Harlowton, Montana diversifies to survive

The 1970 Census documented 3,026 residents of Wheatland County. But just four years later, the major employer of the area, the Milwaukee Railroad, announced it was ceasing operations.

John Peccia ended his career as a car inspector for the railroad in Harlowton http://www.harlowtonchamber.com/ in the 1970s.

He was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Harlowton City Council in 2000, a year when Census employees recorded 2,259 people who called Wheatland County home, a 25 percent drop from the number 30 years before that.

Peccia will give up his seat as mayor after the next election. Now the latest estimates say 2,010 live in the county, 11 percent fewer than in 2000. Harlowton, the county seat, has 1,062 residents.

By JO DEE BLACK • Tribune Business Editor

Full Story: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20090823/BUSINESS/908230306/Harlowton+diversifies+to+survive+