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PureCountry

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I just wanted to toss out somethin' for everyone to think about. Feelin' philosophical I guess. I've noticed in the 'entertainment' industry in the last few years, there's always references to 'Southern born', 'the South's gonna rise again...', and then Alan Jackson singing that old Alabama song on the 40th anniversary of the ACM, 'Southern born, Southern bred". When he sang that song, it really got me thinking. How strong is that legendary feeling of being from the 'deep South'? It's always fascinated me how some people seem to cling to their roots while others don't give a damn - which I think is just wrong.

When I was in Scotland and Ireland a few years back, I felt 'home' as soon as we got there and I heard the accent and saw those rolling hills. But when I hear talk of the South, or get together with folks from around here who feel the same way I do about life, it makes me proud of who we are and what we do. But I can't help wondering what our future holds. For those of you South of the 49th, is the South really gonna rise again one day? I'd love to devote more time to the Western Separatist movement here, if I had it. As it is, I can't get the things done I'd like to now. But it bothers me and weighs on my mind that me doing nothing, is also doing nothing for the future of my children and their children.

Tell me what you think. Don't hold nothin' back, 'twouldn't be our way now would it? Thanks in advance. :) :cboy:
 
Pure Country – From your travels, I'm guessing you are Scotch-Irish like me and several others on this board. I don't know if you saw the postings I made on here about a great book that gives the history of the Scotch-Irish and their strong influence on this country, and especially on the south, from the very beginning of the United States.

The book is called "Born Fighting" by James Webb, a Scots-Irishman who was a highly decorated Vietnam vet and served as Assistant Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Navy under President Reagan.

I don't know much about your Western Separatist movement, but from what little I've heard, I think I'd be on the same side of the issue as you are if I were Canadian. Explain it to us, would you?
 
I guess my heads been in the sand, because I didn't even realize we had a genuine Western Separtist movement :)

For the past few years, I've felt that Western Canada should be its own little country, although we in Saskatchewan and Manitoba should probably face the reality that Alberta wouldn't want us :)

All jokes aside, my family came over to the US in the mid-1800s (we've got a history somewhere, just can't remember the dates). My ne'er-do-well family wandered around Michigan then Idaho for a few years, until they decided to come North (I suspect they likely got chased out :)) Anyway, my family settled in Western Canada before there was a Canada or a Saskatchewan. They built some semblance of a decent life before the dirty 30s wiped it out, but they persevered and came north to rebuild once again. My family and thousands just like them built Western Canada into something great and proud. I'm one of those guys, who when filling out the census forms, I add a box and write Canadian beside it when they ask my ethnic background.

But I've been watching politicians tear down what my family built for years now. It really does grow tiring to vote in the elections, knowing full well that its really not going to help us anyway. On the international stage, our government does absolutely nothing to help the west for fear of ticking off the big dawgs who buy from the east. Where's our support over European grain subsidies? Or support for the soft wood lumber industry. Or for that matter, where was our government during most of the BSE crisis?

Anyway, my post likely something that should have been in the politics area, but if The West Is Gonna Rise, I'll be in there like stink on....

...my coveralls.

Rod
 
I remember reading your post about that book, but I never took the time to find it. Was it in stores?

As for Western Separation, there's been a party trying to gain 'Official Party Status' since about 1999 I believe. I first met some of the folks organizing it in 2002. They still don't have enough members for party status, but they're still trying. The idea behind it was to first get the numbers needed in Alberta, then try and roll the ball in Saskatchewan. Myself, I wouldn't want anything to do with it if it didn't include Sask, Manitoba and B.C. It should be WESTERN CANADA or nothin. There are some really good people behind, influential ones, too. So hopefully it gains momentum in the near future.

Another place I forgot to mention, is Deer Lodge Montana. Been through there a few times when I was a kid, some of the prettiest country I've ever seen. Just felt like home, too. I've got a great grandfather buried in some cemetery there. My Grandad and great aunts went down there a couple years back and took pictures of it. I'd like to see it with my own eyes one day.
 
PureCountry said:
I remember reading your post about that book, but I never took the time to find it. Was it in stores?

Never hit many Canadian stores (except what I sold locally), but its on Amazon.com. Dateline Dinky Creek is the name of it.

Rod
 
I'm in the DEEP DEEP SOUTH..and of Scotch/Irish-Native ancestory and you can be ASSURED that there is something about an attachement to your "Southern Roots" here. 9 times out 10 the first question you will hear upon meeting someone you haven't seen in a long time or may be never seen...." How's ya momma, honey?"

It has always amazed me--and at times really PO'ed me-- as to why our accents get made such fun of? And it is made fun of that were basically really REALLY nice people...even @ times nicer to strangers than our own!

I travel and have traveled all over the US and the world....I guess my Momma just ' raised' me right as I never have made fun of a different accent I came across....but if you're Southern...it seems to entertain some folks.

And " yes" to some of our folks...the" War of Northern Agression" has never ended. And also, I'm a member of the Lee Society also....by kinship to R.E. Lee!!
 
PureCountry said:
I remember reading your post about that book, but I never took the time to find it. Was it in stores?

