mount view on three. one, two, three! mount view! some people must live in great spaces, where the sky goes on forever, where everyone must bend to the land. where to hunt, to fish, to sleep under that big sky aren t activities, but a way of life. it was right here in those mountains that the cheyenne and crow battle took place. but i like it. it s very peaceful. what was it like a hundred years ago? two hundred years ago? oh, not much different. this was never forested. this is the dry side of the river because the primary winds come from the west. rain tends to blow over here, and that brings the snow to the mountains. legendary writer and poet jim harrison is one of those people, and this is his home. i took a walk through this beautiful world felt the cool rain on my shoulder found something good in this beautiful world i felt the rain getting colder sha la la la sha la la la la la am i as old as i am? maybe not. time is a mystery t
feel about this issue, where would it break? what would most people say? depends on if you are a fisherman or a landowner. clearly divided right down the middle. well, you know, a lot of people are going to say when i was a kid, i used to be able to go hunt and fish, and i can t now if stuff s getting closed off. i have some sympathy for that. anybody that s not complying with stream access merely has to step into the stream when he hears you coming. right. the spirit of it is it makes sense. the spirit of it is thievery. well, i we own it, they took it. and that s not stealing it? without compensation? i think it s still here. this is about being a good neighbor, right? yeah. i mean, so if people ask nicely, more often than not, you re going to say yes? we do. it used to be, before stream access, we seldom required somebody to have permission if they just behaved themselves. right. after stream access is when the outfitters came into the world. not
pinned to your shirt. and it wasn t butte, montana, right? it was butte, america. we were founded by european immigrants who came from socialist countries with all these crazy socialist ideas. would you say montana, in a stereotypical way, is relatively socially conservative? oh, absolutely, but butte is a labor town. nobody knows anything about union history. you know, they don t teach it. when the country was at its peak, unions were at their peak. when wages were at their peak, unions were at their peak. that was then, this is now. this is the era of i ve got mine, jack. that s what makes butte different. it s not i ve got mine. it isn t? why? it s truly not. the union is together. we ve grown this community out of taking care of each other. you have to remember what it was like here for workers before unions, if you can imagine. men worked underground for as little as $3 a day, 10 to 12-hour shifts, six days a week. thousands died over the years in industrial ac
up with the rest of our party to cook and drink and eat. land tawney is a fifth-generation montanan and active conservationist. hal herring is a journalist for field and stream. the pheasant is cooked two ways; marinated in soy and fish sauce, sriracha, and lime, browned in butter, and buffaloed like chicken wings. or dredged in flour and cajun spice, sauteed with garlic and brandy, then braised a bit with stock and wild mushrooms. collard greens and bacon is a side serve as a nice cleanse. man, these greens are good! and the bird s delicious. oh, yeah! man, an amazing day! eating it today. man, it was a beautiful day. why should people in new york or san francisco who ve never hunted in what way does your access to hunting ground impact on this nation in a positive way? why should they care? well, it s not hunting ground. it s public ground. it s owned by the people of the united states of america. and i just see our country
who owns this land? can anyone really own it? who gets to use it? these are big questions that cut across traditional ideological lines out here, where they have real meaning, not theoretical meaning. all this belongs to one man. this guy, bill galt. okay. we re about a half mile from the confluence of rock creek and the smith river. galt ranch is a hundred thousand acres of grazing land, mountains, cliffs, and valleys. there s also some of the best trout fishing on the planet. bill, the water level on the creek looks good. this is bill s friend, the author and journalist, david mccumber. they disagree on land use, a major issue. remember when you could do that and still be friends? lee kinsey is a professional outfitter who bill leases some areas of his property to for fishing. all this to outwit a fish? i know. it s amazing.