Life on the "High Line" in Montana

Traveling across the Montana "High Line" and conducting our Bootstrap Montana Seminar Series recently was a rich experience. On the positive, the country and people are beautiful. On the negative, the economic situation is truly depressing.

With the scaling back of rail road operations on the High Line, the tightening of the borders, a less than favorable exchange rate (Canadian to US) and an aging population, Montana’s northern towns are in decline. Of course we hear about the shrinking of rural America all the time – especially related to the proper mid west but it’s always just out of sight for many of us. Even living in Bozeman, with a population of less than 40,000, I don’t often see the decline that writers cite.

But it doesn’t take long to get to ‘rural’ in Montana. Go 10 miles north or south of most any stretch of I-90 and there you are. And wherever that is, it’s getting smaller and poorer.

Prairie Lee

Full Story: http://www.techranch.org/blog/2009/06/life-on-the-high-line.php