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Originally Posted by Betonov

I'm more surprised how deep it is. Downstream boats are cargo laden while upstrem are mostly empty.

Not surprising actually as any student of the Little Big Horn knows; Edit: actually at that time 1850-1880's the upstream boats were loaded for westward expansion, exploration and military support; the pursuit of Mainifest Destiny...and dead Indians! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_West_(steamship)
Fast, nasty, and full of logs, the Missouri was treacherous and the chain of western rivers feeding into it equally so. Boats 'grasshoppered' their way upstream; hence the Corps of engineers interest in the project to make it navigable.

A unique feature of light river steamboats like the Far West (which figured prominently in the supply and rescue of Custer's 7th Cavalry) was their ability to "grasshopper" to get across shallow sand bars to reach a deeper river channel beyond the sand bar. In this "grasshopper" maneuver, the boat used spars and steam capstans on the front of the boat to lift and swing the front of the boat onto the sand bar, moving forward a few feet at a time. Once the front of the boat was on the sandbar, when the boat was lifted the current would help dislodge loose sediment under the boat, and often the paddle wheel would be accelerated would generate a current in the water under the boat that would also pull the loose sandbar sediment from under the boat. This process was intended to create enough draft or flotation in the water, so the steamboat could then move forward into the deeper channel beyond the sand bar.

In North America the longest river is the Missouri and its still a mismanaged mess to this day. Much less than when George C. was trying to rob the Sioux of their Black Hills gold and using rivers to access it. Think of the Little Bighorn as a naval battle...20,000+ indian pony's had to have water and grass. The site, known as the Greasy Grass by the natives, was selected to manage the huge native summer gathering's immense horse herd. All that silt would make a deep layer by the time it gets to Kansas AND KEEP ALL THE Great White Arabia's CHAMPAGNE COOL!

Crates of cognac and champagne taste just as they did in 1856.

just think if those 3 million Indian trade-beads on board had actually been traded...no Little Bighorn disaster...