Moving to the Rugged West

Every time I visit Bozeman I’m reminded of why I left.

At the time I blamed the opening of a store specializing in nothing but batteries as the final straw. That was nearly 20 years ago. Bozeman has grown by leaps and bounds since then. There are probably a couple of battery stores in town now.

Malta, on the other hand, where Barb and I moved, has seen a decline in population, as has much of rural Montana. Newcomers, it seems, may talk about moving to the rugged West, but most of them actually want all the conveniences they had back home.

On the 300-mile drive from Malta to Bozeman little has changed until reaching Livingston. And with the exception of a scattering of new homes in subdivisions on the edge of Lewistown and Big Timber, the land remains sparsely settled all the way to Malta.

It’s refreshing to live somewhere free of sprawl, traffic jams, and a constantly changing landscape, however I’m apparently in the minority. No one is moving to Hilger, Saco, Judith Gap or Roy. In a time when we’re told we can work from anywhere, most everyone still wants to live where everyone else does.

Apparently there’s an allure to crowded fishing access sites and trail heads.

I’ve been hunting more days than not since Sept. 1, usually within 20 miles of town. I rarely see other hunters. One of the best walleye lakes in the state is a short drive away. There’s not much crime up here. People wave when they pass each other on the road. Homes are affordable.

Yet everybody’s still moving to the Gallatin Valley and the Flathead where the price of real estate continues to soar.

Growth will eventually reach the hinterland. A small percentage of new residents will get fed up with the crowds and the seemingly endless sprawl, realizing this isn’t the Montana they imagined.

Or not.

Folks sure hate to give up their shopping and dining options, and as reluctant as they are to admit it, they want to live somewhere that looks like everywhere else.

Can you blame them. The battery shopping is fabulous.

Parker Heinlein is at [email protected]