That dammed Clearwater

Prehistoric Native American Indians referred to the main stream in our valley as Clear Water. Several impoundments now known as the "Chain Of Lakes" stilled the flow allowing sediments to settle. A springtime visit to the Blackfoot River confluence with its brown water makes the Clearwater namesake apparent.

The Clearwater River has had a long history of being dammed up. The earliest on the river was in 1906 at what is now the Riverview bridge. It was a splash dam to impound water in what was then called Clearwater Lake for purposes of the log river rive. For six years the Big Blackfoot Milling Company would install a temporary dam in the fall and blast it to smithereens in the spring so river pigs could drive logs to the mill in Bonner on the river surge. Remnants of that dam still raises water level of the lake outlet. Before that, the same thing happened at Placid Lake where a small dam remains.

About six decades ago (1964) the Fish and Game department built two 10-foot high log dams (they called them weirs) across the river to keep "trash fish" from the upper reaches of the valley. One (referred to as the Inez fish barrier) was below the West Fork confluence and another just downstream of Rainy Lake.

Once in the 1970s a small band of men left one of the bars with dynamite intending to remove the lower one. Whether they had a reason to blow it up, or just because it sounded like fun is unknown. At any rate they were met at the dam site by a diminutive woman landowner who talked them out of it, evidently with something more persuasive than dynamite. Those two fish barrier dams were removed by FWP several years ago mainly because of imminent structural failure and concern for sport fish migration.

Over the years property owners have placed small rock dams on the outlet of Salmon and Inez Lakes to raise low-water levels slightly. Two small damlets have been across the river at Elbow Lake, one of which is still being maintained.

A couple diversion dams for irrigation purposes have also served the purposes of ranchers. In the early 1900s one was about half way between Harpers Lake and Salmon Lake to feed the irrigation ditch of the Libbie Blanchard homestead. Another is located at the Clearwater Campground continuing to keep pastureland green.

Man-made structures on the rivers and streams have been greatly outnumbered by those made by nature's furry engineers. Beaver dams have been ever present on practically all rivers and streams for thousands of years.

In recent times they often out-fox human engineers trying to keep beaver pond water from roads. Other times biologists translocated beaver onto streams in efforts to improve riparian habitat. Beaver dams may well have attracted the first people of European decent into the valley where subsequent settlers discovered attractive waterfront properties.

The look, sounds and feel of water has always been, and will continue to be, vital to the culture in Clearwater Valley of Montana.