236 
NAVIGABILITY' OF THE MISSOURI. 
twenty yards in width. The Missouri, for some miles above and below Linden Landing, varied 
in width from seven hundred to one thousand yards. 
From this place to near the mouth of the “Big Sioux” may be said to be the most dangerous 
part of the river for navigation. I was informed that there had been several steamboats lost 
not far from Linden Landing. 
The banks were low here, being destroyed by the current. 
On the 2d of June we passed the mouth of the Platte. In uniting with the Missouri, it forms 
a delta, and debouches through three channels; the upper is about three hundred and fifty, the 
middle two hundred, and the lower channel thirty yards wide. 
The delta is composed of sand-bars, which are covered with willow and cotton-wood. It is 
intersected by numberless sloughs. The valley of the river is about ten miles wide at its mouth, 
the bluffs which skirt the Missouri beginning to separate from that river and to extend themselves 
up the Platte, at points about five miles, above and below, from its mouth. As far as the eye 
could reach, in looking up the liver, these bluffs could be seen bordering its valley, and within a 
short distance of the river. They are known to border the valley of the Platte, at distances from 
the river varying from a few feet to four miles, to points some distance beyond the fork. A few 
miles above this point, and between the north and south branches, a dividing ridge commences, 
and widening to the westward, has its northern and southern slopes to continue at the aforesaid 
distances respectively from the two forks of the ri , er. Its top is very uneven, rising into mountains 
and peaks to the south, southwest, and west of Fort Laramie. 
From its mouth to Fort Laramie the Platte is about seven hundred miles long, and is a less 
tortuous stream than the Missouri. To the fork its average width is about one mile. The north 
fork varies in width from three hundred yards to half a mile. The south fork is a little wider, 
and otherwise partakes more than the other of the character of the river below the confluence. 
Below the fork, the bed of the stream is occupied with vast quantities of drifting sand or quick¬ 
sand, so that the average depth may not be more than three feet. The velocity of the Platte, 
during high water at Fort Laramie, has been found to be about six miles per hour. The differ¬ 
ence of level between the mouth and that point is about three thousand five hundred feet, while 
between the mouth and Fort Union it is about one thousand feet. Thus it would appear that the 
Missouri falls one foot in a mile, and has a velocity of near five miles an hour, while the Platte, 
falls five feet in a mile, and has a velocity of about six miles an hour. 
Nearly all the wood to be found on the Platte grows on the numerous islands which occupy its 
channel; these are generally well timbered with cotton-wood and willow. 
That river was low when we passed it, so that very little change was noticed in the appearance 
of the Missouri above the mouth of the Platte. I was told that in very high water the current of 
the Missouri appears, so to speak, cut in two by the rapid flow of the Platte. 
With respect to the agricultural capabilities of the valley of this river, it may be said, in general 
terms, that the Pawnee Indians, who mostly live on its banks, find but little difficulty in cultivating 
the Indian corn ; that at Fort Kearney, near Grand island, almost all kinds of vegetables, the In¬ 
dian corn, and some other species of grain, can be produced with success; that from the mouth to 
the fork the valley abounds with the most nutritious grass, which will support stock in summer, 
and from which may be procured a great quantity of hay for winter use; and that, for the most 
part, what has been said as to the cultivation of vegetables and grain, and the growth of grass, 
will apply to Fort Laramie and vicinity. But all these advantages, I would judge, are less than 
they would be in other climates, for the reason that in the portion of country under consideration 
the vicissitudes of the summer season are great; hail-storms and high winds being of frequent 
occurrence, and the supply of rain irregular. I would here remark that most of what I have 
said concerning the Platte is founded on observations made during a journey I performed several 
years since to and from Fort Laramie. 
From the information I have, I think I am justified in saying that the Platte cannot be availed 
