41 Montana
My family lived in Butte, Montana from 1981 to 1984. This is the only time in my life that I have lived somewhere that wasn't essentially flat, as Butte is in a small valley high in the Rocky Mountains. You could walk out the back door of our house and see the mountains very close up. For that matter, you could walk out the front door and see the mountains in the distance, although the airport was the first thing you'd see. It got pretty cold there in the winter; for years my dad had a t-shirt that said "The warmest winter I ever spent was summer in Montana."
Why would anyone set up a city high up in the mountains? In a word, copper. Butte for many years the source of most of the copper used in the United States, and even today a few hundred people are employed in copper mining. The most famous of these mines is the now closed Berkley Pit Mine, commonly referred to as The Pit. As a little kid I remember looking out from the observation platform and seeing the trucks driving around far off in the distance. When they shut the pit down in 1982, they turned off the pumps, so it's now filled with nearly 1600 feet of water. This is problematic because the water is laden with heavy chemicals. It's blamed for the death of 350 geese who stopped to rest there in 1995; the necropsies showed that their innards were lined with burns caused by cadmium, copper and arsenic exposure. In fact, nowadays the Pit is famous as one of the largest Superfund sites in the country. Pumping had to be restarted because if the water level had risen to the same height as the ground water it would basically have poisoned the entire available drinking supply. Fun. Ironically, the pit is now a tourist attraction.
My dad took me fishing for brook trout and lake trout during the summer. We'd ride our bikes past Evil Knievel's house. In the fall we'd drive dad's old pickup truck up to a place that the lumber companies had clear cut, and he and mom would cut up leftover trees and stuff them in the back for winter burning. Occasionally we'd drive to another copper town, Anaconda to visit the hot springs. Anaconda is home to another copper mining relic, the The Stack, which is the tallest masonry structure in the world and is so large that the Washington Monument would fit inside.
During my family sojourn there, we went to Yellowstone, which is mostly in Wyoming but does extend into Montana. I've also been to Glacier National Park, although that was after we'd moved to North Dakota. My family drove across the state yet again on a summer trip to Big Sky Ski Resort for some conference had to attend. I've also been to Little Bighorn National Monument
Montana is gorgeous. You've got mountains on the western end. The eastern end has no mountains, but its horizons justify the nickname "The Big Sky State". It's well worth visiting if you like scenery.
Scoreboard
Full Credit - 30: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois, Missouri, Michigan, Florida, Texas, Wisconsin, California, Minnesota, Oregon, Kansas, West Virginia, Nevada, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana
Partial Credit - 6: Delaware, Connecticut, Maryland, Alabama, Iowa, Nebraska
No Credit - 5: South Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Maine, Arkansas
Why would anyone set up a city high up in the mountains? In a word, copper. Butte for many years the source of most of the copper used in the United States, and even today a few hundred people are employed in copper mining. The most famous of these mines is the now closed Berkley Pit Mine, commonly referred to as The Pit. As a little kid I remember looking out from the observation platform and seeing the trucks driving around far off in the distance. When they shut the pit down in 1982, they turned off the pumps, so it's now filled with nearly 1600 feet of water. This is problematic because the water is laden with heavy chemicals. It's blamed for the death of 350 geese who stopped to rest there in 1995; the necropsies showed that their innards were lined with burns caused by cadmium, copper and arsenic exposure. In fact, nowadays the Pit is famous as one of the largest Superfund sites in the country. Pumping had to be restarted because if the water level had risen to the same height as the ground water it would basically have poisoned the entire available drinking supply. Fun. Ironically, the pit is now a tourist attraction.
My dad took me fishing for brook trout and lake trout during the summer. We'd ride our bikes past Evil Knievel's house. In the fall we'd drive dad's old pickup truck up to a place that the lumber companies had clear cut, and he and mom would cut up leftover trees and stuff them in the back for winter burning. Occasionally we'd drive to another copper town, Anaconda to visit the hot springs. Anaconda is home to another copper mining relic, the The Stack, which is the tallest masonry structure in the world and is so large that the Washington Monument would fit inside.
During my family sojourn there, we went to Yellowstone, which is mostly in Wyoming but does extend into Montana. I've also been to Glacier National Park, although that was after we'd moved to North Dakota. My family drove across the state yet again on a summer trip to Big Sky Ski Resort for some conference had to attend. I've also been to Little Bighorn National Monument
Montana is gorgeous. You've got mountains on the western end. The eastern end has no mountains, but its horizons justify the nickname "The Big Sky State". It's well worth visiting if you like scenery.
Scoreboard
Full Credit - 30: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois, Missouri, Michigan, Florida, Texas, Wisconsin, California, Minnesota, Oregon, Kansas, West Virginia, Nevada, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana
Partial Credit - 6: Delaware, Connecticut, Maryland, Alabama, Iowa, Nebraska
No Credit - 5: South Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Maine, Arkansas