Having only been a resident of Havre for a couple of months I find this agrarian community rather homey. I am very pleased with my decision to attend "Harvard on the Hill" a.k.a. MSU-Northern. Living in this proletariat community is like stepping back in time. I'm not saying that to be critical, but to show my amorous respect of the simply life. Everyone here smiles and looksyou in the eye and those are traits that are not seen much anymore in other parts of the state.

Several years ago, I would have never put much thought to obtaining a degree in Montana. After all, there are better schools out there for Business and Diesel Technology. The most important thing to me was the prestige of the school that I would attend. Now I realize that prestige is not everything. I probably wouldn't have been as comfortable at schools such as Pepperdine or the University of Fresno as I am in Havre.

Havre also offers me an opportunity of reversion to my linage in Montana. My great-grandfather homesteaded to Havre along with many other Honyockers that were inticed into the area by James Hill's railroad, the railroad that gave the Northern tier of the U.S. its moniker, Hi-Line. Havre is the central point for the rail line that runs from Minnepolis to Seattle. My great-grandfather immigrated from Germany to Minnesota and from there to Havre in the 1920s, where he purchased 3 sections of land to raise ovis aries, widely known as "praire maggots" or Suffolk Sheep.

As I become more involved in my reversion, I will post more blogs about this unique Montana city and my involvement in it. For now I will end this edition with a couple of interesting facts about Havre.

Havre's original name was Bullhook Bottoms. There was a literal underground community in Bullhook Bottoms that played host to Havre's seedy past including speak-easys from the prohibition and an opium den.

General John "Black Jack" Pershing spent one year at Fort Assiniboine (just south of Havre) as a Lieutenant. Pershing went on to become the highest ranking Army officer in history. Fort Assiniboine was also the largest Army post in the U.S. at the time of its construction, just after the surrender of Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce.