The Missouri River drainage basin research project is using topographic map interpretation methods to determine landform origins along approximately 500 different drainage divides within and surrounding the Missouri River drainage basin. A separate essay is made for each drainage divide area, which usually includes two location maps and eight examples of topographic maps along with interpretations of those maps for that specific drainage divide area. Essays were transferred from the Google Knol site where they were originally published between August 2009 and November 2011. The transfer from the Google Knol platform to this website was made in late November and December of 2011. At this time essays address all Missouri River drainage divide areas in the states of Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota, Montana, and the Canadian province of Saskatchewan and most Missouri River drainage  in northeast Wyoming. As time permits essays for all remaining Wyoming Missouri River drainage basin drainage divide areas will be written and added along with essays for all Colorado Missouri River drainage basin drainage divide areas. Drainage divide areas can be located by using the sidebar list of categories to find names of major Missouri River tributaries and/or tributaries to those tributaries of interest and/or states of interest and then by scrolling through the list of essays under those names.  Location maps in essays can help you identify drainage divides of interest. The search feature on this website also can be used to find essays mentioning specific cities or towns, streams, or other features. Topographic map interpretations in the essays point out extensive topographic map evidence documenting that the entire Missouri River drainage basin was eroded by massive south and southeast oriented melt water floods from what was probably a rapidly melting thick North American ice sheet located in a deep “hole.” Present day mountain ranges and high plateau areas in the Missouri River drainage basin were uplifted as immense south and southeast oriented melt water floods flowed across them. Late in the ice sheet melt down history the huge south and southeast oriented melt water floods were diverted in northeast and north directions to flow into space in the deep “hole” that was opened up by the rapidly melting ice sheet. The Missouri River drainage basin in Montana, northern Wyoming, and western North and South Dakota is located on what was the deep “hole’s” southwest wall and was eroded by the gigantic flood flow reversals.