The Past Becomes Present
Bridger, Montana
2022
This derelict old homestead reminded me of the Farm Security Administration photographs of farms succumbing to the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression. Given this area, along with much of the west these days, has been in a long-term drought (recent rains not withstanding), these places are just a few dust dunes away from looking like the places in the photographs. It’s an uncomfortable reminder of a past that hasn’t passed forever.
The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl. A great book by Timothy Egan.
Well, I approved and replied to your comment the other day Allan, but it appears that I never hit the post button or something because it is not there. Anyway, some years ago I had in mind traveling around eastern Montana and documenting the old homesteads (abandoned or not) as well as the dying towns that were remnants of the early era of settlement there. But then I came across and read this book. As you said it is a great book but I found the stories of failure and the bleak existence to be so depressing it killed all my interest in the project.