As for Western Separation, there's been a party trying to gain 'Official Party Status' since about 1999 I believe. I first met some of the folks organizing it in 2002. They still don't have enough members for party status, but they're still trying. The idea behind it was to first get the numbers needed in Alberta, then try and roll the ball in Saskatchewan. Myself, I wouldn't want anything to do with it if it didn't include Sask, Manitoba and B.C. It should be WESTERN CANADA or nothin. There are some really good people behind, influential ones, too. So hopefully it gains momentum in the near future.

Another place I forgot to mention, is Deer Lodge Montana. Been through there a few times when I was a kid, some of the prettiest country I've ever seen. Just felt like home, too. I've got a great grandfather buried in some cemetery there. My Grandad and great aunts went down there a couple years back and took pictures of it. I'd like to see it with my own eyes one day.

If it wasn't for all the Californians moving in, I'd love to live in that area west of the divide...I don't know how many times I've left eastern Montana when it was 30 below and snow everywhere- drive in a blizzard going over the hill (across the Continental Divide) and drop down into that Deer Lodge (Clark Fork River) Valley and they'd have no snow and temps would be in the + 40's--cows out grazing the hay meadows....Definitely beautiful country-- I can see why some of the first ranchs in Montana were started or headquartered there......
 
R2--or should I call you Cousin R2!!! You know how we claim " kin" to the nth degree!!

...I'm glad you see what I'm saying about the " entertaining" value of the Southern accent. I've gotten now when I know that someone is getting ready to be a royal a** about my accent/sound....I just make my accent sooooooo thick it would put Scarlett to shame!!

At least we've got some "character" about our sound...not like plain brown paper...like most folks sound like today.
 
Your post on the Deer Lodge Valley kinda made me homesick, OT. For sure, the weather is better there.

One needs to know or remember they have their problems too. It is just a different kind of problems. We have lived on ranches in Wyoming, W. Mt (Deer Lodge) and now extreme SE Montana. I can tell you first-hand that there are problems everywhere. It just ain't easy being in this business, but it has its rewards regardless of where you live. I guess that's why we still do it...and why you are still doing it...
 
Faster horses said:
Your post on the Deer Lodge Valley kinda made me homesick, OT. For sure, the weather is better there.

One needs to know or remember they have their problems too. It is just a different kind of problems. We have lived on ranches in Wyoming, W. Mt (Deer Lodge) and now extreme SE Montana. I can tell you first-hand that there are problems everywhere. It just ain't easy being in this business, but it has its rewards regardless of where you live. I guess that's why we still do it...and why you are still doing it...

OKAY!!! You both are making me homesick!!! while i may currently reside in some of the most beautiful country on God's earth, my heart yearns for the "normal/hard-working/blue-collar" folk of Deer Lodge!! While some there have "money" most are the hard working prison guards (ooops, I mean "correctional officers" :wink: like my dad was for 23 years), sawmill workers and RANCHERS!!! It is still a town in western montana where you can wave at folks on the street in the middle of summer without first glancing down at their license plates to see where they are from!! The outta state "summer residents" have yet to discover this hidden gem!!! Hopefully, never will.....no ski resorts, no Macy's or Tiffany's around, no Mercedes dealerships!! Unfortunately, have you heard about what Rock Creek "cattle" company is doing, Faster Horses???? They are gonna build a "gated community" with million dollar homes located just west of Deer Lodge!!!! Gonna have a private tennis court, spas...the whole nine yards!! :mad: :mad: Got alot of the locals worrying about becoming the next Big Sky or Hamilton!! :cry:
 
Pure Country----My 18 year old is moving back to deer lodge after the Christmas Holiday and i will be taking him there :cry: :cry: (long, painful story for another time)! He will be going to work on a ranch there and he simply LOVES the work and the area!! When i take him there, i will make sure i have my camera and take some pix to post.....then you can see why it is a place you can never forget!! :D :D Mount Powell truly is a sight!!
 
I knew that was going on and it is sad...
Gonna build a huge golf course as well.

That ranch was home to many ranch families. Then Tavenners owned it and sold it to Louis Ward (Ward Paper Box Co. and Russell Stover Chocolates). Louis Ward was a good guy and he kept it as a working ranch. Had alot of employees, kept them on the ranches where it was feasible and built new homes for the others at the main headquarters. Don Davis, ranch manager, was a good friend of ours, as were many of the cowboys. They had a ranch cook and bunkhouse for the single cowboys. Rock Creek Cattle Co. kept their help a long time, which is a testamant to being a good place to work. They were good neighbors and good people for the community.

Things changed there, as things tend to do. Help came and went. The ranch sold; timber was harvested and the owner ran buffalo which didn't set well with the neighboring ranches. It sold again to the current owners and huge changes are coming. It is a beautiful ranch and now will never be like it was.

Deer Lodge really isn't doing good economically. The prison guards and workers mostly live in Butte or Anaconda. Why, I don't know.

