Havre (Billings, Missoula, Great Falls: rent, job, schools)

[in_the_gloaming]

Back in November 1967 I rolled thru Havre on a train going to Seattle from St. Paul, Minneapolis. I'll always remember it because the word havre is pronounced two ways.., "havre" and "avre". Beside the railroad tracks was a very beautiful old caliope, painted in red and gold. It had the wooden wheels like the conostoga covered wagons used to use during the settlement of the West. I've always wondered if that old caliope is still there? Its like an old pipe organ on wheels. The polished copper and brass was so stunning on that bright cloudless day. The air there is so clean. I believe the air there is very pure, with such a blue sky. Havre is a very clean town.

If I remember correctly, the land there is part of a great plain. Unlike the mountains in Western Montana, Eastern Idaho.

[JetMech72]

Gloaming, the town probably hasn't grown since '67 and it is definitely on the plains. It is pronounced "have-her"...as in...You can Havre. The caliope isn't at the station anymore it is in the museum's storage....but don't fret...the museum is obtaining a larger space so they can put all of their pieces on display. The air is still crystal-clear here, not enough people to pollute it.

Major cities, nearby? We are it. Great Falls is 110 miles south and that would be the next major city. Havre is the heart of the Hi-line (Northern tier of Montana) and we have the only hospital for a hundred miles. We have a college...a pretty good one...affiliated with Montana State U, MSU-Northern. BNSF rail lines has a large repair facility here.
Stores consist of Wal-Mart, K-Mart and various mom-n-pop stores ( I really wish we had a Hollywood or Blockbusters)
This city of 10,000 is surrounded by wheat farms and cattle ranches, so yes, there is a lot of open ground as far as the eye can see....and the eye can see a long ways on the prairie.
We do have "mountains"....really they are hills compared to the Rockies...they are a small island-range called the Bears Paw. They get enough snow in the winter and are tall enough to condone a ski hill on the Rocky Boy Reservation.
It is a sleepy, impoverished town, but friendly. If you love the outdoors we are the town you're looking for, but if you want plenty of indoor activities....we only have one small movie theater and one Live Players Theatre in town. There is a major casino down in Box Elder, if you're into gambling. Other indoor activities all include kicking back a brewski in one of our many bars.
If you have your passport, Canada is just 40 miles from here...and the two ports of entry are now 24/7 .
If you like fridged winters....we are the doorway for the arctic air in the lower 48.
Summers aren't too shabby if you can handle mosquitos. We have two large reservoirs nearby that are pretty good for fishing, but not much on the scenery....its flat as a board at Fresno Reservoir.
That's Havre in a nutshell.

[bigtrees]

Don't forget spectacular lightning storms. I've never been to Havre but my mother lived there before she had me, and she said the lightning and thunder would roll into town and rattle the windows and shake the doors. She said they stayed in town for a few hours, but I think she thought they took longer than they did. Beautiful at any rate.

[in_the_gloaming]

Is that old caliope still sitting beside the railroad tracks at the train station in Havre? I remember seeing it all brightly painted in bright red and gold from the train I was on, when it passed thru Havre on my way from St. Paul Minnesota to Seattle in November, 1967.

Further info can be gleaned from a post I made under MarieWynn's thread about "writer seeks info on life in Bitterroot Montana".

[jimj]

Originally Posted by in_the_gloaming

Is that old caliope still sitting beside the railroad tracks at the train station in Havre? I remember seeing it all brightly painted in bright red and gold from the train I was on, when it passed thru Havre on my way from St. Paul Minnesota to Seattle in November, 1967.

Further info can be gleaned from a post I made under MarieWynn's thread about "writer seeks info on life in Bitterroot Montana".

Nobody mentioned a caliope other than you

[in_the_gloaming]

Thank you JetMech72..., I'm sure glad the historical preservation people had the best interests at heart by placing that old caliope in doors to help preserve it! Thanks for the info!

Later, I moved around the country a lot. I knew of about ten pre WW II automobiles and trucks that were left outside to rot along side of U.S. hwy. 270 near Mt. Ida Arkansas and so when a friend of mine visited with me in Hot Springs Ark (1976).., I took him with me to see if we could buy one or two of those old vehicles. My friend had already restored a 1932 Ford window coupe with a rumble seat and had it indoors in Tulsa. Unfortunately, the person we talked to would not sell those vehicles and we felt it was such a waste to see these continue to deteriorate in the tall grass with all the humidity they have. Most of those vehicles were Fords from about 1928 to 1940.., one was a flat bed truck, one was a pick up, several were cars, don't remember the rest. All were somewhat easily restorable basket cases. My friend was a professional restorer at auto body work and auto mechanics. He had the ability to take almost nothing and make it into something beautiful.

[in_the_gloaming]

Another place in Montana I really like is Glendive. I had a couple of older friends, a married couple, who were from Glendive. They were retired military, Navy, I knew many years ago. We got along very well, especially since I also served my country in the Navy.

[mrkool]

Originally Posted by in_the_gloaming

Another place in Montana I really like is Glendive. I had a couple of older friends, a married couple, who were from Glendive. They were retired military, Navy, I knew many years ago. We got along very well, especially since I also served my country in the Navy.

Yes.. you make a strong case for a person to consider Glendive

[in_the_gloaming]

Since I am originally from one of the northern states, and I grew up where Winters are really winters, living in Glendive wouldn't be a problem for me, if everything worked out right and I could support myself there. I love the area very much!

Before Alaska became a state my home state was known as The North Star State, because it was further north than the State of Maine! The Canadian border borders The Lake Of The Woods, which is the northern boundary of my home state.
If you look at it on a map depicting both longitude and latitude lines, you'll see what I mean, because the United States
is not perfectly horizontal from Washington eastward, it is tilted, sliding Maine further to the south than we realize. The boundary between the U. S. and Canada where it goes around the Lake Of The Woods extends that boundary further north than any other place in the lower 48 states.

I grew up where winters were commonly lower than a -35 degrees below zero, with lots of snow. Snow that lasted for many weeks at a time and didn't go away until late March or early April. During the first part of February, we'd have a real big heat wave when the temps warmed up to five degrees above zero for a couple of days.

I've also lived where severe weather is a problem. That being, Tornado Alley, S. W. Oklahoma, where big tornadoes are common. One will have that problem anywhere the land is flat to gentle rolling country, where there is a difference in temperatures between two large air masses that collide with each other, causing the air to turbulate, as is often the case where a warm air mass collides with a cold air mass.

[seven of nine]

Looking to attend school there, any info on the town that you want to share? thanks in advance.