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On the front page of the New York Times today is the first of a series of articles commemorating (approximately) the 200th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase.Today's installment looks at life along the Missouri River--less and less of it, as people have drawn away from the river, toward the suburbs and toward the costs.. There's some sentimentality, but also some realism. An interesting section deals with the Army Corps of Engineers, charged with keeping the river in check, and occasionally just letting it have its way. And there's this:

On the 200th anniversary of the year France gave up on middle America, many European travelers have discovered the old territory.

"I said to a group of Germans the other day, this river must be really boring to you," said Mr. Smith on a spring day fit for a Huck Finn daydream. "They said, `No, you have something we don't have in Europe - wild, undeveloped land.' "

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