U.S. Geography Question

Oregon tends to the temperate, both winter and summer.

Maine or New Hampshire might be a better choice weatherwise --they also have those other requirements.

Southern Ohio or West Virginia would also work, and perhaps the region along the Appalachians--eastern Tennessee, western North Carolina--which would have greater native American populations.

You just described Bonner, Montana.

I'd pitch for Northern California, close to, if not in, the Sacramento Valley. There are some Native Americans in the area, and the weather can range from snowy in the winter to where you can literally fry an egg during the summer.

FR

Or Michigan - Upper Peninnsula, but it wouldn't be ghastly hot in the summer. Puma

Washington State fits the bill:

A small, blue collar, backwoods town, where the main employer is a sawmill.

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There's a lot of logging that goes on in the state. I always saw logging trucks on the road.

Somewhere that can get very hot in summer, and pretty cold in winter.

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Not sure what you're comparing the weather, too. It's certainly not like Wisconsin, but it does snow. Might be different further north (I was in the Seattle/Tacoma area). Summer wasn't as hot as Los Angeles.

Somewhere that ethnically is mostly white, especially of European origin.
Somewhere that still has a Native American presence.

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Lots of Native Americans. They have places called Pullyup and Nisqually, both Indian names. The first one is pronounced Pee-all-up--everyone always pronounces it wrong! There were also some reservations locally.

You should be able to visit the state Website and get tourist info for free; you might even be able to do that with some of the smaller towns. The plus is with the Indian and historical aspects, you may be able to find a great deal of the research online through the park system. Make sure you check out the Olympic National Park online--if nothing else, you'll be able to get the names of the different trees in Washington.

Western Montana, Eastern Oregon, Eastern Washington, and most of Idaho.

What about Minnesota? It can get quite hot in the summer and I'd say it meets your other criteria. Of course, the further north you go, the cooler the summer temperatures.

I'd go with Deb, Minnesota or Wisconsin. Lots of woods, lakes, hot summers and damn cold winters. Somewhere north of the twin cities. The population is mostly Scandinavian, descent and they have a large Native American population close by. Get on Google Earth and throw a dart.

JamieFord said:

You just described Bonner, Montana.

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Jamie's right. You nailed Bonner. Bonner's Ferry, Idaho, was also named after lumberman E.L. Bonner and also fits your description.

I dodge lumber trucks every day between Molalla and Colton, Oregon. These Douglas fir foothills of Mount Hood have plenty of winter snow and sizzle during mid-summer.

Your problem is choosing among all these wonderful locations.

Your further characteristics pretty much disqualify Washington State. Despite recent state budget cuts, I wouldn't call it economically depressed. It's nothing like the midwest, Detroit, etc. and even Eastern Washington is well-educated and up-to-date (generally speaking). There isn't, however, a distinctive accent of any sort. We speak news anchor speak.

Good luck!

Why America? What does that location give you that your own country doesn't?

You are setting yourself up for a mind-boggling amount of research just to get the background right. I've read several books supposedly about Montana that either didn't mention the Indians, got the tribes wrong, got the white folks wrong, got the history of the state wrong, etc.

South-eastern Oklahoma.

In my opinion, the accent eliminates Wisconsin. The economic disadvantaged really fits the Upper Peninnsula of Michigan. It used to be a big iron and copper mining area but now most of the mines are closed. But, most timber is second growth - it was used extensively during the mining period. And the UP definitely has the back-woodsy, not quite up to date feel - cell phone reception is not good, internet access is not good. But wonderful country, people, and scenery. Puma

Tsu Dho Nimh said:

I've read several books supposedly about Montana that either didn't mention the Indians, got the tribes wrong, got the white folks wrong, got the history of the state wrong, etc.

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You mean:

Gazing from the penthouse suite, forty stories above the streets of Two Dot, Rosebud Bulltail, hereditary princess of the Nez Pierce, watched the lights of her tribes’s casino liners passing along the Musselshell River. She still wore her light and airy jingle dress made of Copenhagen tops, her tiny feet yet ensconced in formal four-buckles for dancing. . . .

Aschenbach said:

A small, blue collar, backwoods town, where the main employer is a sawmill.
Somewhere that can get very hot in summer, and pretty cold in winter.
Somewhere that ethnically is mostly white, especially of European origin.
Somewhere that still has a Native American presence.

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You could pick any state in the continental U.S. and people from that state would agree that it fits your criteria, except for a few southern states that don't get really cold in the winter. Everyone thinks their state gets very hot in the summer and they all have regions within them that are mostly white with some Native American presence.

I'm writing a story about england. Can you name a place in england that has strong regional dialects, a great pub, some really neat historical sites, and gets cold or foggy in winter, but swealtering in summer?

Puma said:

Or Michigan - Upper Peninnsula, but it wouldn't be ghastly hot in the summer. Puma

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Depends on how close you are to the lakes has been my experience. The water will cool it down quite a bit.

Plenty of beer, deer, coyotes and other critters up there still too.

Describes Fountain, Michigan (I know...I grew up there). Tiny town, sawmill, hotter than blazes in the summer, colder than crap in the winter, fair amount of Native American population (it's within 20 minutes of a casino). Also a pretty poor area, no industry to speak of...it's only the sawmill that keeps the town alive. Population about 200.

It's actually located in Western Michigan about 35 minutes inland from Lake Michigan.

The point being...

Aschenbach, that the setting can be as accurate as you like, but unless you've researched social patterns, speech patterns, a day in the life of everyone in xyz community, your fiction will not ring true.

Research is an iceberg, what the writer shows is the 1/8th the reader needs to read to make the story American for them. You, the writer, have to know a whole lot more or you’ll end up with something an American would read with howls of laughter at all the cultural errors.

Aschenbach said:

Can you help me narrow this dowm further? Another characteristic I would like in my state is that it is economically depressed, and perhaps somewhere that out-of-staters might think of as a little behind the times.

Also, if possible I would prefer a state that doesn't have a really distinctive/idiosyncratic accent, mainly because I don't want to give myself headaches when writing dialogue!

Thanks again.

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I'll throw my vote in for Montana, as well. No accents to speak of, economically depressed, and people definitely still think of it as a backwards place (I've had people ask me, in all seriousness, when they find out I was born and raised there, if I rode a horse to school).

GL!

-- Marcy