Paul Bechtel is an almost-centenarian, born 1923, whose family was lured to Eastern Montana by hopes of homesteading good land still free for the taking. Reality wasn't quite so gentle in the northern Great Plains in the rainshadow of the Rocky Mountains. He lived in Ekelaka in harsh conditions through the Great Depression and until he joined the U.S. Army in 1941, but his best memories of his entire life are from this era. It was a good place to be a free range child. In this episode, co-hosted with Mark Teske, a wildlife biologist, Paul reminisces about eating sage grouse, measuring dirt tanks, and earning creative car payments in a remote agricultural local economy.

TRANSCRIPT AND PHOTO available at https://artofrange.com/episodes/aor-84-perspectives-memoirs-habitat-and-homesteading-eastern-montana-paul-bechtel.

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

The book Paul refers to by an author who lived in Seattle for a time is "Bad Land: An American Romance", by Jonathan Raban, ISBN 0679759069.

Homestead Act originally offered 160 acres, https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/homestead-act

https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/homestead-act