Missouri

(mis-soo're,) a great river of the N. American continent, being the most important affluent of the Mi i ippi. It takes its rise by two forks in the E. watershed of the Rocky Mts., bet. N. Lat. 42°-48°, the most N. one of which, the M. proper, having its source in N. Lat. 45°, W. Lon, 110° 30′, flows E. and N. for a distance of 620 m., receiving many feeders, and pa ing over a fall of 170ft. in height; the other arm, the Yell ono stone, rising bet. N. Lat. 42-44°, joins the M. proper in N. Lat. 48° 10′, W. Lon. 104°, after a N.N.E. course of upwards of 900 m., after which the united stream enters the Mi i ippi at a point nearly midway bet. Alton and St. Louis, after flowing through an extent of 3,130 m. of country. The principal affluents of the M. are the Platte, Kansas, Osage, Grand, and Char it on rivers, and it is fairly navigable from the Mi i ippi as far up as the Falls, adi stance of 2,575 m., although obstructions in the shape of sand-bars and rapids occur at various points. Its waters are muddy, with a current ranging from 5 to 8 m. per hour. Mi ouri. A central State of the American Republic, bet. N. Lat. 36° 30′-40° 30′, and W. Lon. 890-95° 30′, b. N. by Iowa, E. by Illinois (the Mi i ippi constituting the frontier-line), S.E. by Kentucky, S. by Arkansas, and W. by Kansas and small portions of Indian Ter., and Nebraska. Length from E. to W. 318 m.; greatest breadth 280 m. Area, 65,350 sq. m., or 41,824,000 acres. The State of M. presents quite a variety of surface flat plains, rolling prairies, wooded and ridgy tracts. In the S.W. the Ozark Mts. occupy a large section of the country lying S. of the Mi ouri river; W. of this region the land widens out into broad, undulating prairies, cut here and there by river-bottoms and watercourses. N. of the Mi ouri, the surface becomes more elevated and broken, with the exception of the " divide " between the rivers which, flowing parallel, respectively join the two great parent streams-this part constituting a high and dead-level plain, traversed by the N. Mi ouri line of railroad. Besides the Mi i ippi and Mi ouri, this State is drained by the Kansas,Grand, Char it on, Osage, and Salt-all rivers of considerable magnitude. In the SE. angle a few lagoon-like lakes are found. The geological and mineralogical features of the State are extremely rich and important, presenting quite a variety of strata belonging to the quaternary, tertiary, carboniferous, Devonían, and Silurian systems. The extent of the coal-measures alone, covering an area of abt. 26,000 sq. m. in the N.W., has been estimated at 130,000,000,000 tons. Iron-ore is found in almost inexhaustible quantities, and is being mined to important results; the 15 blast-furnaces in present operation in the State yielding abt. 133,000 tons of pig-iron yearly. Rich mines of zinc, and some of copper, nickel, and cobalt, may be also mentioned in juxtaposition with the above. As yet, however, the wonderful mining resources of M. are in their infancy. The soil of M. is as various as its geological formation, presenting earths of all grades from the light sandy to the stiff loams and clays. The river-bottoms and uplands are heavily timbered, and the prairies afford admirable supplies of gra es. In 1870 the acres of land in farms were: improved 9,130,615; unimproved woodland 8,965,229; other unimproved 3,611,376;- the cash value of land was $392,908,047; of farming implements and machinery $15,596,426. In the same year the value of forest products was $793,343, of home manuf. $1,737,606. The value of live-stock was $84,285,273. The farm crops in 1870 were as follows: wheat 14,315,926 bhs.; rye 559,532bhs.; Indian corn 66,034,075 bhs.; oats 16,578,313 bhs.;barley 269,240 bhs.; buckwheat 36,252 bhs.; tobacco 12,320,483 lbs.; cotton 1,246 bales; wool 3,649,390 lbs.; peas and beans 43,986 bhs.: potatoes (Irish) 4,238,361, (sweet)211,253 bhs.; wine 326,173 gls.; butter 14,455,825 lbs.; cheese 204,090 lbs.; hay 615,611 tons; clover 2,494 bhs.; hops 19,297 lbs.; flax 16,613 lbs.; maple sugar 116,980 lbs.; (mola es) sorghum 1,730,171, and maple 161,317 gls.; beeswax 35,248, and honey 1,156,444 lbs. The railroad system of the State is in course of rapid and active development, year by year. The total length in 1879 was over 4,000 m. Up to 1875, $142,000,000 had been thus expended. The political divisions of M. form 114 cos., with St. Louis, Jefferson City (the cap.), Kansas City, St. Joseph, and Springfield, as the principal urban centres. The governor of the State is elected for 4 years, and is not again eligible till after the lapse of a like period. The senate is composed of 33 members elected for 4 years, and a house of representatives of 97 members elected for 2 years. M. sends 13 delegates to the Federal Congre . In 1870 the a e ed value of real estate was $418,527,535, of personal estate $137,602,434. In the same year the State debt amounted to $46,909,865. Education throughout the State is largely diffused on a broad and liberal basis-the public school fund reaching an amount of $1,674,986. The outstanding public debt, in the fiscal year closing Dec. 31, 1870, stood at$17,866,000, showing a reduction of $728,000 over the balance of the year before. English colonists obtained a footing in M. during the early part of the 18th cent., and entered into trading relations with the Indians; they were followed by the French who, about 1750, founded St. Louis and other settlements in the Mi i ippi Valley. Between 1762 and 1800 it became a portion of the Spanish po e ions in N. America. In the last-named year it reverted to its prior occupiers, who ceded it to the U. States three years later. In 1812 M. became a territory, and on March 2, 1821, a State of the Union. In 1864 the abolition of slavery within its limits was declared; and, in 1868, after having sided with the cause of Sece ion during the late Civil War, this State gave in its adhesion to the 15th Amendment of the National Constitution. Pop. 1,721,295. [s. 607]