Reflections On Fall: A Column By Tony Smith

“I’m in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection. But with Montana it is love. And it’s difficult to analyze love when you’re in it.” – John Steinbeck, “Travels With Charley”.

Author John Steinbeck composed this line on October 14, 1960, in the midst of a beautiful fall day between Billings and Missoula on day 22 of his 10,000 mile journey across America. While one journalist in particular, Bill Steigerwald, author of “Dogging Steinbeck,” has placed into question the veracity of Steinbeck’s effusiveness regarding Montana since he spent only a total of 55-60 hours in the state, (straying off what is today’s Interstate 90 only twice, once to Yellowstone Park, the other to the Battle of the Bighorn site), even Steigerwald has conceded that “how he (Steinbeck) figured out Montana and its people so quickly testifies to his superior power of observation.”

Click here to read the rest of Tony’s column in The Montanian.