Yellowstone, Hellgate: A Discussion of Two Montana Names

Call it 670 miles or perhaps more precisely 674 miles, but either way, the Yellowstone River remains the nation’s longest undammed waterway. It’s a great river that gathers some of the finest mountain and prairie topography on the planet as it passes peaks reaching 12,000 feet in elevation, the largest high-mountain lake on the continent, dense evergreen forests, buttes, colorful badlands, deep canyons and sweet-smelling sage and juniper covered hills. A good portion of this wondrous river flows in Wyoming, but Montana claims most of it and gives it a home.

When did the name Yellowstone first...