When we moved there in 1975 the Anaconda Company was viable. The Prison, Milwaukee RR, Comico (Phospate Plant), Louisiana Pacific, Warm Springs, Galen, Registrars Bureau and logging were all places of employment. Many of these no longer exist for job opportunities. Sure it has been 30 years, but there have been a whole lot of lost jobs during that time. It was feared LP was going out and Sherm Andersen, owner of Sun Mountain Logging, managed to get it purchased and kept it in Deer Lodge.

Up to now, I think Deer Lodge was passed by the outsiders because of the prison and the type of people it attracts. Now who knows what will happen. I do know a work force has moved in to work on the projects at Rock Creek Cattle and that has boosted the economy, I am sure.

These changes are what is called progress...
 
People have asked me before about a Canadian accent....there ain't one!! The only accents in Canada are the ones everyone brought with them from their own damn country! Middle-eastern, African, Jamaican, Asian, Hispanic, and whatever else goes into the 'melting pot' they call us. I've got mine I guess, according to my cousins' wife. First time she met me, she asked, "So, do you consider yourself a real cowboy?" How do ya answer that? She's a psychologist, and she thought it was fascinating to pick my brain about what she liked to call, "The Cowboy mentality". I told her to come by the calving barn @ 4am and get a crash-course on it. :lol:

Anyway, I'm sorta sure but not 100%, what all's included in 'Dixie'? I figured Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, the Virginias, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Texas, but which others am I missing?[/i]
 
Well believe it or not the " official Mason-Dixon Line run just South of Maryland!!

The South has levels....and we have our own " distinctions" within. Honestly... and I don't mean this in a bad way as I'm as Southern as they come...but you almost need a passport to come here...as we should be our own country!!

:)
 
ranchwife said:
Faster horses said:
Your post on the Deer Lodge Valley kinda made me homesick, OT. For sure, the weather is better there.

One needs to know or remember they have their problems too. It is just a different kind of problems. We have lived on ranches in Wyoming, W. Mt (Deer Lodge) and now extreme SE Montana. I can tell you first-hand that there are problems everywhere. It just ain't easy being in this business, but it has its rewards regardless of where you live. I guess that's why we still do it...and why you are still doing it...

OKAY!!! You both are making me homesick!!! while i may currently reside in some of the most beautiful country on God's earth, my heart yearns for the "normal/hard-working/blue-collar" folk of Deer Lodge!! While some there have "money" most are the hard working prison guards (ooops, I mean "correctional officers" :wink: like my dad was for 23 years), sawmill workers and RANCHERS!!! It is still a town in western montana where you can wave at folks on the street in the middle of summer without first glancing down at their license plates to see where they are from!! The outta state "summer residents" have yet to discover this hidden gem!!! Hopefully, never will.....no ski resorts, no Macy's or Tiffany's around, no Mercedes dealerships!! Unfortunately, have you heard about what Rock Creek "cattle" company is doing, Faster Horses???? They are gonna build a "gated community" with million dollar homes located just west of Deer Lodge!!!! Gonna have a private tennis court, spas...the whole nine yards!! :mad: :mad: Got alot of the locals worrying about becoming the next Big Sky or Hamilton!! :cry:

ranchwife-- I do agree with you on the people...One of those places in the state where you can walk into the local waterhole and feel like you're just one of the home folk...Miles City is another town like that-walk in the Bison Bar and there is always someone you know or knows someone you do-- the old Montana Bar in Glasgow is that way too. :) ..
 
The only accents in Canada are the ones everyone brought with them from their own damn country!

Ever been to the Ottawa valley Pure Country? Definite accent there! But it seems to be a mixture of Irish and French!

"let's jump in the care and take a ride"
 
Can't say as I have murgen.

Anybody frequent Moose's Saloon in Havre, Montana? I think it was Havre. :lol: :lol: Details are kinda foggy. :p I'm sure it was just outside of Havre where we toured the biggest darn hip-roof barn I've ever seen. It was a historical site if I recall. That was back in like 89 or 90 on a 4-H bus trip. 3 stories to it, with huge dirt ramps on both sides and both ends. They sure don't make 'em like they used to.
 
I disagree about Canadians not having an accent. We just can't hear it until we're away from home for a while.

One time I was in a laundry room at a campground in Hill City South Dakota, and there were a group of women in there having a real good visit. There was one in particular who just sounded familiar. I couldn't quite figure out why, but when I asked her where she was from, and she told me, we realized we only lived about 15 miles from each other! She was floored when I told her I recognized her accent! :shock: Neither of us thought we had one, but I guess we do.

My sister in law was told by a fellow in Texas that he could tell she was Canadian. When she asked him how he knew, he told her she talked like those hockey players on TV. :D :D :D If you knew my sister in law you'd realize she ain't no hockey player! :roll: And she does not appreciate being called one either :wink: Heck! She can't even skate! :) :) :)
 
I was visiting some friends in Montana one year and we went to Yellowstone. We were in the restaurant @ the Yellowstone Hotel and the waitress came up, I ordered what I wanted...so did everyone else. When the waitress left, my friend told me, " she's from your part of the world". He could tell by her accent...which I of course did not hear.

When she came back I asked her where she was from. She was from GA, closer to Atlanta than me..but still within 1 hr of where I lived. She was there just for the summer to make some $$$.
 

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