Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: New Towns

[Eric D. Hart (erichart]

I read the suggestion that people repopulate the Great Plains with 
interest.  I have lived on the edge of the Great Plains (eastern 
Nebraska) and have read histories and stories about the area.  The 
area I am talking about goes from the Rockies east to a line that 
goes through the middle of the Dakotas, Nebraska, and Kansas.  Much of 
the Great Plains has barely enough water to farm in any meaningful way 
and modern infrastructure in the area is scarce.  Subsistance agriculture 
would be hard and there are limited opportunities for cottage industries 
(including electronic ones).  Basically the only significant economic 
activity is cattle ranching.  Don't know how those cattle 
ranchers would feel about being invaded from the West Coast.  They tend 
to be pretty reactionary so watch out.  The most interesting proposal 
I've seen for the Great Plains was a recommendation (by some people on 
the East Coast) that the entire area be turned into a buffalo preserve!  
I don't think I would want to live there, not enough to keep me alive and 
stimulated.  Farther east in the Midwest there are more opportunities to 
practice subsistance agriculture and more access to technology 
infrastructure and population centers.  Most rural areas I know about, 
however, are pretty conservative so you would stick out just because you 
aren't exactly like everyone else.  Small town life can get nasty.

Eric Hart
Minneapolis, MN



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