So, immigrants completed their journey overland - by foot, wagon and horse until advent of the railroads.

Still, steamboats like Grant Marsh's Far West supported troops in battles such as the historic confrontation at the Little Big Horn. Carrying troops and supplies was a vital function of the steamers and permitted rapid troop movements. Lumber, livestock and hardware also moved on the rivers. Steamboat traffic set new records in the 1870s and Congress appropriated funds for channel improvements. Dikes and bank protection work soon supplemented the earlier snagging efforts accomplished by the Army Corps of Engineers.

However, by 1878 river traffic had declined to a trickle only 50,000 tons and river improvements paid for themselves only inasmuch as they protected adjacent land from eroding into the maw of the river.

FLOODING AND PICK-SLOAN

Despite reduced commercial traffic, advantages of continued Corps work on the river were obvious. Flood damages were reduced, and ultimate construction of main stem dams bore promise of greater benefits through still further reduction of flood damages and the addition of hydroelectric power generation for an energy hungry nation.

Severe flooding has challenged Man since he began living along the Missouri River. A major problem arose in 1844 when the river crested from 12 to 17 feet above flood stage. Subsequently, a still worse flood struck in 1881, followed by destructive inundations in 1903, 1904 and 1905. Less critical but still severe floods devastated the valley in prior years.

The cycle of flood and drought continued into the 1920s and eventually Congress took action, commissioning the Army Corps of Engineers through House Document 308 in 1927 to complete a series of reports. The 1245-page "308 Report" for the Missouri basin covered potential power development and irrigation possibilities as well as flood damage prevention and navigation aid.

The reports marked the first time the Federal government considered as feasible massive dams on the main stem of the river which would be multiple purpose projects.

Construction of Fort Peck began in the fall of 1933, a makework project initiated by the New Deal under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In a nation suffering through a historic drought and the Great Depression, the sparsely settled area in eastern Montana became a paradox a construction project flourishing in a Wild West atmosphere of boom towns teeming with migrant laborers and opportunistic entrepreneurs.

The massive structure (largest hydraulically earth-filled dam in the world) stretched four miles across the valley and towered 275 feet above the river channel. The lake formed behind the dam reached more than 165 miles upstream.

The impressive project went far toward taming the irascible Missouri. For example, in the historic flood of 1952, Fort Peck was credited with shaving an entire foot off the crest at Omaha. But alone, it was not enough.

Meanwhile, in the Flood Control Act of 1944, Congress authorized the celebrated Pick-Sloan program, a marriage of proposals put forth by the Army Corps of Engineers and the

The Missouri River's breathtaking beauty

above Fort Peck Dam belies the nickname, "Big Muddy."

Bureau of Reclamation. The program was championed by two innovators in the water resources field Lewis A. Pick, Missouri River Division Engineer who would ultimately serve as Chief of Engineers, and W. Glen Sloan, regional engineer for the Bureau.

Trigger for the basin-wide plan was the massive floods of the early 1940s, some of which approached the magnitude of the 1881 super flood. Not only were these disasters major blows for river communities, but they raised the possibility that the war effort would be affected.

Fort Peck was incorporated into Pick-Sloan, and the next two main stem projects begun under the joint plan were dams at Fort Randall, S.D., and Garrison, N.D., in 1946. Power generation units at both dams were in operation by 1956. The massive 230mile reservoir behind Oahe Dam at Pierre, S.D., began forming in 1958 after a decade of construction.

Lowermost of the six, Gavins Point near Yankton, S.D., was begun in 1952 and created 25-mile long Lewis and Clark Lake, a vacationer's dream in the dry lands of the Midwest. The last major dam was begun in 1959 at Big Bend near Fort Thompson, S.D. Power at Big Bend "went on the line" in 1964.

What of the ledger sheet?

Taxpayers spent $1.146 billion for the six impressive projects but, from an economic stand point, they remain one of the nation's best investments.

Through Fiscal Year 1979, the projects are credited with preventing flood damages in excess of $1.533 billion more than their total cost. Revenues from power generation have totaled $990 million. Annual maintenance cost for the dams, based on the average for the past three years, is $19.6 million.

MODERN NAVIGATION

River navigation, of course, "bottomed out" in the late nineteenth century, but the advantage of continuing the work for flood reduction kept the project alive and popular with residents along the river's banks. Recurring floods, coupled with the enervating drought of the 30s, increased popular interest in maintaining a stable river through the wet and dry cycles. This led to construction of the main stem and tributary reservoirs which were part of Pick-Sloan.

The resurgence of navigation began in the latter half of this century. In 1947, total commodity movement on the Missouri, Sioux City, IA., to the mouth, was 304 thousand tons. However, by 1979 shipments exceeded 3.3 million tons a thousand percent increase. Corps of Engineers involvement with the Missouri River basin during the period has been beneficial by many measuring sticks, but it also has earned its share of criticism and comment from the public.

The rebirth of commercial navigation on the Missouri is the result of several factors, economic and political. Early authorizations called for a six-foot deep navigable waterway; whereas, the 1945 Congressional authorization increased the dimensions to 300 feet wide by nine feet deep and provided for a series of structural works for stabilization of the river banks.

Since no locks and dams are located in the navigable reach of the Missouri, it is considered an open river waterway. It depends on regulation of flow from the upstream dams and reservoirs. To maintain full service to navigation, target flows are maintained at 31,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) at Sioux City and 41,000 cfs at Kansas City.

Objective of the Corps of Engineers program in constructing the authorized project has been to control the river by "training