4 ms·

This place isn't just in the middle of nowhere, it's in Eastern Montana, not even the nice part of Montana (the west). This place shouldn't exist. A mildly int

by socrates1998 7y ago

This place isn't just in the middle of nowhere, it's in Eastern Montana, not even the nice part of Montana (the west). This place shouldn't exist. A mildly interesting story, but small town Montana is a rough existence even if you live in pretty part. I would not recommend anyone buying this place unless you don't mind throwing away $200k on it. Edit: All the down votes are coming from people who have never been to Eastern Montana. I have. Multiple times. I lived in Montana. Eastern Montana has nice, polite people, but it's got almost nothing going for it economically other than oil. There is a reason why people (especially young people) are leaving Eastern Montana for the past several decades.

rb808 7y ago
You're not joking, I checked streetview and its one of the few places I've seen in the developed world where the streetview car didn't bother leaving main street and just GTFO. Edit: hey sorry if I come across as offensive, I'm from a small city and like living in quiet places.
- pmilot 7y ago
  I wonder just how strange and alien most locals would find the above comment about their town. Not trying to be offensive here, I just find the thought of using Google Street View coverage as any kind of metric for such a place so... jarring.
  - DEADBEEFC0FFEE 7y ago
    It's a fascinating comment, in a few ways. I can say I have never been somewhere and wondered 'would a Google streetmap car come here', I don't think it works in that way. The closest similar judgement I can relate to is being somewhere without network coverage. I don't really want to be there, it's weird and makes me think about how different it would be to live somewhere with no coverage. So perhaps then, it's simply noticing the absence of something we thought if as ubiquitous. A mental model, revealed as wrong, or distorted. Jarring is a good term for that too.
  - mb_72 7y ago
    It looks like it would have taken the driver perhaps 10 minutes to negotiate the town, significantly improving the imagery. I would be interested to know how Google determines what should and shouldn't be included at locations such as these. I've made a list of similar 'one-horse'-type towns to visit during a future one-in-a-lifetime trip around my home country (Australia). Growing up in a country town there (population roughly 25k at that time), things are indeed different than in the capital cities, and I imagine even 'more different' the smaller the population.
dang 7y ago
Please don't cross into regional slurs. "This place shouldn't exist" is a step into that, and we need users not to go there here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- socrates1998 7y ago
  I was born in Montana. I lived in Montana. That restaurant probably hasn't made a profit in 30 years and they are asking $250k for it.
  - dang 7y ago
    I understand, and had a feeling that that was where you were coming from. Unfortunately, though, the internet doesn't distinguish between regional (or ethnic or other) slurs made by the people from that place (or group) vs. the garden-variety nasty sort—so the burden is on you to disambiguate. Otherwise we end up with the same kind of flamewar either way.
    - socrates1998 7y ago
      1) I was referring to the restaurant. 2) I'm from Montana. You should just apologize that you didn't understand my comment rather than try to over explain it.
      - dang 7y ago
        It's true that by "this place shouldn't exist" I thought you were referring to more than just the restaurant. The thing is, though, that the burden is on you to disambiguate, otherwise we end up with the same kind of flamewar. I don't think that's overexplaining at all. You didn't do it, so some explanation is necessary, and this is standard HN moderation. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=by%3Adang%20disambig&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
        7y ago
MS90 7y ago
Yep, once you get East of the Rockies there's really not much to see or do until you get to like...Minnesota. It doesn't surprise me to learn that Montana has the highest suicide rate in the country.
ewhanley 7y ago
It's about 60 miles east of the last tiny town discussed on HN [0]. Ingomar isn't _really_ much of a town, but it is a cultural waypoint. It's surrounded by historic farming/ranching communities and is within 50-60 miles of several more populous small towns. Driving 50-60 miles is a trivial venture in MT. When I was a kid growing up nearby, there were rodeos in Ingomar nearly every weekend during the summer. They pulled in a decent number of visitors (probably 100-200 or so), and the Jersey Lilly was, naturally, the busiest place in town. I believe they are still putting on the rodeos. It's not a huge amount of business, but probably enough to support a $200k price tag if you're looking for an unusual hobby/lifestyle in an area with a lot of western history. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21569610 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21569610

rb808 7y ago

You're not joking, I checked streetview and its one of the few places I've seen in the developed world where the streetview car didn't bother leaving main street and just GTFO. Edit: hey sorry if I come across as offensive, I'm from a small city and like living in quiet places.

pmilot 7y ago
I wonder just how strange and alien most locals would find the above comment about their town. Not trying to be offensive here, I just find the thought of using Google Street View coverage as any kind of metric for such a place so... jarring.
- DEADBEEFC0FFEE 7y ago
  It's a fascinating comment, in a few ways. I can say I have never been somewhere and wondered 'would a Google streetmap car come here', I don't think it works in that way. The closest similar judgement I can relate to is being somewhere without network coverage. I don't really want to be there, it's weird and makes me think about how different it would be to live somewhere with no coverage. So perhaps then, it's simply noticing the absence of something we thought if as ubiquitous. A mental model, revealed as wrong, or distorted. Jarring is a good term for that too.
- mb_72 7y ago
  It looks like it would have taken the driver perhaps 10 minutes to negotiate the town, significantly improving the imagery. I would be interested to know how Google determines what should and shouldn't be included at locations such as these. I've made a list of similar 'one-horse'-type towns to visit during a future one-in-a-lifetime trip around my home country (Australia). Growing up in a country town there (population roughly 25k at that time), things are indeed different than in the capital cities, and I imagine even 'more different' the smaller the population.

dang 7y ago

Please don't cross into regional slurs. "This place shouldn't exist" is a step into that, and we need users not to go there here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

socrates1998 7y ago
I was born in Montana. I lived in Montana. That restaurant probably hasn't made a profit in 30 years and they are asking $250k for it.
- dang 7y ago
  I understand, and had a feeling that that was where you were coming from. Unfortunately, though, the internet doesn't distinguish between regional (or ethnic or other) slurs made by the people from that place (or group) vs. the garden-variety nasty sort—so the burden is on you to disambiguate. Otherwise we end up with the same kind of flamewar either way.
  - socrates1998 7y ago
    1) I was referring to the restaurant. 2) I'm from Montana. You should just apologize that you didn't understand my comment rather than try to over explain it.
    - dang 7y ago
      It's true that by "this place shouldn't exist" I thought you were referring to more than just the restaurant. The thing is, though, that the burden is on you to disambiguate, otherwise we end up with the same kind of flamewar. I don't think that's overexplaining at all. You didn't do it, so some explanation is necessary, and this is standard HN moderation. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=by%3Adang%20disambig&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
      - 7y ago

MS90 7y ago

Yep, once you get East of the Rockies there's really not much to see or do until you get to like...Minnesota. It doesn't surprise me to learn that Montana has the highest suicide rate in the country.

ewhanley 7y ago

It's about 60 miles east of the last tiny town discussed on HN [0]. Ingomar isn't _really_ much of a town, but it is a cultural waypoint. It's surrounded by historic farming/ranching communities and is within 50-60 miles of several more populous small towns. Driving 50-60 miles is a trivial venture in MT. When I was a kid growing up nearby, there were rodeos in Ingomar nearly every weekend during the summer. They pulled in a decent number of visitors (probably 100-200 or so), and the Jersey Lilly was, naturally, the busiest place in town. I believe they are still putting on the rodeos. It's not a huge amount of business, but probably enough to support a $200k price tag if you're looking for an unusual hobby/lifestyle in an area with a lot of western history. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21569610 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21569610