Silt caused great difficulties for navigators. The sediment that collected on sandbars forced the main channel to change its location or diverted the current through many small channels. Vessels passing over these bars between deep-water pools frequently ran aground. The channel changes caused by the bars increased erosion, added more silt to the river, and caused the silt to accumulate on the downstream bars. These changes occurred in continuous cycles.
The changes became most pronounced during high water stages and endangered vessels and farmland. In the three years after Suter submitted his 1881 report, the Engineers continued to experiment in the river with numerous procedures; however, with limited success.
Congress appropriated $850,000 in 1882 to begin the systematic improvement of the river for steamboat navigation. Suter had a fleet of 188 vessels which included barges, boats, pile drivers, and a floating machine shop.
The River and Harbor Bill of 1883 failed and those working on the river to improve navigation were discharged. Three of the men stayed on the job anyway and worked for forty-two days without pay to continue the survey. Finally, a new money bill was passed and the three men were paid for work which had been done earlier.
On the uppermost navigable portion of the Missouri between Fort Benton and Carroll, Montana – sometimes known as the “Rocky River” in contrast to the lower “Sandy River” – workers relied on conventional blasting to make the river more passable.
Difficulties did accompany the work required to make it easier to navigate the Missouri. Building materials were scarce so the Engineers opened quarries and used the steamer Emily to haul the stone. Emily’s inability to reach the quarries during periods of low water delayed the work. Secure places were identified where their boats could be protected from ice during the winter
Crews had to be hired from far-off St. Paul, Minnesota. Only after appropriations came could the workers make the journey from St. Paul to the jobsite by railroad and steamer. Despite these difficulties they were able to lengthen the navigable river by eighty-four miles in 1883 and added two months to the navigation season by deepening the river channel
Despite the efforts to increase commerce and the influence of the gold rush, navigation gradually declined on the western rivers after the Civil War. During the 1860’s, shallow-draft barges that carried their cargoes above the waterline appeared on the lower portion of the Missouri. These barges allowed a strong towboat to do more work than a conventional steamer.
The editor of the Kansas City Journal attempted to bring such a barge line to Kansas City in 1872. His reasoning was simple: barges hauled grain cheaper than railroad cars. The 1872 attempt failed as did another in 1877. In 1880, the Kansas City Board of Trade established a river service with a steamer and five barges. This line also eventually folded.
The expanding network of trans-Mississippi railroads was making its presence felt. River interests did not give up easily. Navigation conventions met in St. Louis in 1867, in Kansas City in 1880, and again in St. Louis in 1881. At a similar but better organized convention in St. Joseph later in 1881, delegates from Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri urged Congress to finance improvement of the river. They also asked for the establishment of a commission to oversee the improvements.
Congress responded favorably. In 1882, the lawmakers appropriated $850,000 for the Missouri. Two years later, they also yielded to pressure from basin residents for a single, comprehensive agency to manage improvements of the river. Improvements were made on the river from its mouth to Fort Benton. The work included snagging operations on the main stem above Sioux City and on the Yellowstone and a survey of the river above Great Falls.
It was reported that five acts of Congress had appropriated money for work at forty-three locations on the river with no useful results. By 1902 it was determined that the days of steamboating on the Big Muddy were over. Hiram Chittenden thought that the Missouri River Commission represented a “stupid attempt to reverse the edicts of destiny and accomplish the impossible.”
1907 was the best year for cargo carried on the lower portion of the river. This freight amounted to 843,000 tons; however, over 90 percent consisted of short-haul loads of rock, sand, and gravel. The best year above Sioux City came six years later. Again the cargo consisted mainly of rock, sand, and gravel. Below Sioux City, these items remained overwhelmingly the major cargo.
Local traffic in construction materials contributed nothing to long-distance commerce. Overall, interest in regulating the river for navigation reached the lowest ebb at the beginning of 1900. Little navigation occurred on the river from 1915 to 1932.
The millions spent by the Commission had no impact on Missouri River commerce. In fact, Crittenden sarcastically claimed that “the funds could have been as well spent on a railroad through Greenland.”
Author Author Clarence Shoemaker, originally published in the Gregory Times-Advocate on June 18, 2025