The river, for the distance of about seventeen miles, becomes almost a continued cataract. In this distance its perpendicular descent is three hundred and sixty-two feet. The first fall is ninety-eight feet; the second, nineteen; the third, forty-seven; the fourth, twenty-six. Next to the Niagara these falls are the grandest in the world. The river continues rapid for a long distance beyond, but there is not much variation in its appearance till near the mouth of the Platte. That powerful river throws out vast quantities of coarse sand, which contribute to give a new face to the Missouri, which is now much more impeded by islands. The sand, as it is drifted down, adheres in time to some of the projecting points from the shore, and forms a barrier to the mud which at length fills to the same height with the sand-bar itself. As soon as it has acquired a consistency, the willow grows there the first year, and by its roots gives solidity to the whole; with further accumulations the cotton-wood tree next appears, till the soil is gradually raised to a point above the highest freshets. Thus stopped in its course, the water seeks a passage elsewhere, and as the soil on each side is light and yielding, what was only a peninsula becomes gradually an island, and the river compensates the usurpation by encroaching on the adjacent shore. In this way the Missouri, like the Mississippi, is continually cutting off the projections of the shore, and leaving its ancient channel, which may be traced by the deposits of mud and a few stagnant ponds.[6] During the whole length of the Missouri below the Platte, the soil is generally excellent, and although the timber is scarce, there is still sufficient for the purpose of settlers. But beyond that river, although the soil is still rich, yet the almost total absence of timber, and particularly the want of good water, of which there is but a small quantity in the creeks, oppose very powerful impediments to its occupancy. The prairies for many miles on each side of the river produce abundance of good pasturage.