need honest montana info

[jimj]

Everybody I know right now including people who've been here all their lives are saying "god will spring get here already, I'm tired of the snow/overcast and cold!!!"
Be prepared....

[arcticcatfever]

Try Anaconda, Whitehall/Cardwell area. Nice, helpful people are everywhere in Montana. There are many small rural areas. Education is great here, and the sports, well records speak for themselves. Good luck.

[Montana Griz]

Originally Posted by KimnTx

Thank you both. I'd love to live close to a river and yes, I will be looking for work when I get there. Will I have any luck finding a welding job?

Strongly suggest you "do your homework re finding a job", before you move to MT. Bear in mind, there is very little Industry in MT. "Free- Lance welders" usually don't end up making enough money to support a family w/ kids. Most successful welders either work for a steel fab company or have been here a long time as a free-lance welder and have built up a clientel.

Most ranchers and farmers do their own welding when needed. Jobs are tough to come by......again remember very little industry in MT.

Also, as mentioned by others.........Winter Type Weather can get pretty depressing: Short hours of daylight; cloudy,overcast skys (sometimes up 14 days straight); Valley Weather Inversions; fog, frozen fog, black ice, sleet, freezing rain, snow, wind and last (but not least) cold----can get down to 20 to 40 below at least 10 nights/per winter----some weeks in the middle of the winter.....you may not see a HIGH temp at noon even slightly above zero. .
The above conditions can exist up to 60% of the time from OCT through MARCH. Please understand.....I'm not trying to "scare you off" from Montana, but coming from Texas, the over-all change in way of life will be quite great.

You also should figure in the cost of winter cloths, boots ,hats, gloves etc for you and your entire family. And check on the cost of Montana License Plate costs annually.......quite high compared to Texas.

I hope my thoughts will be of some help. I've lived here 30 yrs.........my opinions are not speculations.........do your research.

Edit: As of Jan 7th the Flathead (Kalispell) Job Service office had (40) job openings listed and UP TO 600 people per day coming in looking for work (jobs). Also Sanders County, MT has the highest unemployment rate in the whole state. Sorry, but these are the facts....public information available on the net.

[mtcwgirl]

Originally Posted by KimnTx

We are looking for small, quaint, rural living, with friendly people, lots of snow, no heat, and beautiful scenery.

I love the Cooke city area, it's on the Wy/Mt border by Yellowstone park.
It has lots of snow,(9-10 months out of the year) you can ride your snowmobile in town in the winter and your ATV in the couple of months in summer. There are 90 perm. residents and swells to 300 in the summer. The only school is a one room school house (k-8). No cell service, slow internet, and deer walking through town. I love it there. You can look them up at www.cookecitychamber.org or give the camber a call at (406) 838-2495 (the lady is by the phone in the afternoon M-F) Good luck in your search!

[chrismford]

How bout this, stay in Texas. There is a lot of crime, drug use, poverty, etc... in Montana. It's not a paradise it's hard. There is a reason this was one of the last states to reach statehood and why there was homesteding going on into the twenties. Montana is going to reach a breaking point with the "idealist" out of stater's like yourself moving in to get their slice of heaven without realizing the cost. By the way, did you read about the lack of Jobs? It's really bad in eastern Montana too, three murders in four years in my area. As far as hot weather is concerned, most of the eastern part of the state won't blink at 100 and in many areas 110 and change is common. Stay in Texas and fix your state. I was there in the Air Force for a few years and it was nice, but Montana is my home. I'm a cop now, I know cops all over the state. This isn't heaven.

[ksaunmt]

My husband and I and our two children moved here in 1999. At first when I came here in May of 1999 I thought, how ugly, thankfully many folks do get a bad impression. That is a good thing. We built our home and moved into it in December 1999. We love our lot, hate our house and still have a bunch of equity. I live in Bozeman. I LOVE it here and I don't ski, yet. Schools suck everywhere really, but there are hot spots of good schools in every town, depends upon your profession. I don't know where there is a Mayberry type of town. This town has at least doubled in size since we moved here. My kids did settle, but one of them is back in Oregon, he is older now. My daughter swears she will never leave here. She says she is a native now because she doesn't like other states. The cost of living is high here and since this is a college town we have more traffic than the small towns, but Montana is a great state. If I had to choose again, I would choose Bozeman and definately the Eastern side of the continental divide.

[Reziac]

I dunno where there's a Mayberry, but this morning I discovered there's a Mayberry Road that goes about 20 miles west from Circle. Maybe Mayberry is at the end of that road?? Tho all I saw was the world's largest center-pivot irrigation patch.

[patterson7]

Originally Posted by KimnTx

hmm...Can you give me any other prospects?

We moved to Columbia Falls, MT from Texas. But we're back here now. But I would've stayed if it was my choice. But my Dad moved. He Loved it also though. I also like it. best town I've ever lived in. I certainly made the best friends I've ever made there. Montana was the best experience I ever had. The Fleathead Valley around Columbia Falls and Kalispell would be the best place to visit before considering moving. Yes it may be a bit more populated then most of Montana, but there are no towns over 20,000 in the county Columbia Falls only had 5,000. It's a lot more rural than the Houston Area that's for sure. So I suggest visiting Kalispell and if you go there to the flathead valley you need to go to Glacier National Park which is near Hungry Horse. Hope I helped