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<br />MISSOURI RIVER BASIN
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<br />REPORT OF THE BOARD OF ENGINEERS FOR RIVERS AND HARBORS
<br />
<br />WAR DEPARTMENT,
<br />THE BOARD OF ENGINEERS FOR R,VERS AND HARBORS,
<br />Washington, August 123, 1943.
<br />Subject: Missouri River, mouth to Siom, City, Iowa.
<br />To: The Chief of Engineers, United States AI'my.
<br />1. This repor,j, is in response to the following resolution adopted
<br />May 13, 1943:
<br />Resolved. by the Commil.tee on Flood Control, HOll8e of Reprc$~ntative8, That.the
<br />Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors, created under section 3 of the RIVer
<br />and Harbor Act approved June 13, 1902, be, and is hereby, reQllested to review
<br />the report on the Missouri R~\-'er cOlltained jn House Document, No. ~3B, Sevc~lt,'y-
<br />third Congress, sec<?nd se~slon, a!ld House DO~ll.ment No. 821, :-;e\'en.t.y-sl>;:th
<br />Congress t.hird seSSion, wlt.h a VIew to d~termlDmg whether any modificatIOn
<br />should b~ made therein at this time with f<!spect to flood control along t.he main
<br />stem of the Missouri River from Sioux City, fawn, to its mouth.
<br />2. The Jvfissouri River has its source in southwestern 11ontunft,
<br />flows generally east and south lor 2,460 miles Lhl"ough Or nlong se\e,ll
<br />States, and empties into the Mississippi River 17 miles above St. Louis,
<br />Mo. It drains 52Y,:l50 square miles consisting lurgely of plains but
<br />including also east.erly slopes of the Rocky !\.1ountains and other rugged
<br />areas. About 60 percent of the watershed is upstream from Sioux
<br />City,. Iowa, 7GO Iniles above t.he river month. The principal tribu-
<br />taIies.lJelow Sioux City are the Platte and Kansas Rivers from t.l>c
<br />west n:nd the Grand, Osage, find Gasconade Rivers in ~1issouri. The
<br />average annual precipit,ation ranges from 26 incites at Sioux City to
<br />40 inches nt thc'rly~rmollth. The soils fire, very fertilr: and ngriculture
<br />is the predo'm:~!,l@t 'ln~lll u~c: Sioux Cit.y... the Kansas Cit.ys! at J.!lilc
<br />377, and the In.T:Btvemng el(,>Cs of Omah!", Nebr., and COllncl1 Bluffs,
<br />Iowa, on opposite sidcs of thn Missouri River at mile 6:32, cont.aiu
<br />nlany major industries nnd inlportnnt railroad faeilities. During
<br />drought periods t.he regions in t.be vjcinit,y of Deyils Lake and Jmnes
<br />Ri-:er in the Dakotas become s.o short of \\'nte.r t,lInt the entire popu-
<br />latIOn both human find animnl is subject to grpat llftrdships. The
<br />p~oblem of a possible diversion of wateI' from t,he Ilpper'j\lissollri
<br />RIver to .those areas has been under consideration for ,ft long period.
<br />3., qongress has nut.horized iIllprovc-ment of thE: ~lissollri H.iveI' for
<br />DiI,vigntioll to see-llJ.c a minimum I<;:m( water dept.h of H feef, between the
<br />mouth and Sioux City by means of bank revetment, c0nst.l'uction of
<br />permeable dikes to contrnct the low waterchanllel ilnd st.tlbilize the
<br />wat.erway, and I~y drcd~ing. Alt,hough this work has not heen COlH~
<br />pletc>d, cOBlm~rcUl.l use IS made of the river and the const,ruction ac-
<br />complished Iwsrenioved the threat of bank erosion and the occurrence
<br />of cut-01f8lKf.ich \\'t'-rc formerly verv destructive of bordering propc/'-
<br />t~cs and CT;:O~~. P~iml1.l"ily to impro~\;e the low wftter flows for Bllvigrt-
<br />t,lOn, the UnIted :Stotes has constructed Fort, Peck Reservoir, wit,b
<br />storage cnpnC'lty of 19,500,000 acre-feet, on the l\fissouri River in
<br />l\Iolltuna. Recently a ]lower pln.nt with 35000 kilowatt capaeitv to
<br />gcnerat.e powel' for irrignt.ion pm)lpnge n.nd 10t,her purposes hus been
<br />placed !n opemtlOn at F~rt Peck Dam. By storing flood waters this
<br />reserv~lr also produces Inrge.tiooLl-control benel1t.s. .
<br />4. 111'0 t,ypes of se"ere general floods, known as March and June
<br />floods from the m.onths in which they usually occur, arc characteristic
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