License plate discrimination

During a trip to Cooke City last week I was asked about my license plate.

“Where’s 11?” the woman who brought my barbecue sandwich wanted to know.

“Phillips County,” I replied.

She said nothing, just gave me look.

I didn’t think anything of it until I got home and told my friend Dave.

“She probably thought you were diseased,” he said.

Phillips County, which had skated through the pandemic unscathed, with zero cases of covid until it blew up a couple of weeks ago, now tallies 90 some odd cases.

I’m used to license plate discrimination in Montana. For years I had Gallatin County plates on my truck and in much of the state that 6 plate marked me as just another yahoo from Bozeman.

It didn’t really matter much though, until hunting season when an obscure plate from one of the smaller counties might get you permission to hunt on a ranch that a plate from Yellowstone County or Butte-Silver Bow wouldn’t.

The first thing a friend did after moving here from Flathead County years ago was to get rid of his 7 tag and get Phillips County plates. He didn’t want to be looked at as one more guy from the Flathead looking for a place to hunt.

While plates from Missoula, Cascade or Lewis and Clark counties won’t win you any points when looking for a place to hunt or fish in rural Montana, a number 1 tag was the worst. It meant you’re from Butte, you might be a miner, and there’s a good chance you were already on the fight.

I remember being told not to park next to anyone from Butte when I was covering prep basketball tournaments because they would key your car.

The Mining City’s tough reputation, however, appears to be fading. My friend Dallas proudly displays Butte commemorative plates on his pickup despite living in Manhattan and still gets permission to hunt some sweet places in Gallatin County. But in the state’s fastest-growing county, most newcomers aren’t aware of the fear a #1 license plate used to instill.

Stopping to gas up on my trip home from Cooke, I noticed some folks eyeing my ride, and thought they were just admiring the car. Now I’m not so sure. They were certainly keeping their distance.

Parker Heinlein is at [email protected].