the Absaroka movement, U.S. Senator Alan Simpson stated in a 2008 interview that he had an uncle who participated in the movement. Senator Simpson went on to recount, "They're weren't fooling around; a lot of people thought it was silliness, but to them, it wasn't." It has been proposed by Kirk Johnson, an expert on the American West, that the effort to secede was largely brought about by cultural and geographical differences. The region Absaroka would have occupied was settled later than most regions of the United States. Due to the American Indian Wars, the region was not safely settled till the late 1800s to early 1900s, resulting in "frontier spirit of experimentation still (being) fresh" during the 1930s. The series Walt Longmire Mysteries, written by Craig Johnson, takes place in the fictional Absaroka county of Wyoming. This county was created as a reference to the Absaroka succession movement, with Johnson claiming the name choice was to "make this place emblematic of the rural West and maybe of rural areas all over the world." This same county was later featured in the A&E and Netflix television adaptation Longmire. Gallery See also List of United States territories that failed to become states References 1939 in Montana History of Montana History of South Dakota History of the American West History of Wyoming Proposed states and territories of the United States Separatism in the United States