Changing realities ...

Today's news that the US Post Office is considering the closure of both the Two Dot and Martinsdale Post Offices is discouraging but not surprising. Small communities have been under pressure to survive for decades. It's easy to lay blame -- on politicians, on big-box stores, on changes to governmental policies.

Post Offices themselves are getting less use; fewer people send mail using stamps. Fewer letters are incoming as people use e-mail and websites more and more to communicate, pay bills and make purchases.

The fact is that populations continue to shrink in small rural towns. People have been moving to cities for at least three generations now. And the jobs that supported small towns like Martinsdale are gone. Railroad, gone. School, gone. Grocery store and gas stations, gone too. Ranches that used to require large numbers of ranch hands no longer need them because of advancements in technology. Meanwhile, the people who are left bypass small towns on their way to Billings or Bozeman to buy their groceries. They are even, largely, bypassing the next size up towns like Harlowton. All to save a few dollars, never thinking about the cost in fuel and time that it takes to get to those larger economic hubs.

It used to be that people went to Billings for a specialized doctor visit, to pick up relatives at the airport or annual Christmas and back-to-school shopping trips. Now it's to go to Costco Walmart or Home Depot.

The damage to small communities is incremental. Instead of a gas station being sold, it closes when the owner retires. Nobody really notices because, hey, he retired! On the walls of the community hall in Martinsdale, ghosts from the past look out from black and white photos. Large smorgasbord gatherings and community events all speak to a vital past when most things a community needed to survive were right at hand.

Then one day, the Post Office closes. With that, the town dies.