Enter a city

The Indians had previously warned Lewis and Clark about the Great Falls of the Missouri River. On June 13, 1805, the expedition arrived at the first of the five falls. Lewis described the falls and made careful notes of the heights of each. The first and highest stood at almost 90 feet. From start to finish, the falls brought the level of the Missouri down almost 400 feet. Lewis' journal called the falls "truly magnificent and sublimely grand." Lewis didn't have much more time to appreciate the view before being chased into the river by a grizzly bear, and soon after encountered a bobcat. The route around the series of falls was one of the greatest obstacles faced by the expedition. Lewis and Clark had believed the portage around the falls would take a week, but it took them a month. The Falls today bear very little resemblance to the series of five cataracts that Lewis described. In the early 1900's five dams were built to supply power to the region, and most of the falls are now submerged. Four days after leaving the Great Falls, the expedition came upon "the most remarkable clifts that we have yet seen", Lewis wrote. He estimated that they soared 1,200 feet above the River from the water’s edge and stretched for nearly six miles. Lewis described them as "dark and gloomy" and called it the "Gates of the Rocky Mountains". Due to today's dams on the river, the water is deeper so the cliffs are not as high.