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Sioux Country |
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| The stretch of river between Sioux City, Iowa and Yankton, South Dakota is probably the most natural stretch of river left on the Missouri. It's much more like the river Louis and Clark knew. It is not channelized or dammed, and so it is more shallow and has a wider floodplain than the parts we have seen before. Also note the uneven shorelines and channels separated by islands and sandbars. People love to canoe this stretch. | |||||||||
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| At the town of Yankton, South Dakota, interpreters told Lewis and Clark that they were entering Sioux Country. They set the prairie on fire as a signal to the Yankton Sioux that they wanted to meet in council. It turned out that the Yankton Sioux were very friendly and were "willing to listen," but they said the tribes upstream would not be so nice! | |||||||||
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| The first of four dams in South Dakota is Gavins
Point Dam, just west of Yankton. The four dams create a series of lakes that change the character of the river markedly. Calumet Bluff, where Lewis and Clark met the Yankton Sioux, was located just downstream of the dam. The bluff was mostly torn down when the dam was built. |
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| The bluffs along south shoreline of today's Lewis
and Clark Lake catch the evening light. |
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| Storm clouds gather over the lake in the morning. | |||||||||
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