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In July of 1908 John G. Neihardt accepted a commission from Caspar
Whitney, editor of Outing Magazine to descend the Missouri
River from its headwaters in Montana and to write articles about his
experiences for serial publication. This commission played into a
long-time dream of Neihardt's of traveling the length of the Missouri
River. Neihardt, Chester Marshall, and a photographer signed on to
complete the trip. They built their canoe, the "Atom I" on a gravel
bar near Fort Benton, Montana, and christened it with a bottle of
beer. The articles describing the trip appeared in Putnam's
Magazine and were published a year later as
The River and I. This trip helped Neihardt to gain an
appreciation for the life of the fur-trappers who later became the
heroes of his epic A Cycle of the West.
The following photographs were taken to illustrate the trip down the Missouri and appear in certain editions of The River and I. Click on the thumbnail to see a larger version of the photograph.
