My month in Montana

My take on Montana

where I went this month

Montana's land

I think the map shows I made a truly valiant effort to cover Montana as much as I could in 1 month.  There weren't many paved roads I missed.

That's something I heard from someone this month: Montana's not a paved-road state.  And I found it to be true.

As I pointed out now and then in my daily posts, Montana has some serious mountains in the far western part; it has lots of hills all over, decreasing in size as you go east; and it's got a lot of prairie - a whole lot - in the eastern 2/3 of the state.

The lowest point is at the Idaho border, which seems odd to me given all the mountains in that area.  It's at 1,804' on the Kootenai River.  The highest point is almost on the Wyoming border southwest of Billings.  It's Granite Peak at 12,807'.  Neither of these is even remotely near the plains part of the state, which indicates that this is indeed high desert here.  The Continental Divide runs through Montana, another indication of the altitudes here.

Montana's history, and much of its current economy, centers around mining of various kinds.  And it truly is an array of resources they have here: everything from sapphires to metals (gold, silver, copper, molybdenum) to gravel/stone and oil, to wind and water (they have so little they have to engineer it).

But what impressed me most was how agricultural this state is.  I came here expecting to see nothing but cattle ranches, and they are certainly here.  But what's also here are crops.  Wheat, corn, potatoes, sugar beets, soybeans.  Cherries, apples.  I just never thought of Montana as a farming state but it very definitely is.

And it has some real natural beauties.  Flathead Lake is a natural one and quite lovely.  Of course there's Glacier Natural Park and the sights contained there.  And it's got the Big Sky.

I've found displays and monuments to the Lewis & Clark expedition in many other states, but none has as much claim as Montana.  The expedition touched many states as they journeyed down the Ohio, up the Mississippi, and then up the Missouri until finally reaching the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean.  

But Montana is the biggest state they crossed (of course none of these areas was a state then - they were mostly part of the Louisiana Purchase and the vast Oregon Territory), so of course it's the state they spent the most time in.  Even now, Montana is the 4th largest state in the Union; it's 630 miles across and 255 miles north-to-south.  And it was here that the expedition found they could not follow the Missouri all the way to the Pacific - they found its headwaters.  This was an important area to the expedition, and the state celebrates that today.

Montana's people

What Montana doesn't have is people.  It ranks 43rd among the states in terms of absolute numbers, but it's #48 in terms of density (beating out only Wyoming and Alaska).  The largest city is Billings with 117,000 people, which is 20,000 smaller than Waco, TX.  Havre, in the north near Ft. Benton, comes in at #10 with fewer than 9,400 people.

This makes Montana an extremely rural state, with almost the entire population living in the western half.  And that leaves eastern Montana very empty.  Lots of isolation out there.

Because this is a farming economy with so few people, Montana is a poor state as far as its government goes.  I'd've thought they'd put higher taxes on the companies that are extracting the state's natural resources, but I'm guessing they're afraid to lose the jobs that are propping up many of these towns.

So between the poverty of the government and the isolation of the residents, Montana's got a real problem with not only mental health in general but suicide in particular.  Drug use here is every bit the problem that states in the East and Midwest are better known for.

But almost everyone I met was pleasant, friendly and helpful.  And if it weren't for the many many NO DOGS signs, I'd have called this a friendly state.

I should note here that John Steinbeck said he was "in love with Montana."  Love is a funny thing - it's a very individual feeling and no one can predict who or what they'll love.  Steinbeck certainly did a lot of traveling around the country (see Travels with Charlie) so he knew whereof he spoke.

Driving in Montana

As I've noted in several places, I ran into problems with some of Montana's roadways.  And there was definitely a lack of street signs in some towns and cities.  But overall, I was comfortable on Montana's roads and thought the highway department did a good job for travelers.

Somewhat unusually, Montana has 4 currently valid standard license plates:

since 2010

since 1989

since 1991

since 2006

There are plenty of specialty plates of course.  But it took me a while to realize all 4 of these styles were official and current.

I got 3 thank-yous from other motorists for pulling over for them, and only the one blare-out by the semi driver because of the awkward situation that was certainly my fault but also his and particularly the other driver's.  

In general the drivers here were polite and relatively safe.  And they mostly passed me when I gave them a chance (saving us both frustration).

What I didn't see that I wanted to see

I wrote about most of it.  

But at Great Falls I apparently missed the Giant Springs (one of the world's largest springs) and Roe River (the world's shortest river).  

And what I was sorriest to miss was the Beartooth Highway, considered one of North America's most scenic.  It's not completely in Montana - it dips down into Wyoming into Yellowstone National Park.  But when the Yellowstone River flooded this June, it took out much of that road and the park had to close both its northern entrances.  It never occurred to me I should have driven that road when I was doing my month in Wyoming last year, but sometime I'll be able to come back and see it.

My conclusion

Apologies to Steinbeck, but I didn't love Montana.  I liked it a lot, though.  And I guess I felt a little sorry for it.  The people in this state are suffering from a lack of state government resources they sorely need.  And that situation is exacerbated by the self-reliance attitude folks here have - we don't need help from the government and can take care of our own problems.  In my view, actually, they can't.  But since I can't see any obvious way they could make this situation better, they're stuck with it.  And that's why I feel sorry for them.  But they do have a magnificent state.