No Blackfoot River in Movie That Made It Famous

MISSOULA – Twenty-five years ago the movie "A River Runs Through It" was released. The film was based on Norman Maclean's novella of the same name and the river was the Blackfoot. Taking its cue from descriptions in the novella, the movie displayed spectacular scenes of the pristine waters of the Blackfoot River, fly fishing on the Blackfoot River, running the rapids on the Blackfoot River. The irony is that none of those scenes were filmed on the Blackfoot River.

Patrick Markey the film's producer, speaking at the In the Footsteps of Norman Maclean Festival at The Wilma Sept. 10, recalled, "We looked at the Blackfoot, Norman's home-water, and we saw it had some serious issues, having been degraded by logging and mining and grazing."

The biggest culprit polluting the river was the Mike Horse Mine situated at the headwaters of the Blackfoot. A dam had been built to hold back the toxic chemicals that leached the ore from the Mike Horse and other mines in the surrounding area. The dam was an earthen construction formed from the metal-laced mine tailings.

In 1975 the dam gave way, releasing deadly amounts of lead, copper, zinc and other toxins into the Blackfoot River, killing all fish and aquatic life for 10 miles downstream and continuing to spread damage beyond that. The earthen dam was quickly rebuilt, again using mine tailings. It was later determined that the dam itself was the source of toxic chemicals that continued to pollute the Blackfoot.

Sixteen years later, the Blackfoot River was still polluted, still contained dead zones that would not support fish or other life. Added to that, tributaries clogged with erosion and other byproducts of timber harvesting pushed their sedimentary wastes into the river and indiscriminate irrigation and grazing practices impeded the movement of fish.

To the scouting crew of "A River Runs Through It," the Blackfoot River of 1991 in no way looked like the embodiment of the spectacular word pictures Maclean had painted in his book.

The film crew turned to Livingston, Mont. instead, using Hollywood alchemy to bond together panoramas of the Gallatin, Upper Yellowstone and Boulder rivers and Granite Creek in Wyoming and rename those The Blackfoot. The alchemy worked so well that the film earned an Academy Award for Best Cinematography.

It would be wrong to think no effort had been made to rescue the Blackfoot River in all those years. Environmentalists, landowners, fishing-related businesses, recreationists, all had decried the degradation of the river. But in a kind of reverse irony, or perhaps cosmic reparation, it was the counterfeit Blackfoot River of "A River Runs Through It" that galvanized the restoration of the true Blackfoot River.

As Montana Lieutenant Governor Mike Coony explained during his address at the In the Footsteps of Norman Maclean Festival, "For months we had everyone and his brother trying on waders, learning how to tie flies and setting out to explore the landscape that called to them from Maclean's works. Montana saw an immense growth. After the film was released, our fly fishing industry grew by 60 percent that year and another 60 percent the following year."

For the (real) Blackfoot River, the movie had two main effects. Within Montana it roused renewed determination to restore the ecology of the river, spurring organizations such as Montana Trout Unlimited, the Blackfoot Challenge and the Big Blackfoot Riverkeeper to push harder for cleanup. From a nation that fell in love with the Blackfoot River via book and movie, it occasioned an outpouring of money that helped those organizations to pursue and fulfill their goals.

In connection with his In the Footsteps of Norman Maclean Festival session, Big Blackfoot Riverkeeper Jerry O'Connell noted that now the dams at each end of the Blackfoot River, the Mike Horse Dam and the Milltown Dam, have been removed and the mine sediments associated with them cleaned out. The Blackfoot Challenge, working in concert with the farmers, ranchers, landowners and other interested parties have coordinated efforts to conserve water and enhance the natural resources while preserving the rural way of life in the Blackfoot watershed. Montana Trout Unlimited working with Fish Wildlife and Parks as well as the previously named organizations and others has regulated usage along the river, benefiting the river as well as fishermen and other recreationists.

Markey commented if "A River Runs Through It" was being produced today, the scouting crew would certainly choose to film on the (real) Blackfoot River.

He said, "It's amazing what's happened with that resource and how it's come back and the work these folks have done to restore it. It's as healthy as can be."

He noted members of the film crew had appeared at benefits to help bring attention to the plight of the Blackfoot River and he was pleased to know that had made a contribution to the river's restoration. He said, "It's great to see that river fished today like it was back in Norman's day. It's a great thing to see."