More millionaires per capita once lived in a tiny Montana town than anywhere else on Earth.
Long before Silicon Valley became the center of the tech world or Wall Street became America's financial capital, one discovery transformed a remote mountain town into one of the wealthiest places in the world.
If a tiny mountain town could create that level of prosperity once, what's stopping it from happening again today?

When people think about the cities that shaped America, they usually think of places like New York, Chicago, or Washington. But some of the most important places in our history rarely make the conversation.
They weren't known for famous landmarks or financial districts. They were built around a single industry that supplied the raw materials America needed to grow, build, and become an industrial powerhouse.
If one small town helped build the steel that connected America, won wars, and raised our skylines, why has its story been almost forgotten?

Some of the places that shaped America are the ones we talk about the least.
Long before they became quiet rural towns, communities like this supplied the materials, the jobs, and the industries that helped build the modern world.
It's easy to overlook places once their biggest chapter is behind them, but their impact hasn't disappeared.
We remember the inventions. We don't always remember where they came from.
What's another American town with a story more people should know?

Some of the most extraordinary stories from the American West sound almost impossible to be true.
Bass Reeves spent more than three decades as a deputy U.S. marshal in some of the most dangerous territory in America. He arrested thousands of fugitives, survived deadly encounters, and built a reputation that spread across the frontier.
But none of that explains what makes his story so remarkable.
What could happen in one man's lifetime to turn him into one of the most legendary lawmen of the American West?
Watch the video below.

Most people know Jeremiah Johnson from the big screen. The real story is even more remarkable.
Long before Hollywood, John "Liver-Eating" Johnson had already become one of the most feared and talked-about mountain men on the American frontier. His reputation spread across the West decades before it ever reached the movie screen.
How does one man become a legend people are still talking about more than 150 years later? Watch the video below.

Most Americans have never heard of John Colter. Years before Yellowstone became America's first national park, he was exploring this country completely alone. It's hard to appreciate what built the American West until you learn the stories of the people who actually lived it.
Who else from American history deserves more recognition?

America has always been built by people who stepped forward when their country called. Deborah Sampson was one of them.

God has always been part of America's story. God bless America! 🇺🇸

President Trump just moved to kill Clinton’s Roadless Rule after 25 years. 58 million acres prohibited from having a road.

Only 5% of the riskiest acres ever got treated. Federal fires now burn 5X bigger.

Why do extremists prefer burning forests over logging them?

Why are Senate Democrats holding up a bill that would help reduce catastrophic wildfire?

The Fix Our Forests Act passed the House with bipartisan support. The West is burning. The Senate needs to act.

Smokey Bear has been lying to us for 80 years. “Only you can prevent wildfires.” So why are our forests burning bigger and hotter than ever? The real story is decades of forest mismanagement. Federal logging has collapsed. Environmental litigation has blocked forest thinning for years.

American cities have had some of the worst air quality on planet Earth, worse than Beijing, worse than Delhi. Not from coal plants. Not from pipelines. So why do they keep blaming coal and American energy production? It’s wildfire smoke, and it’s happening because extremists blocked the logging that would’ve stopped it.

Millions of acres burned. Now one of the largest pollution sources on Earth.

"Leave if you want a better life." Go where the jobs are. Go where the opportunities are. Go where everyone else is building a future.
It's probably one of the most common pieces of advice young people hear in small-town America, and millions have followed it.
But very few people ever stop to ask what happens to the places everyone is encouraged to leave.
If leaving is the path to success, who builds the towns everyone leaves behind?

America keeps talking about carbon emissions while millions of acres burn every summer.
Millions of Americans are breathing wildfire smoke again this year. More than 4 million acres have already burned across the United States, destroying homes, communities, and wildlife.
We regulate factories, power plants, and vehicles down to their emissions. Yet catastrophic wildfires return every summer, filling the air with smoke across the West.
If these fires happen every summer, are they really unpredictable? Watch the video below.

For generations, practical skills kept farms running, built businesses, and solved everyday problems.
Today, almost everyone knows how to use a smartphone. But ask someone how to replace an alternator, weld a trailer, or rebuild a carburetor, and the list gets much shorter. What's one practical skill every kid should learn?

A community isn’t defined by a single moment. It’s shaped by years of people showing up, solving problems, building businesses, creating jobs, serving others, and leaving the next generation something better.
What’s one thing that leaves the biggest mark on a community?

For decades, we’ve told young people the path to success is simple:
Go to college.
Move to a bigger city.
Follow the opportunities everyone else is chasing.
Meanwhile, rural America never stopped building.
Small towns, family businesses, manufacturers, ranchers, farmers, and skilled trades are still producing the things this country depends on. Maybe the next great opportunity isn’t where everyone is going. Maybe it’s where everyone else stopped looking. Where do you think people are overlooking opportunity today?

Plumbers out-earn doctors, until age 41.
If the plumber starts a business? Doc never catches up.
Trades built this country. We need more skilled trades, and less college debt.

America's forests are one of our greatest renewable resources. We have the people, the knowledge, and the resources to care for them wisely. It's time to let America's forests work, and let America build again.

I wrote in the New York Post about why America has a permitting problem, not a work ethic problem. My friend, Mike Rowe contributed to the piece citing his years of advocating for the skilled trades and the dignity of honest work.
My hometown of Libby, Montana, tells that story better than almost anywhere else. One of America's largest copper and silver deposits has been tied up in red tape for more than 40 years. The resource is there. The workers are ready. The jobs are waiting. What we don't have is a permitting process that lets people get to work.It's time to pass the SPEED Act and let Americans build again.

Rural America will always reject socialism because it's the opposite of everything that made this country's backbone. The farmer who worked the land. The rancher who started before sunrise. The logger who helped build entire towns. The small business owner who risked everything on a dream. Nobody out here waited for the government to save them. They got to work and built a life, and that's what the American Dream is all about.

Enjoyed the conversation with Lars Larson last week. One point that really stuck with me: every 1 million board feet of timber supports about 11 jobs. That might not sound like much until you realize that 1 billion board feet supports roughly 11,000 jobs. Scale that across the timber we're capable of producing, and you're talking about hundreds of thousands of family-wage jobs.
These are the kinds of careers that support families, buy homes, and keep small towns alive. Montana is a perfect example. During the peak of our logging industry, we ranked around 24th or 25th in the nation for per capita income. Today, we're near the bottom as many of those family-wage jobs have been replaced by a lower-paying service economy. Healthy forests and healthy rural communities go hand in hand.

Montana fuels America, and America needs Montana.

What else does the rest of the country need us for?

As we celebrate Independence Day, let's remember the values that built this country in the first place: hard work, faith, sacrifice, and the belief that ordinary people could build an extraordinary future.
If we want America's best days to still be ahead, those same values have to guide the next 250 years.

According to the U.S. Forest Service, the volume of timber lost to mortality on national forests is two to eight times greater than the volume harvested each year. They also treat about 4 million acres annually to reduce wildfire risk.
The people, the equipment, and the resources are here. It's time to remove the barriers and let rural America get back to work.
Source: U.S. Forest Service.

Rural America has everything it takes to help power our country's future.
The resources are here.
The people are here.
The opportunity is here.
It's time to remove the barriers and let rural America build again.