I have a friend who is going to interview for a permanent position in Phillipsburg, Montana next week. She sent me the website link and asked my opinion. She is an outdoors person…and has been to Alaska and Montana. But most of life I think spent on the gulf coast of Texas. You can’t get a for real feel of an area with text fromt he website. All sites like that are going to promote their area. Just wondering what it is really like there. Maybe the pros and cons…
Anyone close by, or even just have opinions on the area. What the area is sorta focused on, how severe and long the winters, how short the summers. Seems on the website they mention more about hunting and ice fishing than lots of long seasons for fly fishing.
On map looks between Missoula and Helena and south. I personally would not want an extreme long cold season and short summer.
Looking for advise on what the town is like, climate, what the people are like and or in to…etc.
Philipsburg is a mile-high town in an area with beautiful lakes, streams and mountains nearby. Mining and ranching are its heritage with the town going through a renaissance of sorts. It’s west of Butte & Anaconda, so chilly winters are the norm. There are places colder in Montana. Ice fishing is a normal winter thing. I don’t know if I would call the summers short, but defintely shorter than Arizona or Texas. Long daylight hours make up for the short days of winter. Hunting of every sort there.
Not a whole lot of diversity. I guess you could say the same for most of Montana. The town is small by most standards, but not Montana standards (about 1000 people). The school system is small (Class C for sports), meaning a small elementary school with probably one classroom per grade level and a combination jr high/ high school. Town pride in the high school sports is big time.
Moving to a small Montana town myself from a big city was different for me. The people are warm and friendly and want newcomers to get invloved. It took me a while to get used to people knowing your business and losing my anonymity.
Just left Phillipsburg yesterday. Yes it is a beautiful area. Don’t know if I would like to live there though. Great fishing, with Georgetown Lake and Flint creek. Cold winters. We have a friend who lives there, can get snow in May or June, but might be worth it in the long run. The Sweet Palace in town could smooth the rough times. Great chocolates and taffy.
Ther isn’t much there unless you are a winter person. Great ice fishing on Georgetown lake though, and some Ice sailing. Lots of animals, and solitude.
People are very friendly and help[ful, but it’s in Montana.
Montana populations drop due to Texans and Californicators heading back home after they have to deal with that week of 40 below zero some winters. If you have to ask why there are electrical cords sticking out the front of every car, you are too far north.
If she can put up with having minus signs on the thermometer, then she should have fun. That part of Montana is beautiful, and if she can get a decent job there, she might never leave.
Too funny about electric cords hanging outside the front of all vehicles (not just the diesels). Reminds me that in Tucson you hated to touch the steering wheel in the middle of summer, same thing in the dead of winter “It’s a cold burn”. LOL.
Rickie, that’s a fun twist on the subject. Too hot or too cold. I have lived in Tucson and Phoenix. You haven’t seen nothing yet unless you have experienced Phoenix for a summer.
Yep, Phoenix in the summer. Tucson’s about 10 degrees cooler, but once it’s over 100, “It’s Hot!” I worked as an iron worker putting up high steel one summer in Phoenix during school. That was an experience, especially on my last day we were standing columns between Wickenburg & Sun City West and it was over 120.
Back to the subject. Hope your friend has a good interview. We moved to small town Montana with some trepidation. I am a native Tucsonan and we’ve been here for 9 years. Our kids don’t know any better. I look at it this way, I traded year-'round golf for year-'round flyfishing. In our local drainage we have fishing open year round, some rivers and sreams are not open all year.
The only negative is that wages are quite a bit lower than in the sunbelt. Quite a few people have more than one job to make ends meet. If you offset that with the miles you have to drive to find a mall, you may not spend as much money. Takes a little discipline, which I have failed instilling in my wife and apparantly my 15 year old daughter.
Thanks for the information. Come to find out she spent the last two winters in Montana and loved it. Said she cannot wait to get back. Her comment was she figures the snow will fly before Halloween and she doesn’t want to miss it.
I have copied and pasted all the info in this thread to her. So the information is great and usefull to her.
I will copy your last post about the wages and such. She is currently a traveling nurse under contract…and as such is always living around 4 months somewhere. Therefore she cannot really establish a residence. She is always living temporary. Her specialty is ER Trauma room care and treatment.
She might be surprised at the lower wages but it sounds like she has found a perfect spot for her. I hope he interview goes well also. She likes to go places and sleep out under the stars…even alone she does that. She is a beginning flyfisher. Loves to fish.
Something she should think about, not because it’s MT but it holds true with small towns everywhere, if she become unhappy at work finding another job will be more likely to require a move.
There are X number of jobs per capita no matter where you are, the smaller the population the few the number.
ok here’s the question i’m dying to ask–what kind of a job did she get in phillipsburg??? cool little town, but i didn’t see much in the way of business or industry when i was there. inquiring minds want to know?
She doesn’t have the job yet. She flew up there yesterday to interview for it. She just asked me my opinion if she should go for that job and I said yes. Go for it. Then tried to find out what the area is like.
She may not even get the job…but she mentioned some of the advantages it would have for her. Permanence for one…and I think benefits. Currently she travels from job to job under contract…for like four month contracts. I am not sure who she works for now. All I know is what she stated is her field she works in.
She is a nurse and said her specialty is Emergency Room Trauma care. She kind of liked it here…but didn’t know if they were going to offer her an extension. Her current time here runs out like three weeks into Sept. Sooooo…if she gets the job…the timing will certainly be just right for her.
heading back home after they have to deal with that week of 40 below zero some winters. If you have to ask why there are electrical cords sticking out the front of every car, you are too far north.