This Missoulian article explains the movement of mine tailings from the Mike Horse Mine at the headwaters of the Blackfoot River to a repository being built near Lincoln.
I don't think most people know about the Mike Horse Mine, which constantly and eternally pukes acid mine drainage into the headwaters of the beloved Blackfoot River. There is also a large earthen dam which is made from mine tailings. Not only is the dam itself undergoing acid rock drainage (ARD), but the dam is susceptible to massive failure. In the 70's after an intense rainstorm, the tailings dam blew out and a bunch of nasty, metal laden acid water washed downstream causing a MASSIVE fish kill.
By the 90's, when Robert Redford made
A River Runs Through It, a movie based on Maclean's novella about a family who grows up fishing the "Big Blackfoot," the quality of the fishery was still recovering and he chose to shoot the entire movie on other streams. None of the filming took place on the actual Blackfoot!
Anyway, you know I like to show pics of this stuff. RBM Chronicles is your source for mine waste porn!
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| One of a series of settling ponds |
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| Monster earthen dam made out of mine tailings |
