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Montana's Smith River is one of the most iconic waterways in the Lower 48 United States.  Photo :  Jim Klug Outdoor Photography

Montana's Smith River is one of the most iconic waterways in the Lower 48 United States. Photo: Jim Klug Outdoor Photography

Mining Proposal on the Smith

Sarah Grigg April 16, 2014

Publication: Field and Stream
Date: April 2014

Montana's Smith River is perhaps one of the most iconic waterways in the Lower 48. Offering 60 miles of limited river access, permits to float this pristine stretch of water are limited to an annual lottery system. Recent mine exploration permitting on Sheep Creek, the most critical trout spawning tributary, was recently challenged by several Montana environmental groups. Read my post for Field and Stream's Fieldnotes here.

Tags Field and Stream, Smith River, Montana, Mining, Copper Mine
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Posing on the finest front porch in Montana. @sacajaweahotel #porchposing #montana #porch #rockingchair #hangingbasketgoals
Today two pregnant ladies, a four-month old, an 18-month old and a Catahoula survived Beehive Basin. 🏔🐝🏔 #keephiking #hike #mountainmamas #beehive #montana
You’re no longer a nymph. #salmonfly #yellowstoneriver #bioindicator
Forest fisher. #montana #creek #yellowstonecutthroat
I came West in 2003 because of a college professor, wily ol’ McDaniel, a guy who lived in canoe villages with Peruvian tribes, wrote books on turkey hunting, worked as a fishing guide on the Henry’s Fork in Idaho in summers. I sat in his Anthropology 101 course and listened to him talk endlessly of fishing and bird hunting, trout and toms, more rainbows and more ringtails: “Now, what do you suppose this means: ‘The dinks are on the PMD spinners?’ This is a fine example of patois in the context of the fly fishing community, local language that anthropologists have to crack and decode, even learn to use themselves. Any guesses?” We hadn’t a clue what he was talking about. . On occasion McDaniel took students West with him for seminars. One of his students died in Yellowstone during a weekend off. Paul, his name was Paul. It was June 1985. Paul and a friend embarked from the Slough Creek trail toward Cutoff Peak. For reasons unknown, they decided to split ways onto separate routes and meet at the summit. Paul’s hiking partner reached the peak and waited, but Paul never showed. The friend eventually set out to find him and located his tracks in a snowfield on a spur of Cutoff Mountain. Two days later, NPS Search and Rescue found Paul’s body at the base of a cliff. He had slipped over and died upon impact. . In Paul’s honor, his parents and McDaniel created a fund to support students from the university to work as interns for the Henry’s Fork Foundation (HFF). One day, McDaniel asked our class who wanted in, who wanted to study trout on the mighty Henry’s Fork, the greatest of great fly-fishing rivers on the planet? I did. . In 2003, I was an A. Paul Knight Intern with HFF and spent a season researching trout. That experience led to some of the most amazing life experiences I could ever ask for, from researching grizzlies and wolverines to becoming a writer and meeting some of the wildest characters of the West and the world. It’s funny how the death of one person in the 1980s that took place thousands of miles away from where you were at that time can impact your life so profoundly. This year, I’m honored to join HFF as a board member. #henrysfork #idaho #paul
Wood Road in June. #woodroad #henrysfork #idaho
They think they’re riding this way all summer long. They’re wrong. #safetyfirst #americanbrittany #englishlabrador #roadtrip #idaho
Grandmother Susan, my you roam Penn’s Woods with all your favorites forever. 🕊#pennsylvania #quaker #grandmother #forestgypsies
“You hear people say the era of the cowboy is dead. That’s a bunch of crap. . Nicholas Evans met me at a Mountain Sky Guest Ranch clinic in the 1990s and spent a lot of time with me when he was crafting the character of Tom Booker. I probably didn’t take him terribly seriously at that point in time. He watched me at clinics. The next thing I know, Tom Booker is a character. . Whisperer—that term came out of nowhere. Now, there are all kinds of whisperers, dog, cat, ghost. It was a word from the Celts, a metaphysical description. They always gotta ask me about the whisperer in interviews. But I understand that people from the city, maybe that’s the only word they have to identify with what I do. That’s their way of defining me, which is fine. I probably wouldn’t have used that word. I don’t really have a label for myself . . . maybe ‘horseman,’ but then again, I’ve known some really good horsemen, so I’m probably not there yet either. But I wouldn’t mind being one. I generally steer away from slogans. . Some people think of being kind of quiet and gentle with the horses infers weakness. That’s not true at all. Some think that it infers victimhood because you’re so passive and gentle and trying to get along. Well, that’s not me. . There’s a logical way of going about things, finding a way to work with a horse that he can understand you, that he can like what he does for a living. It’s there for anybody to understand. I think people are getting a little more civilized in the way they work with horses. But there’s plenty of cavemen out there still. I’ll always have something to do because of those guys. I think there will always be horses that need me.”—Buck Brannaman, The Horse Whisperer 📸: @arnicaspringlifestyle #naturalhorsemanship #buckbrannaman #equine #horse #ranchlife #americanwest #montana #horsemanship
Rodeos began as entertainment on ranches, and at the Ox Yoke, as a way to delight guests. Local cowboys showed up to test and show off skills in roping, wrestling and riding. Charlie Murphy and others saw the potential to produce these ranch shows at a larger scale. . In October of 1923, Charlie oversaw all the bucking horse stock at the Madison Square Garden Rodeo in New York City on the behalf of Richard Ringling, founder of the Ringling Brothers circus who ranched in White Sulphur Springs, MT. Murphy’s stint at the Madison Square Garden Rodeo surely exposed him to a level of theatrics unseen in the West since Buffalo Bill’s days. In 1925, Charlie co-founded the Livingston Roundup. . The Roundup was one of eight Class A rodeos in the nation. A purse of more than $3,000, ($43,333.03 in today’s dollars) was divided between competitors in bareback riding, saddle bronc riding, bull riding, steer wrestling, team roping, tie down roping, and barrel racing. The Livingston Roundup Association was established in 1929 to fund advertising the rodeo. . Just about every Ox Yoke horse was used for the Roundup. Guests helped trail the herd to Livingston, an affair which took two full days of riding. Guests also rode in the rodeo parade. Livingston photographer John C. Haberstroh, a friend of the Murphy family, captured some of the best images of the Roundup. The rodeo continues today, representing a Park County tradition of 94 years. . Rodeo parade photos by John C Haberstroh. Images from Murphy Family Collection. #rodeo #roundup #ranchlife #montana #cowboy #americanwest #americana #saddlebronc

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