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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 area of the river,〔Cutright, Paul Russell and Johnsgard, Paul A. ''Lewis and Clark: Pioneering Naturalists.'' 2d ed. Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, 2003. ISBN 0-8032-6434-8〕 are: *Black Eagle Falls ();〔 *Colter Falls ();〔 *Rainbow Falls ();〔 *Crooked Falls, also known as Horseshoe Falls ();〔 and *The Great Falls ().〔 The Missouri River drops a total of from the first of the falls to the last, which includes of waterfalls and of riverbed descent.〔"Great Falls of the Missouri River." ''Encyclopedia Americana.'' New York: Americana Corp., 1954.〕 The Great Falls have been described as "spectacular",〔Malone, Michael P. ''Montana Century: 100 Years in Pictures and Words.'' Guilford, Conn.: Globe Pequot, 1999. ISBN 1-56044-827-X〕 one of the "scenic wonders of America",〔Montana Department of Agriculture. ''The Resources and Opportunities of Montana.'' Helena, Mont.: Montana Department of Agriculture, 1912.〕 and "a major geographic discovery".〔Johnsgard, Paul A. ''Lewis and Clark on the Great Plains: A Natural History.'' Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, 2003. ISBN 0-8032-7618-4〕 Meriwether Lewis said they were the grandest sight he'd beheld thus far in the journey of the Corps of Discovery.〔Pritchett, Michael. ''The Melancholy Fate of Capt. Lewis.'' Columbia, Mo.: Unbridled Books, 2007. ISBN 1-932961-41-0〕 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.〔Shearer, Barbara Smith. ''State Names, Seals, Flags, and Symbols: A Historical Guide.'' 3rd rev. ed. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002. ISBN 0-313-31534-5〕 ==Names of the Great Falls== The Mandan Indians knew of the cataracts, and called them by a descriptive (but not formal) name "Minni-Sose-Tanka-Kun-Ya"〔McEneaney, Terry. ''The Birder's Guide to Montana.'' Guilford, Conn.: Falcon Press, 1993. ISBN 1-56044-189-5〕 or "the great falls."〔〔Robbins, Chuck. ''Great Places: Montana: A Recreational Guide to Montana's Public Lands and Historic Places for Birding, Hiking, Photography, Fishing, Hunting, and Camping.'' Belgrade, Mont.: Wilderness Adventures Press, 2008. ISBN 1-932098-59-3〕 The South Piegan Blackfeet, however, had a formal name for Rainbow Falls, and called it "Napa's Snarling."〔Federal Writers' Project. ''Montana: A State Guide Book.'' Washington, D.C.: Federal Works Agency, Work Projects Administration, 1939. ISBN 1-60354-025-3〕〔Napa or "Old Man" (spelling variants include Naapi, Napi, Nape, Napiw, and Napioa) is a benevolent trickster spirit in the Blackfoot religion. Napa is also depicted as foolish or a troublemaker. The Creator gave him the task of shaping the world, and he continues to help people, according to various Blackfoot legends. See: Clark, Cora and Williams, Texa Bowen. ''Pomo Indian Myths and Some of Their Sacred Meanings.'' New York: Vantage Press, 1954; Linderman, Frank Bird. ''Indian "Why Stories": Sparks From War Eagle's Lodge-Fire.'' New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1915; Plenty-Coups and Linderman, Frank Bird. ''Plenty-Coups, Chief of the Crows.'' Reprint ed. Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, 2002. ISBN 0-8032-8018-1 (orig. pub. 1930)〕 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.〔〔Judson, Katharine Berry. ''Montana: "The Land of Shining Mountains".'' 5th ed. Chicago: A.C. McClurg, 1909.〕 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),〔Lewis and Clark had been told by the Mandan Indians that there were "great falls" on the Missouri River. Clark adopted this name for the largest set of waterfalls the expedition discovered. See: Howard, ''Lewis & Clark—Exploration of Central Montana,'' 2000.〕 "Beautiful Cascade" (now called Rainbow Falls), and "Upper Pitch" (now known as Black Eagle Falls).〔〔Howard, Ela Mae. ''Lewis & Clark—Exploration of Central Montana.'' Rev. ed. Guilford, Conn.: Globe Pequot, 2000. ISBN 1-883844-03-7〕 "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.〔〔〔Vaughn, Robert. ''Then and Now, or, Thirty-Six Years in the Rockies: Personal Reminiscences of Some of the First Pioneers of the State of Montana, Indians and Indian Wars, and the Past and Present of the Rocky Mountain Country: 1864-1900.'' Chicago: Tribune Printing Company, 1900.〕 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.〔Strahorn, Carrie Adell. ''Fifteen Thousand Miles By Stage: A Woman's Unique Experience During Thirty Years of Path Finding and Pioneering From the Missouri to the Pacific and From Alaska to Mexico.'' New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1911.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Great Falls (Missouri River)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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