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Articles written by rick & susie graetz


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  • This is Montana

    Compiled and edited by Rick and Susie Graetz, Dept. of Geography UifM|Updated May 30, 2018

    Authors' Note: This piece is excerpted from a report Clyde Fickes wrote in May 1944. It appeared in "Volume 1 – Early Days In The Forest Service." His words are excerpted with light editing. Fickes retired from the U.S. Forest Service in 1947. He died at age 103 on Dec. 29, 1987 – from an accident on the dance floor. For a Ranger Station, no more isolated or lonesome spot could have been found. Visitors were practically unheard of for months at a time. The nearest nei...

  • This is Montana

    Rick and Susie Graetz, Department of Geography University of Montana|Updated May 23, 2018

    At a recent book signing, a gentleman who knew quite a bit about the Judith Basin country explained how Utica, a small town in the basin on the road into the Little Belt Mountains, received its name. He mentioned that one of the early arrivals onto that landscape thought folks would have to be crazy to live there. (We can't figure out why, as it's a beautiful piece of geography, but perhaps he showed up in the winter when strong winds were blowing and piling up drifts of...

  • This is Montana

    Rick and Susie Graetz, Department of Geography University of Montana|Updated May 10, 2018

    Call it 670 miles – or perhaps more precisely 674 miles – but either way, the Yellowstone River remains the nation's longest undammed waterway. It's a great river that meanders through some of the finest mountain and prairie topography on the planet – peaks reaching past 12,000 feet in elevation, the largest high-mountain lake on the continent, dense evergreen forests, buttes, colorful badlands, deep canyons, and sweet-smelling sage and juniper covered hills. A good porti...

  • Rocky Mountain Front's First Ranger (Part 2 OF 3)

    Edited by Rick and Susie Graetz, UM Dept. of Geography|Updated Apr 25, 2018

    Authors' Note: This piece is excerpted from a report Clyde Fickes wrote in May 1944. It appeared in "Volume 1 – Early Days In The Forest Service." His words are excerpted with light editing. Fickes retired from the U.S. Forest Service in 1947. He died at age 103 on Dec. 29, 1987 – from an accident on the dance floor. The Sun River country comprises some interesting and spectacular topography. The river comes out of the mountains in a due east and west course for some 8 or 9 m...