Bits of Montana Wisdom (Part 4)

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 meanders through some of the finest mountain and prairie topography on the planet – peaks reaching past 12,000 feet in elevation, the largest high-mountain lake on the continent, dense evergreen forests, buttes, colorful badlands, deep canyons, 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 firs...