Mike Lee

André Ranieri

Every river has a story - a medley of people, geology, politics, folklore, industry and happenstance.

In many ways, the story of rivers is also the story of the West.

It's about the themes of regulation and independence, and preservation and consumption that define who we are.

Among the most important rivers of the West is the Snake. Few are so powerful, so complicated and so important from top to bottom. Few have so many stories.

Of course, it would take years to tell the Snake's full story, a luxury of time reporter Mike Lee didn't have. Instead, he spent two months this summer researching, traveling and writing a chapter in the Snake's book - an exercise made possible by those along the way who agreed to share their stories, their chapters of the Snake's story.

Photographer André Ranieri's job was to tell those stories in pictures, with a series of images that explain the river's essence and how it's intertwined with the lives of those who live along its banks.

We're calling their effort In Search of the Snake.