Great Falls - Western or Eastern Montana? (Missoula, Helena: live, horse)

[MimzyMusic]

I would say eastern Montana. It's in the plains, shares the American heartland decline, it gets those Arctic blasts you get in eastern MT.

It's definitely more like North Dakota than Idaho imo, would you agree?

[Reziac]

Same debate as when I lived there... None of the above. CENTRAL Montana, that's what it is!

But yeah, in character if not appearance, everything from the foot of the Rockies eastward is more like ND than it is ID. Great Falls is definitely NOT "western Montana" in the way Missoula and Kalispell are, and never has been. Didn't we decide a while back that its sister city should be Bismarck??

Now, Helena, that's another debate... it's kinda some of everything from every part of the state, depending on which way you're facing. Probably appropriate for the state capital!

[Jbechtel]

You can use Colorado as an anology since more Americans come out west through the middle of the country then the interstates further north, i.e. the logjam on I-80 all the time. The prairie gives way to the mountains there, too. Would Denver be considered western Colorado or eastern? It's not in the mountains either, more on the eastern slope, like Great Falls. Cities like these offer diversity. Farming or ranching could be well laid out, mining wasn't too far away. In centuries past, these towns were easy for most people to get to by horse or coach.

[Joe Doer]

Originally Posted by Jbechtel

the logjam on I-80 all the time

I you think that is a logjam try I-5 or I-405 between Disneyland and Los Angeles

[Jbechtel]

Originally Posted by Joe Doer

I you think that is a logjam try I-5 or I-405 between Disneyland and Los Angeles

That I-5 is a nightmare!