Bozemans Forgotten Past By: Cavin Losett

Though Bozeman is becoming one of the best towns to live in in the country, it still survives with remnants of its past. They flicker past the eye, staying undecidedly below a conscious detection.

Mmmm

Hiding behind history and an unbeknownst ignorance, the past, of what used to be a small mountain town, speaks in wordsyet no voice but that given to it by an author who can only surmise. Flour that used to package in 100 lb bags off of Wallace and Peach St. now only survives with thoughtfully forgotten murals painted high above todays line of sight. It adds a charm, some say. However, what is now a remote location in the eastern district of Bozemans downtown residential area might used to have been a hub in the towns earlier days.

What used to support a hustle of trade and commerce now sits delinquent, windows sorrowfully shattered tears speak of better yesterdays. All the while dilapidated paint peels layers of sunshine that once shone proudly.

Forgotten spokes of industry leave a rusting sentimentality of age and ageless diffidence. Words that were so carefully sprawled upon blank templates to inform, to catch the eye, to draw in commerce, remainbut are gone. What used to be staples among the community that was more comprised of ranchers and farmers, now host pictorial journeys to the past. The punks of today, taggers and graffiti artists now only emulate the evidence of previous generations tendencies to use the building of their business as their billboards, slapping paint on it as wistfully as Picasso.