I learned that the Chinese comprised nearly a quarter of Montana’s population in the late 19th century. They lived and worked in nearly every town across the state, from the most remote mining camps, ...

Paul Kim is a writer and documentary filmmaker. They previously produced The Bodies Beneath Us, a feature documentary on an unmarked Chinese gravesite in Missoula, Montana, and are currently directing ...

High Country News relies on donations as well as subscription fees to produce independent reporting on the West. Help continue the legacy of reader-supported journalism by making a tax-deductible ...

The rural West’s increasing health care costs haunt the shutdown ...

This article appeared in the October 2025 print edition of the magazine with the headline “A season of grizzlies and get-togethers.” ...

In the West, more than 4 million people are enrolled in marketplace plans supported by the Affordable Care Act. Depending on ...

And it’s true, in the West, cities sprawl out across deserts and prairies with only mountains to fence them in. My hometown was ringed with sagebrush and open prairie. There are no city skyscrapers ...

At 16, he accepted an invitation from legendary choreographer George Balanchine to join the New York City Ballet. Four years later, Soto was the theater’s principal dancer — a pinnacle that any ballet ...