Was just reading around on the website of my local stove store- reading the 4th paragraph, it says that the first "pellet stove", a simple hopper created as an add-on to an existing woodstove, was created by a guy in Bozeman, Mt- only 40 miles from where I live! I guess I never knew that pellet stove technology had its roots in SW Montana- or anywhere in Montana! http://www.bares.com/history.html