There is, at Anaconda, Montana, a great towering smokestack that pokes up from the snow covered hills. It can be seen for miles, a thick blunt mark against the big sky. They say around there that their smokestack is so big the Washington Monument would fit inside it.

That giant artifact plus the copper mines and smelter it represents, when seen in combination with the miles of wire-fenced and rail-fenced fields of wheat, offer even the most casual tourist an overwhelming sense of the region. At a local restaurant the menu lists a Cornish "Cousin Jack" meat pie; the counter is lined with working cattlemen; a poster at the cash register announces next weekend's timber carnival and logging contest close by in Idaho.

Moving from one part of the nation to another the observer is aware of the changing regions. The physical terrain varies, the climate, the crops, the look of the cities is different. The spoken word changes markedly.