Last updated: January 28, 2020
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The Great Falls According to Lewis
![1065a historic photo of waterfall](/articles/images/1065a.jpg?maxwidth=650&autorotate=false)
Great Falls 1880, Montana Historical Society
The first falls he encountered would be what was named “Great Falls” in Clark’s maps. According to Paul Russell Cutright, in his book “Lewis & Clark, Pioneering Naturalists, “Lewis declared it to be the grandest sight he had ever beheld, the water of the Missouri here dropping over a precipice more than 80 feet high. He stood motionless for a long time, completely enchanted by the beauty of the scene.”
The measurements Lewis estimated were as follows:
Great Falls, 87 feet, ¾ inch
Crooked Falls, 19 feet
Rainbow Falls, 47 feet, 6 inches
Colter Falls, 6 feet, 7 inches
Black Eagle Falls, 26 feet, 5 inches
![1065b hydro power dam](/articles/images/1065b.jpg?maxwidth=650&autorotate=false)
Great Falls 2019, NPS.
Of course, as a visitor of this area today can attest, the beauty that Lewis experienced no longer exists, due to the hydro-electric dams built during the 20th century.