Fur Traders Descending the Missouri

Early morning on the Missouri River. A dugout canoe drifts in still water with an older trader at the stern, a young man lying across the cargo and, at the bow, a dark animal tied by a cord. People still debate whether it is a bear cub or a fox. All three look straight at us. The river is so calm that it doubles everything, and mist turns the trees behind into soft shapes. Bingham grew up on the Missouri and painted life on its rivers again and again. This painting describes a way of life that was already disappearing as he painted it, and it seems to know that. Nothing moves except the current.

Look closely

1. Look at the animal at the front of the canoe. What do you think it is?
2. Find each figure’s reflection in the water.
3. Notice where the mist begins and the trees end.

While you sit

No paddling needed. The river is carrying all of you downstream at its own pace.

Your seat in the galleries: a hollowed walnut seat shaped like the gunwale of a canoe, tied at one end with rope.