56 Counties

Carter County forms the far southeast corner of Montana. Although Carter County averages less than 15 inches of moisture each year, it has a reputation for having some of the best grazing in the state. When cattle first started coming to this region, this was where many of the cattlemen settled, and that is still true today. Carter County is cattle country.

Yellowstone County is the largest county in the state of Montana by over 40,000 people. It's an interesting intersection of commerce and labor, business and agriculture, and probably most striking, rural and urban cultures. This week's guests on 56 Counties come from very different backgrounds, with Chuck Tooley being raised in Washington, DC, and Alexis Bonogofsky growing up on a farm right across the Yellowstone River from Billings. But they have both been heavily influenced by their connection to Montana in order to work hard at making Yellowstone County and Montana a better place. 

Fifty Six Counties is a radio program hosted by Russell Rowland, author of the book Fifty-Six Counties: A Montana Journey. For the book, Rowland traveled to every county in Montana and interviewed the people there about what’s going on around the state, while also researching the history to find the parallels and patterns. 

The radio program is an extension of this conversation, with Rowland interviewing people from all over Montana to find out how Montana has shaped them, and what they’re doing to shape Montana. For the preimere episode, Russell chose two people from Rosebud County: Reno Charette, Director of the Native American Achievement Center at MSU Billings, and John Robinson, who recently retired as the Northern Cheyenne tribal judge.