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Railroads, Regionalism, and Postwar Economic Decline in the West: The Case of Montana's Upper Musselshell Valley
Author(s) -
Lewis Miles D.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
history compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.121
H-Index - 1
ISSN - 1478-0542
DOI - 10.1111/j.1478-0542.2007.00415.x
Subject(s) - grassroots , regionalism (politics) , bankruptcy , interpretation (philosophy) , narrative , state (computer science) , political science , history , sociology , law , politics , linguistics , philosophy , algorithm , computer science , democracy , programming language
This article examines the effects of railroading within Wheatland County, Montana. Wheatland County grew, evolved, and became dependent upon the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific (i.e. the Milwaukee Road) economically, socially, and culturally compared to two neighboring counties. When the Milwaukee terminated its western operations in 1980 it devastated Wheatland County while the adjacent regions, which the Milwaukee also passed through, remained unaffected by the company's bankruptcy. Additionally, this article compares the use of broad based traditional historical interpretations of Montana, which do not explain the locale, and the grassroots history of the region as relayed by its own residents. The grassroots interpretation is more worldly, involved, and explanatory of the region than conventional grand narrative writings about the state of Montana. Taking the grassroots approach exposes regional anomalies pertinent to explaining regional identity and culture.