The Story Behind The Header
The "barn" you see in the header was, most likely, not a barn and was part of a thriving town known as Gallatin, Montana. Gallatin was a fairly large and prosperous town for the day, for it sat at the headwaters of the Missouri river and was a vital part of trade and travel in the West. Barges, boats, and even steamships I am told came there from the Mississippi and points East bringing people and products, and leaving with same. Wagons came in from the West bearing products and goods desired back East, and left with the goods they needed that came from the river trade.
As the tale was told to me, Gallatin was the giant, the rich town that essentially laughed when another town not to far away made a bid to challenge it. Gallatin might easily be forgiven for not taking that little range war seriously, for after all, they were an indespensible nexus for the established technology of the day. All that little town had was a newfangled thing called the railroad, and who could take such a temperamental and showy piece of new technology seriously...
I was staying in the "little" town of Bozeman with some friends, who insisted on taking me out to show me the three or so structures that were all that was left of Gallatin. A storm had just blown past, presenting the striking lighting you see. As we stood in that golden light, they told me this tale and it is one worth remembering. Those who fail to think ahead, to adapt and change, can and will follow Gallatin into history. Those who prepare, embrace, and adapt can and will thrive.
Thus endeth the tale of the "barn" and why it heads my site...