It is almost November and old man winter is breathing down my neck. Already my thoughts are drifting toward summer and a new adventure. Yet I get ahead of myself sometimes. I've been reading portions of Henry David Thoreau's Walden and I'm drawn to thoughts of one of my friends who is now, as we speak, finishing off a cabin he is building not too far from Libby Montana. It's actually closer to Troy Montana but since this post was intended to be written about Libby, I shall confine my observations to the town of Libby, where I spent two days during my trip to Montana last summer. The reason I mention my friend(or Walden for that matter) is that he is the one who introduced me to Montana three years ago. Now Bruce, that's his name, is something of a solid fellow; a decent harmonica player even though he is tone deaf, a fan of Steinbeck(especially Cannery Row!) and pretty stubborn about finishing off what he starts. Last spring he said he was going to buy land in Montana and build a Cabin there. I know this blog is supposed to be about Libby, but bear with me, I think I'll be able to tie this all up into a neat bundle by the end of this post.
Anyway, I'll be damned if he hasn't gone and done it! I can understand why he has. Montana is like Coney Island, it is more of a state of mind than a geographic location. I would buy land and build a cabin there myself but why bother when I can just move in on my friend Bruce
(assuming he still is after he reads this post)and
stay in his cabin. after all what are friends for, right? Actually I'm just kidding about this. My couch surfing days ended many years ago.
. Getting back to Libby, there is an interesting story about the town and how it was victimized and exploited by the W.R. Grace Company for a
period of time. Now as you may have guessed, Libby, in addition to being a mining/logging town is also a nesting spot for American Bald Eagles. There is even a website that you can go to, www.libbyeagelecam.com, to follow the latest adventures of some of the local eagle residents.
I guess I should tell you about the W.R. Grace Company at this point. Back in 1881 gold miners discovered vermiculite in and around Libby. By 1920 the Zonolite company began mining the vermiculite for use in fertilizer and building insulation. W.R. Grace bought the operation in 1963 and according employee memo's unearthed by investigative journalists, was aware of the asbestos problem even back then. Turns out that the vermiculite was contaminated with a "highly toxic form of naturally occurring asbestos called tremolite actinolite asbestiform mineral fibers". Sounds pretty toxic to me. Being the good citizens that they were, Grace continued to mine the vermiculite as long as they could while covering up word of the contamination. Then after they sold the mine, for a long time denied any responsibility for the staggering health problem created from the asbestos. It is estimated that upwards of 1000 people in the Libby Troy area have died from asbestoses. A proposed criminal indictment to try executives from Grace was recently dismissed however on June 17, 2009 the EPA declared it's first ever health emergency at the asbestos site. Grace is beginning to pony up finally after being in offical denial for almost twenty years.
Well, getting back to the eagles, they kind of symbolize the spirit of the people in Libby, a town that may have been on the ropes thanks W.R. Grace, but has gotten up off the mat and is ready to dance for a couple more rounds. Here's an example of the kind of businesses that have sprung up in Libby recently:
Little Mom and Pop stores of one description or another, valiantly trying to survive in the post Bush depression era. My friend Bruce has told me that he regularly sees grizzly bears and mountain lions wander across his property. He is living his dream up there in Montana while I'm dodging cars in the Key Food parking lot here in Brooklyn. All things considered I think I'd trust my chances with the grizzly bears and the mountain lions.
