http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/JOURNALS/LEWIS.html from Lewis & Clark's Journals: "Set out early. Passed a small creek and two small islands on the S.S. Five men sick today with violent headache, &c. We made some arrangements as to provisions and messes. Came to for dinner at the lower point of a very large island situated near the S.S. After a delay of two hours we passed a narrow channel 45 to 80 yards wide five miles to the mouth of Nodaway River. Captain Clark, 8 July 1804 " Anyone interested in the river, the land use or the look of the area in the early 1800s should pull up this site: http://www.conservation.state.mo.us/fish/watershed/nodaway/landuse/280lutxt. htm HISTORIC AND RECENT LAND USE Prairies dominated the landscape of the Nodaway River basin prior to settlement. Small areas of upland timber were restricted to deep narrow ravines. The timber was often found only in isolated pockets at the upper end of the ravines. Common prairie species included Indian grass, big and little bluestem, buffalo grass, blue and hairy grama, and switch grass. Forest species included elm, ash, and cottonwood along streams and oak-hickory forest types on the uplands (USDA-SCS 1982). Conservative estimates indicate 80% of Nodaway County and 50% of Holt and Andrew counties were once dominated by prairie species (Schroeder 1982). The majority of the basin in Iowa was historically covered by prairie grassland (USDA 1981). A county map from the 1850's for Page County, Iowa indicated a timbered corridor existed along streams of the Nodaway River basin (Varland 1984). Settlement and modification for agricultural production by man has eliminated most of these historic habitats in the Nodaway River basin. The Nodaway River has been frequented by people for several thousand years, as chronicled by numerous archaeological sites and discoveries in the basin. Fox, Otoe, Ioway, Missouri, Pottawattamie, and Sioux were the Native American inhabitants of the basin. Settlers begin moving to the region in the 1830's. Most were from the eastern states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia, Ohio, and Indiana. The Missouri portion of the basin was at one time known as the "Platte Territory" and was acquired by the State of Missouri in the "Platte Purchase" of 1836. Most Native Americans that remained in the area were paid cash for rights to their land and were displaced to land southwest of the Missouri River in what was then the Kansas Territory. The word "Nadowa" and similar sounding terms are found in many Indian languages. The Algonquian tribes use of the name was applied to mean "utter detestation" usually in reference to bitter enemies. The Menominee, Chippewa, and Ottawa all have terms similar to "Nadowa" that refer to snakes, usually rattlesnakes. "Nadowe" was used by Siouan tribes indicating or in reference to enemies, chiefly Iowa and Teton. The term was often associated with snakes generally thought to be massasauga rattlesnakes (Hodge 1912). The application of the name to the Nodaway River is believed to have described it as being twisted or sinuous like a snake. In the past the name may have been an apt description but the present day Nodaway River resembles a straight ditch more than a snake-like meandering river. The Lewis and Clark expedition camped near and mentioned the "Nodawa River" and "Little Nodawa and Great Nodawa" islands in the journal of their expedition. They camped on the north shore of the Missouri River near the head of "Nodawa Island" on July 8, 1804. On their return journey they hunted near the Nodaway River and passed by on September 11, 1806 (Biddle 1962). ----- Original Message ----- From: <Wagil@aol.com> To: <MOHOLT-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, August 09, 2003 3:52 PM Subject: Re: [MOHOLT] Re: steamboats > In a message dated 8/8/03 6:23:42 AM Mountain Daylight Time, > lmmowry@classicnet.net writes: > > << Doubt the Nodaway had water to support a steamer. >> > > Me too, except I thought I read that it was pretty wide when Lewis & Clark > saw it? > > Wayne > > > ==== MOHOLT Mailing List ==== > NOTICE: Posting of virus warnings, test messages, chain letters, political > announcements, current events, items for sale, personal messages, flames, > etc. (in other words - spam) is NOT ALLOWED and will be grounds for removal. > Consideration for exceptions, contact Kathleen Burnett kathleenburnett@earthlink.net > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 >