I see you’re in North Dakota. How cool is that?! I hope to visit some day.
Interesting post. This is what I love about America - true diversity. You are in your wonderful part of the world, I’m in mine and yet we’re both in the greatest country in the world. All I really know about the west is from westerns, the book Shane and the Little House series.
It is a pace that varies from appearing somnolent to frenzied, depending on when you were here. If you feel so inclined, to learn more about the history of this end of the State I'd recommend reading Catlin's comments on the Mandan tribe, Lewis and Clark's journals (especially near the Confluence of the Missouri and the Yellowstone Rivers), and doing a web search on Fort Union (fur company fort), American Fur Company, Hudson's Bay Company, and Fort Buford.
The Great Northern Railway factors in, and the Chippewa (Turtle Mountain Band), Metis, Mandan, Arikara, Hidatsa, and various tribes of the Sioux Nation all have a part.
The book Bad Land (by Jonathan Raban) details many of the trials and tribulations of the homestead era and beyond in Eastern Montana, and the blessings and problems there are much the same as they are here over that period in history.
That will take you beyond Little House and give some insight into life on the High Plains.
On the lighter side, check out the poetry (and song) of DW Groethe, who is both cowboy and poet from Bainville, MT.