This US river is so beautiful there's a lottery to raft it. Could it be ruined by a new mine?

Thousands apply yearly to travel Montana's Smith River. Now anglers, ranchers and conservationists fear for its future

Annick Smith was one of the lucky ones. This year, the 84-year-old writer and documentary film-maker took her first trip down the Smith River in western Montana.

A lazy 59-mile float through deep limestone canyons, green meadows and pine forests that support the best brown trout fishery in the state, the Smith River is so popular it requires a lottery, the only one of its kind in Montana, to keep its fans from loving it to death.