The Yellowstone as the longest undammed river in the contiguous United States: An environmental historical geography of a mythic landscape

Abstract

This article contributes to a body of scholarship examining the relationship between myth and geography. Specifically, I integrate a posthumanist understanding of assemblage theory to better account for the role that more-than-human entities play in the creation and transformation of mythic landscapes. To support this line of inquiry, I adopt Bowden's geographical traditions model to help trace the origin and evolution of a particular myth – the Yellowstone River as the longest undammed or free-flowing river remaining in the contiguous United States – from its beginnings in the wild and scenic rivers movement of the late 1950s and early 1960s to contemporary environmental conflicts that expose its contradictions and threaten its continued existence. I argue that actors within the Montana Department of Fish and Game – embedded within an active and dynamic environment – created a new myth for the Yellowstone River throughout the late 1970s as a political tool to gain legal protection for the river. During the 1980s and 1990s, however, I argue that this myth transformed and took on the aura of an inviolate landscape. Consequently, I argue that the myth's relationship to environmental protection became more ambiguous than its creators had originally intended.