Milltown, Mt. and it's Superfund Site.

Thursday, June 27, Day 66 (cont'd)


After a brief stop in Missoula to get groceries and have lunch, we head on.

We continue to see those mountains up ahead, and we cross onto the Flathead Indian Reservation.

 Immediately overhead is an Animal's Bridge!  Designed to give animals safe passage over human roads, this one purports to serve grizzly, black bears, deer, elk, mountain lions, and a host of other animals, I trust not all at the same time! It's grassy on top. 

We have been on the road behind a large house that's being moved.  He finally pulled over.

Only to reveal a big logging truck.  Some days are like that!

And we arrive at Milltown, Mt.  Such a lovely area.  I had no idea that it was the site of the largest superfund cleanup in the western United States. 

A  dam, the Milltown Dam had been constructed at the confluence of the Blackfoot River and the Clark Fork River in 1908.  It is located about seven miles west of Missoula.  It was built by copper mining tycoon William A. Clark  to provide  hydroelectricity for his sawmills.  Those sawmills provided the timbers for the copper mines like the Anaconda. This was one of the richest deposits of copper sulfate ever found in North America. 

With the dam just months old, a record flood on the Clark Fork washed tons of toxic mining sediment downstream, where it settled behind the dam.   A cumulative total of around 6.6 million cubic yards of sediment lie there, contaminated with arsenic, lead, zinc, copper and other metals. 

After finding a very high amount of arsenic in drinking water in Bonner in the 1980's  and discovering the source of the contamination, it took 20 years and some other near catastrophes before  work started on the drawdown of the reservoir, removal of the contaminated sediment, and removal of the dam.   There is  continuing work to restore down river water quality, a trout fishery, and a state park.  I believe the dam came out just last year, 2012. 

 You wouldn't know  it to see the area.  An effort is being made to turn this into a recreational paradise although logging is still the primary industry .  Very close to here, a  huge Boise Cascade lumber mill is operating. 

This Black Bridge has a history as well.  It was almost lost in the 1908 flood, was finally restored, and has since been replaced.  But it remains part of the history of the Milltown-Bonner area. 

Right next to the bridge is this statue of Meriweather Lewis and his dog Seamus.  If you have never read about this dog that accompanied the Lewis and Clark expedition, you should do so.  There are lots of books out there about Seamus. 

And we are now following the Clark Fork River , probably the prettiest river I have seen so far on this trip.  We are headed to Thompson Falls, named after the great western explorer and cartographer David Thompson.  He is one of those guys  you've never heard of, but once you have, you run into his name everywhere!

Yes, the river is that blue, and the hills are that green and blue.  Stunning!

Hay fields and large granite outcroppings flank the river road.

Like the other rivers we have seen, this one is very full. 

We are going to go between those mountains.  Lewis and Clark didn't follow this route, but they should have!  That figure on the road is a motorcyclist. 

Just above Thompson Dan, we stop at a state park for the night, and John surveys the river by our campsite.  It's going to be a lovely evening!

John says he has really liked today's drive.  It has been wooded, mountainous, and followed the Blackfoot and Clark Fork Rivers most of the day.  Best of all there is no wind.  Cattle have graced the landscape, and the deep greens and blues of the mountains have been spectacular.