Great Falls to Headwaters
Today 's Great Falls of the Missouri bear very little resemblance to the series of five cataracts that Lewis described. In the early 1900s five dams were built to supply electric power to the region, and most of the falls are now submerged under the resulting impoundments. "A roaring too tremendious to be mistaken for any cause short of the great falls of the Missouri ....this truly magnifficent and sublimely grand object." ...Meriwether Lewis. It took a month to portage the canoes overland around the falls.

As the explorers continued up river, they came to a dramatic canyon cut through imposing cliffs. "Every object here wears a dark and gloomy aspect. The towering and projecting rocks in many places seem ready to tumble on us....from the singular appearance of this place, I called it the gates of the rocky mountains."
-- Meriwether Lewis.

There are two sites that modern experts have identified as possible locations of Lewis' gates of the Rocky Mountains. This photo shows the first of the two.
The second possible site of the "gates of the rockies" has cliffs that are more vertical, but the rock is lighter in color, and experts disagree on whether it is the better fit for Lewis' description. Why is this photo so blue? Our flying conditions are very difficult today. Low level turbulence and windshear, due to a frontal passage, forced us to climb to 9000 feet to find air that was smooth enough to open the window and take a photo that was in focus. From that height, many of the warm colors are lost. It's just like taking a photo deep underwater, where only the blue rays can penetrate through the distance.

 

 

 

A ground-level view shows where the canoes of the expedition emerged from the "gates of the rockies." Here the exit from the canyon looks like a cave in the wall of rock.
The Missouri cuts through a multi-level landscape. The Rockies are in the distance, and perched grasslands and colorful rock bluffs are in the foreground.
The expedition continued upstream through country that was rough and inhospitable. "Our trio of pests still invade and obstruct us on all occasions, these are the Musquetoes eye knats and prickley pears, equal to any three curses that ever poor Egypt laiboured under..."
--Meriwether Lewis.
The confluence of three tributaries near the town of Three Forks, Montana is now designated as the headwaters of the Missouri River. Lewis and Clark named the three tributaries (looking upstream from left to right) the Gallatin, the Madison and the Jefferson Rivers. Sacagawea, a Shoshone, remembered this as the place where she had been kidnapped by the Hidatsas as a child.
Go Back to Main Page Next Area