Treasure State Golden Anniversary

My how time flies. In a couple of weeks, it will be 50 years since I first arrived in Montana.

Shortly after high school graduation, I headed west from my home in southern Indiana after deciding to forego college, and instead, get a job on the Alaska pipeline.

I didn’t have enough money to get all the way to Alaska and figured I’d find work along the way. Passing through Billings, four days into the trip, I picked up a newspaper and saw an ad for jobs in Yellowstone Park.

Heading south from Billings in my 1958 Ford pickup, I drove over the Beartooth Highway to Cooke City and on into Yel...