Great Falls of the Missouri River

Great Falls of the Missouri River
Black Eagle Falls and Dam in 1988
Location	Cascade County, Montana, United States
Coordinates	Coordinates: 47°34′12″N 111°07′23″W / 47.57000°N 111.12306°W / 47.57000; -111.12306
Total height	187 feet (57 m)
Number of drops	5
Longest drop	87 feet (27 m)
Watercourse	Missouri River
Average flow rate	7539 cu ft/s (213.5 m3/s)

The Great Falls of the Missouri River are a series of waterfalls on the Missouri River in north-central Montana in the United States. The five falls, which are located in a 10-mile (16 km) area of the river, are:

The Missouri River drops a total of 612 feet (187 m) from the first of the falls to the last, which includes 187 feet (57 m) of waterfalls and 425 feet (130 m) of riverbed descent. The Great Falls have been described as "spectacular", one of the "scenic wonders of America", and "a major geographic discovery".Meriwether Lewis said they were the grandest sight he'd beheld thus far in the journey of the Corps of Discovery.

The Great Falls of the Missouri River were depicted on the Montana Territory territorial seal, and became part of the State of Montana's state seal in 1893.

The Mandan Indians knew of the cataracts, and called them by a descriptive (but not formal) name "Minni-Sose-Tanka-Kun-Ya" or "the great falls." The South Piegan Blackfeet, however, had a formal name for Rainbow Falls, and called it "Napa's Snarling." No record exists of a Native American name for any of the other four waterfalls.

Four of the five waterfalls were given names in 1805 by American explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Both Meriwether Lewis and William Clark named Crooked Falls in their journals. Clark named three of the remaining waterfalls on his map: "Great Falls" (which retains its name to this day), "Beautiful Cascade" (now called Rainbow Falls), and "Upper Pitch" (now known as Black Eagle Falls). "Beautiful Cascade" was renamed "Rainbow Falls" in 1872 by Thomas B. Rogers, an engineer with the Great Northern Railway. Colter Falls received its name from Paris Gibson, in honor of John Colter (a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition). Black Eagle Falls is named for the black eagle which built a nest in a cottonwood tree on an island in the middle of the falls. It is not clear when the falls lost their original name of "Upper Pitch," but they had acquired their modern name by at least 1877.