Magazine

September 13, 2004

Wamsutter, Wyo., is a boomtown these days, but the town is struggling to be a real community, instead of just a barracks for the natural gas industry. Also in this issue: In Colorado and elsewhere in the West, the fear of West Nile Virus brings the controversy about spraying pesticides to a boil.

Feature

When a Boom is a Bust

Wamsutter, Wyo., is a boomtown these days, but the town is struggling to be a real community, instead of just a barracks for the natural gas industry

Ray Ring Sept. 13, 2004 From the print edition

Sidebar

Wamsutter Profiles

Some of Wamsutter’s citizens are briefly profiled: a Baptist preacher, a couple of real estate entrepreneurs, a café owner, the deputy sheriff, a bar owner, an oil-field worker, the town librarian and a local Democrat

Ray Ring Sept. 13, 2004 From the print edition

Editor's Note

The beauty of the ugly West

Towns like Wamsutter, Wyo., may never be quaint and charming, but they can lay claim to their own rough beauty once a real community takes root

Paul Larmer Opinion Sept. 13, 2004 From the print edition

Uncommon Westerners

Composing the new Western: Calexico

Joey Burns and John Convertino, along with the other members of the band Calexico, create music that is thoroughly rooted in the desert Southwest around Tucson, Ariz.

Joshua Garrett-Davis Sept. 13, 2004 From the print edition

Essays

Occupying less

A wild bird helps teach a woman how to let go of the need to own things

Mary Sojourner Essay Sept. 13, 2004 From the print edition

Book Reviews

A thin, dry border between heaven and hell

In his anthology, God’s Country or Devil’s Playground, editor Barney Nelson gathers together an eclectic mix of the best nature writing from the Big Bend of Texas

Jessica Toubman Sept. 13, 2004 From the print edition

The wages of sprawl

A new documentary, Making Sense of Place: Phoenix, the Urban Desert, uses the Arizona megalopolis to show what happens when urban sprawl is unchecked

Jodi Peterson Sept. 13, 2004 From the print edition

Writers on the Range

Failure of leadership, not a lack of water, dooms the Klamath River

Only the federal government can find away to protect both salmon and farmers in the Northwest’s Klamath River watershed

Tim Holt Essay Sept. 13, 2004 From the print edition

Heard Around the West

Heard around the West

Bowdlerizing books at the Layton library; Oregon cheese not from Oregon; property rights – and wrongs – in Delta, Colo.; bears and beer; Colorado coffee-creamer cubs; loving guns in Montana; and prairie dogs vs. gas development

Betsy Marston Sept. 13, 2004 From the print edition

Dear Friends

Dear friends

HCN’s upcoming potluck is in Portland; new interns Deanna Belch and Lissa James; and corrections

Deanna Belch, Lissa James and Matt Jenkins Sept. 13, 2004 From the print edition

News

Communities search for a safer way to kill mosquitoes

In Colorado and elsewhere in the West, the fear of West Nile Virus brings the controversy about spraying pesticides to a boil

Gail Binkly Sept. 13, 2004 From the print edition

A water-and-wilderness bill kicks up dust in Nevada

Critics say an economic development initiative could suck desert springs and rural counties dry

Ryan Slattery Sept. 13, 2004 From the print edition

Colorado voters hold the cards on renewable energy

In November, Coloradans will have the chance to vote on a citizen-proposed renewable-energy initiative, but the utilities are working hard to defeat it

Laura Paskus Sept. 13, 2004 From the print edition

Japanese cars may get all the good lanes

A proposed law would allow California commuters who drive some hybrid vehicles to use the state’s carpool lanes, and the CEO of Ford Motor Co. is not happy about it