Fall fishing on the Madison River at sunrise. (Photo: NPS / Jacob W. Frank)

In a 1968 speech made while signing a series of conservation bills, President Lyndon B. Johnson expounded on the wonders of a free-flowing river.

“An unspoiled river is a very rare thing in this nation today,” he said. “Their flow and vitality have been harnessed by dams and too often they have been turned into open sewers by communities and by industries. It makes us all very fearful that all rivers will go this way unless somebody acts now to try to balance our river development.”

Johnson signed the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to protect free-flowing waterways with “extraordinary natural, cultural and recreational qualities.”

The original National Wild and Scenic Rivers system comprised eight rivers and includ

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