Libby and Troy (Noxon: for sale, real estate, rent)

[wvmountaineer]

Can someone tell me abt Libby Mt.and also Troy Mt. Weather,housing,cost of living etc,much thanks!!!

[happiness is]

A page about Libby and the toxic vermiculite/asbestos clean up project on the EPA web site:
Libby Asbestos | Region 8 | US EPA
Research any property you rent or buy to see if it is near areas that still need to be cleared up.
quote from page "Until the cleanup is finished, disturbance of vermiculite is the most likely source of exposures to asbestos. So, learn what it looks like and where it is likely to be found - then leave it alone!"

Troy is very small, near the Ross Creek Cedar Grove Scenic Area (the giant cedars are a cool place to visit). It is a rather isolated part of the sate, beautiful, but no jobs there to speak of. Low elevation compared to the rest of the state, cloudy skies, more rain, milder winters. At the 2000 census, the population of Troy was only 957 people. City of Troy, Montana History

[happiness is]

Here is a link to the Troy Chamber of Commerce with info on living and working there.
Chamber Members | Troy, Montana Chamber of Commerce

[rjmclau]

I live in Libby and it's basicly a retirement town. The rent is low from 300 to 600 and the cost of living is fair. Grocery stores are expensive so most people travel to Kalispel or Sandpoint for affordable food. Job market is terrible. If your trained in health care you may be able to get a job, but otherwise there isn't much work. Winters are cold and tend to last 6 to 9 months. Summers are mild. It's a beautiful place though, surrounded by lake and Mountains.

[Timberwolf232]

I do some work in that country.. My favorite part is watching the fall change in the larch trees. Stunning.

[Montana Griz]

Originally Posted by Timberwolf232

I do some work in that country.. My favorite part is watching the fall change in the larch trees. Stunning.

Funny story...............regardng Larch, out of state landowners and hasty decisions.

Back in the late 1970's I had just bought my home site here in Montana after looking at many pieces of land tight up against the mountains on the west side of the B.R. Valley. One piece of ground that I came across while looking was a 10 acre piece, (that was up against the F.S. boundry) that showed evidence of having had about (2) dozen trees cut down in the recent past (time of year was early Feb). I obviously wasn't interested in it, but wondered why the trees had been cut.

Seems a visitor to the valley from California bought this piece of land when he visited the previous June. He was going to build on it for his retirement home site. He really liked "all the Pine Trees" that were on it according to a local resident. The guy from California had asked this local (by phone in early January) to take several pictures of his recently purchased land, with particular emphasis on showing the pines....with the snow on the ground they would "stand-out" in great contrast. Well, when he received the pictures, he was saddened to see many of the trees had died......"no needles on them!!". Jumping to the conclusion that the other trees adjacent to those that were "dead" would suffer the same fate, he took immediate action, being the SPE that he was. He called a local logger, gave him directions on how to find the piece of land (note: he had already 'posted it' with "No Tresspassing" signs) and told the logger to "cut down those "dead" trees"....the ones with no needles on them.

The job was done in one day, the logger took pictures, sent his bill, got paid and 'kept of mouth shut'!

The following June the guy came out, realized what had happened, put the property up for sale and ended up retiring in Oregon.

This still "comes up for discussion" every once in a while when some of the "ole timers" meet for "Wednesday morning" coffee at the Back Door Deli in town.

AND>>>>>>Libby and Troy country have lots of Larch

[Timberwolf232]

Too funny... Reminds me of the NY hunter that came to Gallatin County 10 or 15 years ago that bagged his "big elk" and brought it to a game processor for butchering.. What he shot was someones Llama.

(If I was the butcher I'd have let him eat it, but he ended up with a huge fine and a lifelong hunting ban in MT)

[plainsman48]

Originally Posted by Timberwolf232

Too funny... Reminds me of the NY hunter that came to Gallatin County 10 or 15 years ago that bagged his "big elk" and brought it to a game processor for butchering.. What he shot was someones Llama.

(If I was the butcher I'd have let him eat it, but he ended up with a huge fine and a lifelong hunting ban in MT)

Same thing has happened here, but no hunting ban and no fines - b/c it's NOT A GAME ANIMAL. It's a pack animal and they often get shot - mainly by kids who think it's fun. Lifelong bans are rare are are reserved for those that deserve them - like the nutjobs that hunt in the State Parks. They have little effect outside of the state doing the ban.

[plainsman48]

Originally Posted by happiness is

A page about Libby and the toxic vermiculite/asbestos clean up project on the EPA web site:
Libby Asbestos | Region 8 | US EPA Research any property you rent or buy to see if it is near areas that still need to be cleared up. quote from page "Until the cleanup is finished, disturbance of vermiculite is the most likely source of exposures to asbestos. So, learn what it looks like and where it is likely to be found - then leave it alone!"

There's probably as much dis-information as there is information provided by the EPA. Pure vermiculite does not contain asbestos, which is the contention of the EPA. I've worked in vermiculite mines in VA and in hundreds of thousands of pounds of the stuff. I don't have asbestos in my system, and I don't have cancer. My homes were insulated with pure vermiculite. We used it in home construction, agriculture, horticulture for fifty years. Unfortunately for the residents and workers, the Libby mine was not mining pure vermiculite - they were mining tremolite which is actually a very dangerous asbestos. I feel for the residents, but they're gripe should be directed towards the previous owners of mine (1920-1962) and not WR Grace who bought it in 1963 and got stuck with the cleanup costs.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Interesting...that's something our real estate agent in Libby never mentioned...
But highway 56 from Noxon to Troy has got to be one of the most gorgeous stretches in the entire NW, with the Cabinet Mt Wilderness and the Ross Creek Cedars , and the drive between Troy and Libby is spectacular. The Kootenai Falls are reason enough for me to want to visit often--but it's got to be very difficult to find work in Troy or Libby...

BTW, loved the larch and llama stories!