r/geography Geography Enthusiast 26d ago

Why aren't there any large cities in this area? Discussion

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u/Numerous-Confusion-9 26d ago edited 26d ago

No access to water that leads to an ocean. Edit: easy access

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u/BagProfessional7629 26d ago

What about the Missouri?

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u/madgunner122 26d ago

Stops being navigable at Sioux City. The Mighty Mo is also traditionally more like the Platte River; wide, winding, braided. The Missouri only deepened once channelization work was done by the Army Corps of Engineers

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u/GiantKrakenTentacle 26d ago

Steamboats travelled up into Montana all the way up to Fort Benton, near Great Falls.

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u/i_enjoy_music_n_stuf 25d ago

Do Lewis and Clark mean nothing to you? It only took them a year and a half to get from the confluence of the mo and ms to get to the ocean lmao

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u/Numerous-Confusion-9 26d ago

Good shout its quite a journey to get down the Missouri then the Mississippi. I think youll find theres a lot of towns along the Missouri. It also served as a main trade route during westward expansion when everyone was trying to go.. well, more West. The coasts will always be more appealing

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u/TheStoicCrane 26d ago

Nothing like the beauty of the Atlantic Ocean. Whenever I leave the East Coast I feel claustrophobia from being landlocked. No idea why people would want to live away from water.

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u/tycoon_irony Geography Enthusiast 26d ago

The Missouri is mostly too shallow for most boats to navigate past Sioux City.

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u/endlesscosmichorror 26d ago

Little further south but I was shocked to learn that Tulsa has one of the largest inland ports in the US

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u/No-Scarcity-5904 25d ago

The Port of Catoosa!

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u/DarrenEdwards 26d ago

Paddle boats where able to get as far as Great Falls, Mt.

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u/Numerous-Confusion-9 26d ago

Hard to start a city with paddle boats

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u/tycoon_irony Geography Enthusiast 26d ago

They could've built a dam on the Missouri River similar to the Hoover dam and started a city similar to Las Vegas, or a city near the Black Hills mountains similar to Denver.

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u/rollaogden 26d ago

Missouri River does have a bunch of dams in this region. The most well-known one might be Oahe, since it's right outside Pierre.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dams_in_the_Missouri_River_watershed

Black Hill does have Rapid City.

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u/Numerous-Confusion-9 26d ago

But they didnt, right? The Missouri, in parts, is much smaller and shallower than other major rivers.

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u/zigbigadorlou 26d ago

That's what we have trains for

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u/rashidmusik 26d ago

Was scrolling for this response. Largest cities in the world have some access to waterways. Most large economic hubs developed this way. These landlocked states just ship their goods out to the edges.

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u/[deleted] 26d ago

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u/Numerous-Confusion-9 26d ago

Oof, OP said large city :/ lol

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u/Euthyphraud 26d ago

I grew up in a city of 90,000 - now around 70,000 - and quickly learned after moving away that many people don't consider places of that size to even be 'cities'. I've been told I grew up in a 'town' by people trying to correct me when I refer to my hometown as a 'city'. I beg to differ, but I understand the sentiment after living in Los Angeles, the Bay, Reno and Denver. As for Lewiston, Idaho - never heard of it until now. Looked it up, a town of 35,000. Even I call that a town.

Not saying it isn't a great place - towns of 35000 can be beautiful, busy, wonderful places. But they are not cities nor are they of great significance to the nation.

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u/AdventurousTap2171 26d ago

The nearest city to me is 10 miles away and has 130 people in it. What would you call that? Haha

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u/Cb6x 26d ago

A village

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u/Euthyphraud 26d ago

A hamlet!