Dear HCN,
I was born and raised in
Idaho near Sun Valley. The Wood River Valley was an incredible
place in which to grow up; I was as carefree as Huck Finn. The
fishing and hunting were fantastic, and it wasn’t considered
politically incorrect then. Idaho’s scenery was beautiful and
pristine, and the “undesignated wilderness’ provided solitude
anywhere you cared to explore. Back then, Idaho’s economy was
depressed, but the quality of life was beyond
compare.
Now, 40 years and 1 million people
later, I am learning from city folks (most of whom grew up in a
concrete jungle to our west) that despite my 50 years of growing up
with Mother Nature all around me, I don’t know a thing and never
have. Tourists and new Idaho citizens alike can trample and love
Idaho to death with outdoor activities. And economically – hey,
thanks to tourism, we can still get a minimum-wage job as a bus boy
at the Sun Valley Lodge.
I am so glad “the
masses’ have moved here and saved Idaho from certain destruction by
loggers, farmers and ranchers while they crowd our river valleys
with new industry and subdivisions. They displace the Idaho natives
and import technicians and professionals.
While
employing their environmental ethics to vote our cattle out, they
are building subdivisions (ranchettes) on our wildlife’s winter
range and they are trampling our land with four-wheelers. They have
eliminated the possibility of truly being alone with Mother Nature
ever again, even in “designated wilderness.” They are trying to
recreate what they never knew, and I view them as
fools.
Please do not misunderstand me. I am not
angry, I am heartbroken. Now I understand how Native Americans must
feel and wish I could join them on the reservation. History does
repeat itself.
Charlie
Swearingen
Idaho City,
Idaho
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline ‘Old West’ Idaho was better.
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