouri disembogues on the S. side of the Missouri 1693 miles from the confluence of the latter with the Mississippi, it is 134
yards wide at it's mouth, and sets in with a bould current but it's greatest debth is not more than 2 1/2 feet. it's navigation is extreemly
difficult, owing to it's rapidity, shoals and sand bars it may however be navigated with small canoes a considerable distance. . .
Captain Clark
Friday, April 12, 1805, on the Missouri River, near the entrance of the Little Missouri River
 a fine morning Set out verry early. the murcury stood 56° above 0. proceeded on to the mouth of the Little Missouri river and
formed a camp in a butifull elivated plain on the lower side for the purpose of takeing Some observations to fix the Latitude & Longitude
of this river. this river falls in on the L. Side and is 134 yards wide and 2 feet 6 Inches deep at the mouth, it takes its rise in the N W
extremity of the black mountains, and through a broken countrey in its
whole course washing the N W base of the Turtle Mountain1 which is Situated
about 6 Leagues S W of its mouth, one of our men Baptiest who came down this river in a canoe informs me that it is not navagable, he was 45 days
descending. . . .
I walked out on the lower Side of this river and found the countrey hilley the soil composed of black mole & a small perportion of sand
containing great quantity of Small peable some limestone, black flint, & sand Stone
. . . . The wind blew verry hard from the S. all the after part of the day, at 3 oClock PM. it became violent & blowey accompanied with
thunder and a little rain. . . . the water of the little Missouri is of the same texture colour & quallity of that of the Big Missouri the after
part of the day so cloudy that we lost the evening observation.
Course & Distance of the 12th
N. 80° W. 4½ miles to the mouth of the Little Missouri River on the S.S.
Captain Lewis
 Saturday, April 13, 1805, on the Missouri River, near the entrance of the Little Missouri River
. . . . just above the entrance of the little Missouri the great Missouri is upwards of a mile in width, tho' immediately at the entrance of the
former it is not more than 200 yards wide and so shallow that the canoes passed it with seting poles. . . . we found a number of carcases of the Buffaloe lying along shore, which had been drowned by falling through the ice
in winter and lodged on shore by the high water when the river broke up about the first of this month. . . . Oserved more
bald eagles on this part of the Missouri than we have previously seen. saw the
small hawk, frequently called the sparrow hawk, which is common to most parts of
the U. States. great quantities of gees are seen feeding in the
praries. saw a large flock of white brant or gees with black wings pass up the
river; there were a number of gray brant with them; from their flight I presume
they proceed much further still to the N.W. we have never been enabled yet to shoot one of these birds, and cannot therefore determine whether
the gray brant found with the white, are their brude of the last year or whether they are the same with the grey brant common to the Mississippi and
lower part of the Missouri. . . .
Sunday, April 14th, 1805, on the Missouri River, north of the entrance of the Little Missouri River
. . . . the mineral appearances of salts,
coal and sulphur, together with birnt hills & pumice stone still continue. while we remained
at the entrance of the little Missouri, we saw several pieces of pumice stone floating down that stream, a considerable quanty of which had lodged
against a point of drift wood a little above it's entrance. . . .
. . . . the [Missouri] river continues wide, and not more rapid than the Ohio in an average state of it's current. the bottoms are wide and
low, the moister parts containing some timber; the upland is extreemly broken, chonsisting of high gaulded nobs as far as the eye can reach on
ether side, and entirely destitute of timber. on these hills many aromatic herbs are seen; resembling in taste, smel and appearance, the sage,
hysop, wormwood, southernwood, and two other herbs which are strangers to me; . . . the dwarf cedar and juniper is also found in great abundance on
the sides of these hills. where the land is level, it is uniformly fertile consisting of a dark
loam intermixed with a portion of fine sand. it is generally
covered with a short grass resembling very much the blue grass. the miniral appearances still continue; considerable quantities of
bitumenous water, about the colour of strong lye trickles down the sides of the
hills; this water partakes of the taste of glauber salts and slightly of allumn. . . .
Little Missouri River Entering the Missouri River
The Little Missouri River, in the upper left of the picture,
is entering the Missouri River in this USGS aerial photograph taken April 5,
1952.
Little Missouri River Entering Lake Sakakawea on the Missouri River
Due to the Garrison Dam, the Little Missouri River now enters a much wider body of water, Lake Sakakawea, than in the early 1800's. The river itself also has widened where it flows into Lake Sakakawea.
USGS aerial photograph taken June 16, 1995.
Current Streamflow Data
The USGS maintains gaging stations on the Little Missouri River. To view current water-level and streamflow data, click on the links below.
Water-Discharge and Water-Quality Records
To view water-discharge and water-quality records for stations on the Little Missouri River, click on the links below.
- Water Resources Data, North Dakota Water Year 2003, Volume 1. Surface Water
- Water Resources Data, North Dakota Water Year 2002, Volume 1. Surface Water
- Water
Resources Data, North Dakota Water Year 2001, Volume 1. Surface Water
- Water
Resources Data, North Dakota Water Year 2000, Volume 1. Surface Water
- Water Resources Data, North Dakota Water Year 1999, Volume 1. Surface Water
Footnotes
1 Both Lewis and Clark refer to the Turtle
Mountain, but it is assumed that they meant the Killdeer Mountains (Reid, 1947-48).
Both were geographically important landmarks for the Native Americans in the
region.
References
Anonymous, 1890?, Plath Sextant,
[theb2176, Historic C&GS Collection], Coast and Geodetic Survey (C & GS) Historic Image Collection from the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration: accessed July 17, 2001, at URL http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/htmls/theb2176.htm.
Anonymous, n.d., Octant with simple artificial horizon in the form of a
pendulum, [theb2175, Historic C&GS Collection], Coast and Geodetic Survey (C & GS) Historic
Image Collection from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration:
accessed July 16, 2001, at URL http://usasearch.gov/search?v%3aproject=firstgov-noaa-images&v%3afile=viv_870%4026%3aKuDqBK&v%3aframe=viewimage&v%3astate=root%7croot-20-20%7c0&id=Ndoc25&rpaid=&.
DeVoto, Bernard, ed., 1953, The Journals of Lewis and Clark: New York, Mariner Books Houghton Mifflin Company, 504 p.
Reid, Russell, ed., 1947-48, Lewis and Clark in North Dakota: Reprinted from North Dakota History, published by the State Historical Society of North Dakota, vol. 14-15, 359 p.
Stolz, Gary M., n.d., Snow Geese and Sandhill Cranes, WO8231-001, National Image Library of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service: accessed October 9, 2002, at URL http://images.fws.gov.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park, n.d., Banks of the Little Missouri: accessed July 2, 2001,
at URL http://www.nps.gov/thro/slides/test1.htm.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park, 1963, Little Missouri River Valley: accessed July 2, 2001, at URL http://www.nps.gov/thro/bw/index.htm.
Travel Montana, ed., n.d., The Journals of Lewis and Clark: accessed June 4, 2001, at URL http://lewisandclark.state.mt.us/Journals/toc.shtm.
U.S. Geological Survey, April 5, 1952, The Little Missouri River Entering the Missouri
River, Photograph courtesy U.S. Geological Survey EROS Data Center.
U.S. Geological Survey, 1995, The Little Missouri River Entering the Missouri River on Lake Sakakawea: accessed June 19, 2001, at URL http://terraserver.homeadvisor.msn.com/image.asp?S=16&T=1&X=54&Y=412&Z=13&W=2.
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U.S. Department of the Interior |
U.S. Geological Survey
