The Center for Western Studies (CWS) at Augustana University has published its latest book titled “The Missouri, America’s Longest River: A Cultural and Environmental History,” edited by Drs. Jon K. Lauck and Harry F. Thompson. The official launch of “The Missouri” will take place at the 58th annual Dakota Conference on the Northern Plains on Thursday, April 23, and Friday, April 24.
“The collection is a treasure chest of current information about the Missouri River, spanning the length of this mountain-plains artery, from Three Forks, Montana, to St. Louis, Missouri. The chapters consider early tribal peoples, exploration and military incursions; railroads and dams, outlaws and ghost towns, literature and art inspired by the river; birds, fish and forests; politics, environmental advocacy and the Russell National Wildlife Refuge,” said Thompson, executive director of the CWS.
The 470-page anthology (ISBN 978-0-931170-92-8) consists of 32 essays by 35 historians, scientists and writers. The book reads like an extended conversation, with each essay adding knowledge to our understanding of the Missouri River — in some cases even debating historical events and environmental impacts. Confronted with such a monumental river flowing out of the West, 20th-century America had to learn how to live with and eventually manage such an abundant and unruly water resource — and at what cost.
Mississippi River steamboat pilot Mark Twain called the Missouri River a “savage river” and claimed it was “too thick to drink and too thin to plow.” So tortuous was navigating the river and avoiding the sunken trees, as seen in Karl Bodmer’s engraving on the cover, pilots were paid the equivalent of $60,000 per month at the height of the steamboat era. “We used to separate the men from the boys at the mouth of the Missouri. The boys went up the Mississippi and the men up the ‘Big Muddy,’” exclaimed Capt. William L. Heckman.
“Everyone lives in a river valley, although its history is not always known or discussed. Millions of people in the center of the country live in the valley of the Missouri, the nation's longest river, and this great new book tells its story with great depth and from many angles,” said Lauck, editor-in-chief of “Middle West Review,” editor of the “The Oxford Handbook of Midwestern History” and author of “The Good Country.”
“The Missouri” is part of the CWS’ anthology series, which includes “Old Trails and New Roads in South Dakota History,” “Heartland River: A Cultural and Environmental History of the Big Sioux River,” “The Interior Borderlands: Regional Identity in the Midwest and Great Plains,” and “Conservation on the Northern Plains: New Perspectives.”
“The Missouri, America’s Longest River: A Cultural and Environmental History” can be purchased in the CWS Gift Shop, located in the Fantle Building on Augustana University’s campus, through the University of Nebraska Press or on Amazon.
About the Center for Western Studies
Founded by English professor and Writer-in-Residence Herbert Krause in 1964 and officially established by the Augustana Board of Trustees in 1970, the Center for Western Studies (CWS) is one of the earliest regional studies centers in America. Today, in addition to research and publishing, the center is the sponsor of the Boe Forum on Public Affairs, Dakota Conference on the Northern Plains and Artists of the Plains.