Description
The longest river in the United States. Heads in Montana at the junction of the Jefferson River and the Madison River, flows generally SE to the Mississippi River N of St. Louis. Forms parts of the SD-NE, NE-IA, NE-MO and KS-MO boundaries. The lowest elevation in NE at 840 feet near Richardson.
History
The popular but erroneous conception that the name means "muddy water" arose from the fact that Marquette gave it the indigenous name "Pekitanoui" meaning "muddy". Early white explorers first called the stream "Missouri" after a tribe of Indians who lived on its banks and whose name meant "people with wooden canoes." (Robert Ramsay placename file). The variant name "Emasulia Sipiwi" means "river of boatmen" in the Peoria language.