On July 4th Wednesday in 1804, William Clark recorded passing the mouth of a bayou leading from a large lake on the south side while traveling up the Missouri River with Lewis and Clark, observing a complex river winding from bluff to bluff and appearing in places to occupy what had once been the riverbed. The river overflowed into backwaters and sloughs and refreshed miles of marshes and wetlands along its course. Little Bean Marsh remains an example of river habitat much like the wetlands Clark noted, where he was amazed by wildlife and wrote of geese and other waterfowl nesting nearby in spring and summer. Little Bean is an outstanding natural marsh with river bulrush, cattails, and bur reed, while nearby Cottonwood Slough, a deeper river backwater, is nearly covered by the large leaves of American lotus. Around these wetlands stands a bottomland forest of bur and chinquapin oaks, ash, pawpaw, black walnut, and pecan trees, and along the marsh edges grow buttonbush, willows, cottonwood, and blue flag iris, offering a view of Missouri River wetlands that have survived the changes of time.