Balanced budget

In the early 1970s, I worked near Gardiner. I enjoyed climbing up Electric Peak and Mount Holmes in the Gallatin Range, south of the Yellowstone River. Ten years later, I began teaching school in Pennsylvania. There I noticed a Gallatin Bank and Gallatin Avenue. Could it be that there was somehow a connection between my beloved mountains near Gardiner and the banks in Pennsylvania?

I soon found out that Albert Gallatin lived near the Mason-Dixon Line and that the grand mountain range 2,000 miles away was named for him. Why did they name these Rocky Mountains after a Swiss immigrant who lived in the forest of Pennsylvania?

As it turns out, Albert Gallatin was the Secretary of the Treasury for several presidents. He helped Thomas Jefferson pay for the Louisiana Purchase and for the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He helped our country pay for the National Road. He helped us pay off the national debt.

For the last 20 years, I have had the privilege to teach in West Virginia. Every other year, I am able to take my students to Albert Gallatin’s mansion and teach them about this patriot.  Hurrah, for Albert Gallatin. Hurrah, for balancing the budget. Oh, if only we could find another Albert Gallatin to help us pay off the national debt.

Dan Manka

Fairmont, W.Va.