Let's visit..... (Missoula, Bozeman: lawyers, to relocate, drought)

[tiberius]

Wurzig ... Wherever your family actually ends up,, it looks like Montana is already adopting YOU.. The University of Montana is a leader in forestry and wildlife biology.. You are probably thinking of the Montana Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit.. It was headed for 25 years by John Craighead.. John and his twin brother Frank were pioneers in grizzly bear research.. You may have seen them on National Geographic programs back in the day.. Two AMAZING guys.. Frank died in 2001, but I can't find if John is still alive.. I found a 2005 article in THE MONTANAN about John, but his was 88 and that was five years ago.. The Montanan - The Magazine of The University of Montana

Reziac ... you made me think of my favorite comic hero as a kid .. The Phantom.. I also liked Mandrake the Magician.. ( both by the same author )

tiberius

[Reziac]

Now that's interesting about the prince of India. Might be the same prince who also had fieldtrial Labradors back in the 1940s! (India and South Africa, and a few other countries where most folks wouldn't expect it, used to have dog shows and field trials, before various "social revolutions" put the kobosh on such "bourgeois" activities There's a photo in one of my books, later I'll see about scanning it. Someone may have to remind me

I was never a comic-book fan back in those thrilling days of yesteryear -- I was a reader (with a book-a-day habit!), and found the picture method annoying. I did have a first-issue Thor tho, which would now be worth a lot of money if I could find the bloody thing! likely my mom pitched it when we moved at some point.

[Reziac]

Picture taken in 1933 in Glacier National Park!
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...%26trailer.jpg

[Reedsmit]

What a great photo - thank you for posting it Reziac

[Reziac]

Note where the front wheels are... I bet next time this person didn't load his trailer quite so heavy

I used to have a 1920 "Automobile blue book" for central Montana. This was a book of very specific directions and maps. I remember one part about the road between Great Falls and Havre, where it talked about which side of the road to drive on through certain areas, and which cutoffs to take, to avoid deep mud at certain times of the year -- mind you this was long before pavement!!

[Mt-7]

Wow that would be an interesting read!

[Montana Griz]

Originally Posted by Mt-7

Wow that would be an interesting read!

Speaking of "INTERESTING READS"....................Hear's one from the State of California (WRITTEN ALMOST 10 YEARS AGO), regarding what 'has been' and 'is happening' to "THE LAST BEST PLACE".......................Remember now:
this was published in the San Francisco Chronicle ......(OCT 18, 2000); written "objectively" by a journalist employed by the paper. Many of "his phrases" and points of information can be found in numerous posts submitted to this forum, in the last few years, by "well-meaning" residents of Montana...who like myself, MAY have "an ax to grind"........HE DOES NOT. AND HE WROTE THIS 10 YEARS AGO. Little did he know (at that time), "how on-target he was".

And yes, "my ax is sharp!"

Pls click on this.....................

Big Bucks in Big Sky Country / Schwab's gated enclave reveals a growing social divide in the New West - SFGate

....

[tiberius]

Griz... GREAT post.. SO to the point.. They want to integrate into the community, not isolate from it.. The gate and walls must be to keep the grizzlies out.. And I love the part about how they have a caddy program to introduce the Montana kids to " golf culture ".. And this observation wasn't by a CONSERVATIVE.. It was written by a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle..

I had some thoughts on the article, and the subject in general, but I've sat here for the last hour, looking at the message box, asking myself why say anything.. And I find I no longer have a good answer for myself..

So I'm just gonna lean back in this chair on MT-7's porch, slowly drink my beer ... till it gets too warm, I hate warm beer ... and shoot the bull with 7, and Reziac, and Griz, and Rickers, and anyone else who happens to show up.. ( maybe, if we all put our heads together, we can figure out what happened to those two cousins of Rickers that never showed up.. Probably still out there, on horseback, lookin for Rickers place. ) ...................... And the next time someone writes in to the Montana forum and says he's a gay black crossdressing lawyer with an illegal mexican "husband", and that they want to move to Montana and start a "poly" family by both of them marrying a goat, and that they're hoping to get an animal rights organization started to outlaw hunting and fishing, the slaughter of cattle for food, and the riding of horses..and will they be accepted and welcomed into the community, and are the people up here smart enough to be able to learn how wrong and unprogressive their lives are........ Well, I'll just tell him to come on up..That he and his husband are gonna fit right in with the "new" Montana.. That there's even a good chance of him getting on as an adjunct professor at MSU.. And not to worry about anyone telling him that he's not really wanted here.. Standing up for their culture isn't the Montana style anymore.. The "wild" west is now the "mild" west.. and its WIDE open.. And even if they do find a small amount of non acceptance from some Montanans, not to worry... they're a dying breed.. So c'mon up, and bring all your friends.

If that sounded a bit sarcastic .. it was. ............ but still all too true.

tiberius

[Reziac]

Originally Posted by Montana Griz

Pls click on this.....................

Big Bucks in Big Sky Country / Schwab's gated enclave reveals a growing social divide in the New West - SFGate....

Yikes... this one really disturbs me:

"Maybe half the people are against (the Stock Farm) because they feel like outsiders are taking over, but I also think about half the people favor it," said Susan Williams, who lives with her husband and two children in a small, neat house beneath gigantic cottonwoods just outside one of the Stock Farm's gates.

"It made it possible for us to live here," said Williams. "My husband is working on the (Stock Farm's) irrigation system. I think it's positive for the community. It's contributing a lot to the local economy."

That's all dandy while the place is being built (the article goes on to talk about how they hired local folks for that). But after that, what sort of jobs are left?

SERVICE JOBS. Maid, cook, janitor, groundskeeper. Now, there's nothing wrong with any of those jobs (the world always needs maids, cooks, janitors, and groundskeepers), but none of them will build you a career, let you build a business that in turn lets you give jobs to others, or gets you much beyond minimum wage. And it means the local economy is that much more dependent on a single employer who doesn't really have any roots in Montana. While in the short term this means a steadier source of work for low-level workers, over the long haul what does it do to the local economy? I suspect much the same as a Walmart does to older downtown areas. But more, what does it do to local pride, now that so much of your job market is hat-in-hand to what amount to rich foreign princes??

[Reziac]

An amusing map:

449 – “Great Party Place, Wisconsin”, or: America’s Beer Belly « Strange Maps

Apparently large chunks of Nevada neither eat nor drink, while parts of Montana drink but do not eat.

(Lots of fun stuff on this blog for my fellow map freaks!)