206 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. 



mouth of the Big Sioux River, from which point to 

 the mountains they are observed in great numbers, in 

 places where beavers are most numerous. They fur- 

 nish another conspicuous illustration of the fact that 

 they possess a free intelligence, by means of which 

 they are enabled to adapt themselves to the circum- 

 stances in which they are placed. 



This great river, which has been so frequently re- 

 ferred to in these pages, presents to the tourist many 

 striking features. I am tempted to make a digression 

 for the purpose of noticing a few of them. It runs 

 for three thousand miles through the great central 

 prairie area of the continent without being inter- 

 rupted by a waterfall, or traversed by a mount- 

 ain chain. It is a great river from its mouth to the 

 Falls of the Missouri, which are within the Rocky 

 Mountain chain ; and it is navigable at certain seasons 

 by steamers of the first class, within forty miles of the 

 falls. In width it varies from a mile and a half to a 

 third of a mile, rarely contracting its channel within 

 a quarter of a mile when its banks are full. Its cur- 

 rent, which is rated by river men at from four to five 

 miles per hour, exceeds, in rapidity, that of any other 

 navigable river within the United States. By means 

 of its powerful current it is able to hold in suspension 

 the great amount of earthy materials that impart to 

 its waters their deep yellowish color. From this cir- 

 cumstance, also, it derived its aboriginal name, Ne- 

 shd-ja, which, in the dialect of the Kaws, signifies 

 "the muddy river."- 



^ "With reference to the range of the Missouri between low 

 and high water, but little can be said. It is about thirty-five feet 

 at the mouth; twenty feet at St. Joseph's, Missouri; and still 



