last of montana

Fort Peck Dam on the Missouri River is the largest earth-filled dam in the United States. Its purpose was to provide flood control and jobs, especially jobs, during The New Deal.

south of confluence

The Madison River Valley is here below the Madison Mountains. Ranching in the lowland, mining in the highland. This was a hot day—temperatures in the 90sF, low humidity—but a good one to go looking at one of the rivers that becomes part of the Missouri River.

listen

This is the sound of the start of the Missouri River, at the confluence of the Madison and Jefferson Rivers (the Gallatin comes in a mile downstream).

today's encounters

Mule Deer on the top, Pelican on the bottom; all on the Missouri River in the Lake Holter area.




























And what kind of snake is this? We each took a look at each other and went our separate ways.

portal

Gates of the Mountains on the Missouri River open and close and open and close as a boat moves upstream and side to side on the river. At first, it just looks like the river ends in a rock wall. Then one gate opens and the view upriver opens further. Then that gate obscures the opening, but just about right away, the other side opens and the upstream portion is visible once more. But the canyon never opens completely until the end and only then can the river's course be seen as coming through this narrow portal.

This place is beautiful, but full of motorboats and fishermen and tourboats, which, of course, is how I saw the place. Sigh. My little boat would have been quieter (assuming no other traffic).

confluence

Postcard photo copyright Lawrence Dodge

Here, the view of the entire confluence.

missouri headwaters

The confluence of the Jefferson River and the Madison River to become the Missouri River is a quiet place, dominated by the sound of water running, rushing, going. The sky is big, here, yes. The water is full and swift.

Not a mile later, the Gallatin River, coming from the east, joins the new Missouri and this, now, is the Missouri River. This is a place to return to, to sit, to dream, to be quiet from the human world.