October 4, 2007 Issue

When you travel around this great country, it is natural to compare the livability of different communities with the one in which you reside. A week spent recently in Livingston, Montana provided some interesting contrasts to life in Destin.

One thing people look for in assessing the quality of life in a community is whether or†not a place would be acceptable for raising children. In reality, places that are good for raising kids are most likely great places to live whether you have children or not.

Livingston is located in southwestern Montana. It is hard to get to by automobile. It is difficult to get to by plane, for that matter. It had to have been a real chore to walk here like Lewis and Clark did 200 years ago.

Its isolation may be responsible for its charm. It happens to be located near the Paradise Valley at the base of Yellowstone National Park. Rivers run through it (the movie was filmed here). The Yellowstone River flows right through town. The Madison, the Big Hole, the Missouri, the Gallatin, and other streams are close by. It may be isolated, but Livingston is isolated in one of the most picturesque settings in the West.

There is no traffic in Livingston. People think nothing of driving 100 miles to fish a river. But the drive is spectacular and it takes almost less time than it does to negotiate five miles of Highway 98 in Destin in the summer.

Fishing guides make up the largest part of the employment base in Livingston. There are more than 250 river guides in a town of 6,000 people. When the fishing season winds down many of the guides turn to leading hunters in search of elk and upland birds. Floating down the Yellowstone River and hunting in the Absaroka Mountains†is not a bad way to make a living.

The town of Livingston has no chains or franchises of any kind. The guy who owns the coffee shop, pours the coffee there. The owner of the corner bar†mixes the drinks. The artist who paints landscapes of the surrounding mountains runs the gallery below his studio. They don't have to import workers from below the border or from around the world to run their economy.

There are few plumbers, electricians or auto-mechanics in this small town. On the whole, I think Montanans have learned how to fix stuff themselves. They are a self-reliant and independent lot.

There are no†overweight people in Livingston — at least none that I could find. They must keep them sequestered somewhere. The weather and the terrain here are harsh and to endure and enjoy this place; one needs to be fit.

In Livingston, style is secondary to substance in all areas. In clothing, these people are concerned about warmth and comfort. Their choice of jackets is a reflection of intelligence, not hipness. The same goes for housing. Efficient, common sense houses (mostly of the Craftsman style) trump showy, ostentatious architecture in this town.

The town is full of bookstores, coffee shops, classic western bars, and art galleries. The locals ride bikes, or walk, often with their dogs alongside them. The intersections in town have no traffic lights; they don't even have stop signs. Traffic moves along at a refreshingly cautious pace.

One quick way to gauge the attributes of a town is to learn who lives there. In addition to the unique townspeople, Livingston is home to a different kind of celebrity than many other places.† Britney Spears would not be recognized here. But Tom Brokaw would; and he wouldn't be bothered.

Russell Chatham, possibly the greatest living American artist, has lived here since 1972. He is a cherished fixture here and his paintings and lithographs are found all over town. Jim Harrison, the author of Legends of the Fall, and a World- renowned poet, writes and fishes here. There are movie stars who live here, but they would prefer you think of them as actors. And they are the kind of actors you would like to sit down and have a beer with.

Money and finances are at the bottom of a long list of things people care about in Livingston. People seem to be willing to work for whatever wages it takes to allow them to get by in this valley. Hairdressers (there aren't many)†aren't flipping condos, developers aren't hustling the city council, and real estate agents are more likely to be out on the river than in their offices. Lunchtime conversations revolve around the latest insect hatch, or the weather, or the clarity of the water on the various streams. No one seems to care about developing property and I've never heard anyone mention the stock market.

In this uniquely beautiful landscape of mountains and streams, one of the most noticeable things missing is churches. There are a few, but you get the idea that whatever it is that these folks worship; it is not to be found inside a building.

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