PISHES OF THE MISSOURI RIVER BASIN. 329 



After a careful consideration of the advantages and disadvantages 

 of each place, the Commissioner selected a site on Spring Branch, near 

 Manchester, Iowa, and the station is now under construction there. 



In the present paper are given the results of the examination of the 

 various streams visited in South Dakota, Nebraska, and Wyoming, 

 together with our report upon the large collections of fishes obtained. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 



During the progress of our work in 1892, and again in 1893, numerous 

 courtesies of one kind or another were shown us by various gentlemen 

 who are interested in the work of the Commission, and we desire here 

 to express our thanks to all these gentlemen for their many kindnesses. 

 Especial mention should be made of lion. George W. Holdredge, 

 general manager of the Burlington and Missouri River Eailroad ; Hon. 

 C. J. Ives, president of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern 

 Railroad, and lion. Roswell Miller, president of the Chicago, Milwaukee 

 and St. Paul Railroad, all of whom took an active interest in our work 

 and furnished facilities in the way of transportation which enabled us 

 to greatly extend the field of our investigations. 



(-apt. Frank A. Whittemore, of Long Pine; Mr. Fred Ingalls and 

 Mr. and Mrs. Blodgett, of Brown County, Nebr. ; Dr. John Dixon and 

 Messrs. John Elarlow and John Johnson, of Spearlish; Mr. J. P. P>ren- 

 nan, of Rapid City; Major Wolcott, of Glenrock, Wyo. ; Hon. Joseph 

 M. Carey, Hon. Henry A. Coffeen, and Mr. Charles L. Decker, of 

 Wyoming, all rendered us valuable assistance in various ways. 



The following gentlemen in Iowa showed us many courtesies: Col. 

 B. F. Shaw, ex-State fish commissioner, Cedar Rapids; Mr. T. J. 

 Griggs, of Spirit Lake, then State fish commissioner; William Mynster, 

 esq., Council Bluffs; Mr. J. A. Laird, Jesup; Mr. J. H. Larson, McGregor; 

 Mr. Frank S. Landers, Decorah; Mr. A. M. Sherwood, Manchester; 

 Mr. O. L. F. Browne, Des Moines; Prof. Herbert Osborn, Ames, and 

 E. T. Cowin, esq., Waterloo. 



THE MISSOURI RIVER BASIN. 



The Missouri is the longest river in North America, its headwaters 

 are among the Rocky Mountains of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado. 

 At numerous places its sources are but a few miles from those of the 

 Saskatchewan, the Columbia, and the Colorado. In northwestern 

 Montana are the sources of Milk River, which are said to he connected 

 directly with those of the Saskatchewan, while only a few miles to the 

 westward the drainage is into Flathead River and thence into the 

 Columbia. In southwestern Montana the headwaters of the Big Hole, 

 Beaverhead, Red Rock, and Madison, on one hand, closely approach 

 those of the Bitter Root, Salmon, and Snake on the other. In north- 

 western Wyoming, just south of the Yellowstone National Park, the 

 headwaters of the Columbia and Missouri actually unite in Two-Ocean 

 Pass, forming a continuous waterway from the mouth of the Columbia 

 to that of the Mississippi. 



