Picture it underwater. Yellowstone River in the Paradise Valley of Montana (photo by Whitney Tilt)
Picture Montana’s Paradise Valley from Livingston to Pray under water and the Yellowstone River dammed. That was the proposed Allenspur Dam. Imagine a reservoir alongside Glacier National Park, six times bigger than Lake MacDonald, inundating Polebridge and everything else almost south to Apgar. That was the proposed Glacier View Dam.
Six Dams That Were Never Built. American Rivers, February 2021, is a a project of dams dodged, reservoirs that weren’t, and the reason why not. The project is a small window into the history of six of those dams—North Fork Flathead River, Clark Fork River, Middle Fork Flathead River, Upper Missouri River, Big Hole River, Yellowstone River — and the stories of people who fought to preserve the rivers and landscapes they love. These stories are compiled in a online “story map” produced by American Rivers.