Its chief tributary, the Platte, rises like itself in the Rocky Mountains and extends its course nearly 2,000 [ I,00o] miles. Though it is a mile wide at the mouth yet it is shallow, as its name indicates, and is not navigable.' The two Nemahas flow from the south and the Little Platte from the north. The Kansas, on the south side, is about 1,ooo miles long and is navigable to a great distance. Grand river from the north is a wide, deep and navigable stream. The two Charitons are found on the same side, while the Osage and Gasconade rivers enter from the south. The former is an important stream, navigable for 6oo [300] miles, and has its sources near the waters of the Arkansas; whilst the latter, though navigable only for sixtysix miles, is equally important, on account of the fine large pine forests that supply St. Louis and the adjacent country with lumber.
I shall say nothing of the many other less remarkable tributaries of the Missouri, such as the Blue, the Mine, the Bonne Femme, the Manitou, the Muddy, the Loutre, the Cedar, the Buffalo, the St. Johns, the Wood river, the Charette, Bonhomme, Femme Osage, etc. The length of the Missouri, from its sources to the Yellowstone, is 88o [1,1oo miles from Three Forks] miles, from the Yellowstone to its junction with the Mississippi, is about 2,200 11,76o]. I subjoin a list of the forks of its great tributaries which I have seen and crossed.'
7 It was navigated in canoes.and bullboats, like the Cheyenne, White, and other streams which Father De Smet classes as navigable.
s Father De Smet's list of rivers is omitted here and the subioined list given instead.
Following is a table of the more important streams of the great Missouri Basin, so often referred to by Father De Smet:
Mississippi-Missouri river, length, 4,221 miles.
Missouri proper, length from Red Rock lake, source of the Jefferson, 2,945 miles; from the Three Forks, 2,547 miles.