There’s never going to be progress here unless it’s coal, natural gas or oil. The country here is too harsh. The mountains are not really high compared to the Rockies but it’s different. It’s rugged hills and river cut valleys. Harsh conditions for travel much less roads and rail construction. Place I visit occasionally is 90 miles away and it takes two and a half hours to get there. Lots of time you almost have to go in a different direction for half the trip to get there. Just hard to explain. That’s why the population has not grown since the 50’s. Just tough living here.
