The Missouri: South Dakota's River Legend

The Missouri River. It is our state’s most distinctive and important natural feature. It gives life. It wreaks havoc. It even divides us.

But one thing is clear in The Missouri: South Dakota’s River Legend. This river is beautiful.

The Missouri follows the legendary waterway on its winding journey through South Dakota, from the barren prairies north of Mobridge to the quiet farmland bordering Sioux City. The book’s 118 color photographs document not only the raw beauty of the river and its surrounding terrain, but also tribal culture, vital conservation practices and the countless fascinating personalities found within a stone’s throw of its shores.

Some of these personalities are profiled by renowned South Dakota writer Kevin Woster. Sprinkled throughout the book, these stories provide keen insight into the river culture, as well as a few surprising facts and just a touch of Woster’s home-grown humor. We discover details about Sacagawea’s last resting place near the land of Sitting Bull. We meet people like Bob Hipple, a centenarian who shaped river history during his extraordinary life. And we discover natural resources that live above and below water: the nearly extinct pallid sturgeon, bald eagles, plentiful walleyes and volatile rattlesnakes.

Latza and Woster gathered material for The Missouri during a four-year period. They divided the river into five sections, choosing to profile a selection of people and issues within each section.

The Missouri was a natural fit for South Dakota Magazine publisher and Yankton native Bernie Hunhoff, who wrote the foreword. His recollection of personal experiences along the river and his sense of river history provide an added dimension that can be attributed to someone who holds close ties to the river.