Why did the Intermontane become such a popular place for retirees ...

[kellyjaisingh]

Why did the Intermontane become such a popular place for retirees and tourists in the late 20th and early 21st centuries?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Why is the Intermontane West referred to as a land of discontinuous settlement as compared to the early patterns of Euro-American and Euro-Canadian settlement in the eastern United States and Canada?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

[bhavsar]

Answer to Question 1

Some of the retirees and tourists are snowbirds who spend their winters in the warm, dry areas of the Intermontane West, and their summers elsewhere, escaping winter weather, while others have made their homes there.

Answer to Question 2

Early Euro-American and Euro-Canadian settlement in eastern North America is referred to as a zone of continuous settlement. Since eastern North America has abundant rainfall and relatively flat topography, virtually all that land was cleared for agriculture except for a few remote areas. There was a continuous pattern of rural farm populations served by cities and towns that were in turn connected by a network of rail and road connections. Very few places in the eastern two-thirds of the United States are located more than five miles from a road, railroad, or navigable waterway.
In comparison, the Intermontane West is referred to as having discontinuous settlement because the rugged topography was unsuitable for continuous agricultural settlement. Large areas of the Interior West remained unsettled, with most of the population concentrated in a relatively small number of places best suited for mining or farming.