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June 1939. "Signs at highway intersection. Three Forks, Montana." Medium format acetate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
At least the hills are still there.
Three Forks is named after the three forks of the Missouri River. The Gallatin, Madison, & Jefferson Rivers.
Those signs remind me of the Jo Dee Messina song from the '90s ...
Heads Carolina, tails California
Somewhere greener, somewhere warmer
Up in the mountains, down by the ocean
Where don't matter long as we're goin'
Somewhere together, I got a quarter
Heads Carolina, tails California ...
Two roads diverged on the lone prairie, and if you made a hard left, you'd eventually end up in Yellowstone, which I guess is the third fork, assuming you've put Bozeman behind you. (I know the name of the town refers to the river drainage, but that was my first thought.)
Side note: I had to listen to this song to decide whether it's in or on "the lone prairie". It's on. That's the difference between Robert Frost's forest landscape, and a rather treeless one. You are in one, and on the other.
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