[PRCo] Re: Europe ....

[Schneider Fred]

Sometime, Dennis, you should try driving to Helena.   Of course I'm  
biased but then I've driven across the Dakotas three times using  
three different routes and loved the open country every time.   I've  
also driven from coast to coast across Canada.

If you drive the I-90 corridor ... I said corridor and I didn't  
specifically say the interstate highway ... you can actually find  
some parallel roads west of Bismark that are still not paved for  
miles and miles and miles.   You may have to dust the car afterwards  
but it is a pleasure not to have all the traffic.

My last visit to Butte was kind of saddening because I it lent  
perspective to the 2007 visit.  At its peak the population was around  
100,000 or just under that.   Then at the end of World War I the  
price of copper plummeted and the miners started moving out.   The  
population dropped ...  I think it was in the 60,000s in the 1930s.   
The 2000 census showed 33,000 and that was only because the expanded  
the boundaries considerably.

Anaconda, the copper refining town to the west, had about 28,000 at  
its peak.   I think it might be included in the 33,000 for Butte today.

ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butte_Montana

Interestingly, Butte still had trolley cars into the 1930s and it was  
a National City Lines property ... ever hear of Butte City Lines?     
I cannot think of a better example of a place where you could convert  
from rail to bus and still loose your shirt as the business continued  
to plummet.

Anaconda actually had a company owned trolley service until 1951 ...  
company owned meaning Anaconda Copper Mining Company.  The cars  
served the town and ran up the hill to the smelter.   It was also a  
quasi-interurban operation.   Cars ran out of town to a village to  
the east called Opportunity.  Yupper ... there was a lot of  
opportunity in them thar hills until the ore ran out.

Another great place, if you have not been there, is Glacier National  
Park.  For those who love trains, the Isaac Walton Inn is a nice  
place to stay to see the park ... the Jammers will pick up passengers  
their for park tours just the same as they will at park owned  
lodges ... and you get to hear all the trains going through on the  
former Great Northern.   And when the Empire Builder comes through in  
the evening, everyone rushes on on the porch to wave.   The food in  
the restaurant isn't bad either.   It's as close to haute cuisine as  
you get in Montana.

And when you're there, you must turn right and go north into  
Alberta ... it's only a couple hours north to the most unimaginable  
place you will ever encounter.   You've been driving for days through  
nothing in the U. S. prairies.   You cross into Canada (passports  
needed to come home), and suddenly you are no longer in the freezing  
north but in the warm south of another country.   An hour north of  
our border is Calgary with a million people in the middle of  
prairie.   A fantastic modern city.    The link to light rail now,  
below, claims that their C-train (light rail) patronage is the  
highest in North America at 230,000 passengers a day.   The Chinese  
Cultural Center also serves great delicacies like duck tongues.   I  
saw warm with tongue in cheek.   When C-Train first opened, all the  
initial parking spaces had outlets so you could plug in your car's  
block heater so the sucker would warm when you back on a winter  
evening.   Well, business climbed so fast that the subsequent gravel  
parking lots didn't have the same amenities.    I've been there three  
times since it opened ... watched the city go from 600,000 to 800,000  
to over 1,000,000 people in 20 years.   Very European ... they have  
the oil but they also live in closely spaced housing when they could  
be spreading out all over the prairie.   I've just never be lucky  
enough to get there for the Stampede.   Or unlucky enough.

http://www.lightrailnow.org/news/n_cal_2008-01a.htm

On Oct 16, 2008, at 6:37 PM, Dennis F. Cramer wrote:

> We flew into Helena a few years back.  Only 2 gates at the airport  
> and they
> only use one!  I really enjoyed the town and of course enjoy that  
> state.
>
> It is obvious in Butte that industry was once king.  I come from a  
> long line
> of coal miners and enjoyed visiting the open pit mine.
> Dennis F. Cramer
>       Trombone
>
>
>
>