Journeying in search of Montana's vanished towns

Frank Hartman gazes at an old 
schoolyard. (Jeremy Lurgio photo)

When the official Montana state highway map was released in 2001, nine communities were removed, according to the website Lost and Found Montana. The main criteria for inclusion on the map was a population of at least one year-round resident.

In a story and pictorial for High Country News, freelance journalist Jeremy Lurgio details how he went in search of the nine towns. Along the way he met people who shared their thoughts about living in Montana's vanished settlements.

"Their stories, past and present, offered an unusual perspective on the fragility of place in the rural West," writes Lugio. These towns were the smallest of the small -- one family, one year-round resident, one schoolhouse or one grain elevator. Ironically, I discovered that some towns that had vanished from the map more than a decade ago had as much life in them as some that remained." (Read more)