{"id":6328,"date":"2015-04-26T07:39:37","date_gmt":"2015-04-26T13:39:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=6328"},"modified":"2015-04-27T16:08:56","modified_gmt":"2015-04-27T22:08:56","slug":"prairie-lights-a-slide-show-of-sorts-of-a-small-adventure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2015\/04\/prairie-lights-a-slide-show-of-sorts-of-a-small-adventure\/","title":{"rendered":"Prairie Lights: A slide show, of sorts, of a small adventure"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Lindsay\"<\/a>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News<\/p>

A fleet of clouds sails over a gravel road near Lindsay, between Circle and Glendive.<\/p><\/div>\n

Turn me loose, set me free, somewhere in the middle of Montana.<\/em>
\n\u2014Merle Haggard<\/p>\n

When I lived in Missoula in the 1970s, it sometimes seemed that a week couldn\u2019t go by without my being invited to a slide show.<\/p>\n

\"Ed\"<\/a>

Ed Kemmick<\/p><\/div>\n

Most of those shows chronicled somebody\u2019s outdoor adventures: a trek into the Bob Marshall Wilderness, fishing in Alaska, a raft trip down the Snake River, etc. These were the days of slide projectors, carousels full of slides and those shaky white projector screens.<\/p>\n

The photographer\/adventurer would usually go to great lengths to pair the slides with just the right music, generally of the movie-score dramatic variety or New Age inspiring. Some of the slide shows were awful, some were quite good and as a bonus the slides would sometimes either melt or burst into flames, which was exciting.<\/p>\n

I suppose I could have put together something like that myself to showcase my recent travels (there must be an app for that), but in the end I decided that even in the digital newspaper world, simpler is usually better. So, let me offer up an approximation of a narrated slide show of some recent travels across Eastern Montana.<\/p>\n

But first let me say a few things in general about those recent travels, which took me to Glendive, Circle, Poplar, Wolf Point, Malta, Grass Range and lots of points in between. For one, I couldn’t have asked for better traveling weather. Except for a few minutes of rain, I was accompanied by cloud-flecked blue skies and lots of sunshine.<\/p>\n

\"CapreAir_Variable\"<\/a><\/div><\/div>I saw a good many pronghorn antelope, a few deer, lots of prairie chickens and at least a few dozen pheasants\u2014both living and sadly mashed into the roadway. In Glendive I saw a profusion of new motels to service the Bakken boom overflow, and elsewhere on my travels I saw a profusion of old buildings either slowly succumbing to the elements or already reduced to a few scattered piles of scrap.<\/p>\n

I had never thought of this before, but it occurred to me that one of the great disadvantages of urbanization is that cities by necessity feel compelled to remove buildings that have been abandoned. There are well-publicized cases<\/a> of urban eyesores in Billings, but the houses in question would hardly even qualify as old way out in the country.<\/p>\n

For all the natural beauty the Montana countryside has to offer, there’s still nothing quite as alluring as all the old barns, houses, schools, churches, grain elevators and outbuildings weathering away\u2014not to mention all the old cars and trucks, which I obviously like to photograph as well.<\/p>\n

I should also mention that the photo above appears on top for no other reason than it seemed to be the best for a piece about traveling in Montana. And I really loved those clouds.<\/p>\n

As for the rest of my slide show, the narration will appear as captions beneath the photos. Let’s go:<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t

\n\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t

<\/a>
Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News permalink<\/a><\/h6>

Generally speaking, I like to stay off the interstate highway. But the beginning of my latest jaunt involved a straight shot to Glendive on I-94, and when I came up on this sandstone keyhole just west of Custer, as I had so many times in the past, I figured I just had to stop and get a picture.<\/p><\/div>

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Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News permalink<\/a><\/h6>

In Glendive, it was pretty windy, so when I saw this old house listing hard to the left, it seemed to sum up just how windy it can get out there on the plains.<\/p><\/div>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News permalink<\/a><\/h6>

Somewhere north of Glendive, on 200S, I spotted a fine old barn. Now, I know that taking photographs of old barns isn't exactly an original pastime. The Montana Historical Society even published a big fat book full of Montana barn photos a few years back, and for all I know this barn is in there. On the other hand, is another photo of a barn really going to hurt anything?\n<\/p><\/div>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News permalink<\/a><\/h6>

When I got to Circle with some spare time on my hands, I thought I should stop at the McCone County Museum, which I had heard a lot about but hadn't visited yet. No such luck. It was closed for the season. So I wandered the grounds and admired some of the oddball pieces collected there. My favorite was this World War II gun (possibly a howitzer). If you're wondering about those dinosaurs, and how couldn't you, I assume they were created by the late Orville Quick, formerly the museum director and a gentleman renowned for his concrete sculptures.<\/p><\/div>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News permalink<\/a><\/h6>

Not far from the gun and dinosaurs was this old truck, which I liked mainly because it looked from the front so much like a forlorn old man. Hell, looking at it, I might have been looking in a mirror.<\/p><\/div>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News permalink<\/a><\/h6>

One more thing caught my eye in Circle. I guess I didn't find it all that unusual, but I wondered what somebody from out of state might think of it. You need to be responsible with a gun and you need to be responsible with liquor, so there's no reason you can't be responsible indulging in both at the same time, right?<\/p><\/div>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News permalink<\/a><\/h6>

North of Circle, on Highway 13, in the vicinity of Vida, I came upon two abandoned schoolhouses, another well-photographed subject also featured in a recent book. This first one, for which I saw no name, was south of Vida on East Duck Creek Road.<\/p><\/div>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News permalink<\/a><\/h6>

The other school's name was prominently featured on one wall: Southview School, a little east of Vida, and the same sign showed how long it had been open, from 1919 to 2001. I especially liked the little island of concrete in the prairie grass. And please note that the net is still completely intact on that basketball hoop. Think of all the wind and rain and snow it has stood up to. It is some kind of miracle, I tell you.<\/p><\/div>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News permalink<\/a><\/h6>

Between Poplar and Wolf Point on Highway 2, it was the old church that caught my eye, but as I got closer I noticed the tiny cemetery behind it. So I drove up close and got out for a stroll through the cemetery, with its tattered flag, its faded crosses and its tombstones all decorated with artificial flowers and stuffed animals. It should have been depressing, but it was oddly uplifting.<\/p><\/div>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News permalink<\/a><\/h6>

On a short side trip to take a gander at Zortman, I spotted St. Joseph Catholic Church, which appeared to be still in use, perched on a hill overlooking the town.<\/p><\/div>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News permalink<\/a><\/h6>

This old elevator is in Grass Range, its red paint so beautiful against the blue sky. It must have been full of pigeons, whose very loud cooing was audible from quite a ways off.<\/p><\/div>

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Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News permalink<\/a><\/h6>

And lastly, one more old truck, this one spotted not far from the grain elevator in Grass Range. I thought maybe if I waited there long enough, a shade-tree mechanic might show up and try to get it running.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>