Ghost Towns of Montana

It was another warm sunny September day as we cruised from Missoula to Dillon.  The speed limit is 75 mph on most Montana freeways, but there was very little traffic so we were able to cruise along at our usual fuel efficient speed of about 60 mph, enjoying every scenic detail along the way.

Dillon:   During the winter of 1880-81, a railroad town called Terminus was built as an instant “end-of-track” town.  The Utah and Northern Railroad was being built to Butte and this was the end of one segment.  Streets were laid out and buildings erected almost instantly.  The railroad was eventually extended, it later became the Union Pacific, and the town’s name was changed to Dillon.  The community grew to become a business and ranching center, as well as the county seat of Beaverhead County and home of Western Montana College.

Our primary interest in stopping at Dillon was to visit some historic ghost towns in the area.

Bannack was founded in 1862 when gold was discovered on Grasshopper Creek in a remote canyon 25 miles west of Dillon.  The town is celebrating its 150^th anniversary this year (2012).  As news of the gold strike spread, thousands of prospectors and businessmen rushed to Bannack hoping to strike it rich.  The town was built quickly and, in 1864, Bannack was named the first Territorial Capital of Montana.  Bannack also had the first hotel in Montana, the first jail, the first school, the first chartered masonic lodge, the first commercial sawmill, etc.

Shortly after the Bannack gold rush, another major gold strike took place on Alder Creek, about 70 miles east.  Many of the miners left Bannack in hopes of finding the mother lode in the new towns of Nevada City and Virginia City.  Along with the miners went the Capital, which was a major disappointment.

Bannack, Montana

 

 

The building beyond the old International truck was built in 1875 as the Beaverhead County Courthouse.  When the railroad arrived in Dillon in 1880, the county seat was moved to Dillon and this building remained vacant for about ten years.

 

In 1891, the old courthouse was turned into the plush Hotel Meade and became the social center of Bannack until the 1940s.

Interior of one of Bannack's un-restored buildings.

Most buildings are just as they were when the town was acquired by the state in 1954.  Old wallpaper, linoleum, plumbing fixtures and sometimes appliances are frozen in time.  Others, such as the bachelor cabins below, couldn't meet the test of time.

 

Hiking up the hill to the original Bannack Cemetery (inside fence)

Not everyone deserted Bannack.  Some stayed to make their homes, run businesses and explore the use of new mining techniques and equipment.  Even the Hotel Meade operated until the 1940s.

From the late 1860's to the 1930's, Bannack continued as a mining town.  However, its population continued to dwindle.  By 1954, most of the gold had been found and most folks had moved on.  At that point the State of Montana acquired the town site and declared Bannack a State Park.

Over fifty structures remain standing today, and most are open to the public.  The state is “preserving” Bannack, rather than “restoring” it.  Roofs are repaired or replaced as necessary to minimize further damage to the most significant structures, and some foundations have been shored up.  Other than that, the buildings are very deteriorated but authentic.

Another unique characteristic of Bannack is the lack of commercialism.  There are no T-shirt shops, coffee kiosks, souvenir stores, etc., and nobody lives there anymore.  Walking down its lonely streets gave us a sense of what it was like 150 years ago in a Montana gold rush town.  Now it’s a real ghost town . . . and there are stories of real ghosts, although we didn’t encounter any.

Virginia City is a National Historic Landmark and considered one of Montana’s premier ghost towns. But, unlike Bannack, it’s also a living community with residents and operating businesses.  It’s considered one of America’s finest collections of old west artifacts and 1860s “boom town” buildings on their original sites.  Most of the old buildings front on Wallace Street (Hwy. 287), while others are scattered around the hilly town.

 

Original storefronts along Wallace Street

Hangman's Building - 5 "road agents" were
 hung in this building in 1864.

A colorful law-and-order story involves Sheriff Henry Plummer of Bannack and Virginia City and his gang of road agents, known as the “Innocents”. They committed more than 100 murders and numerous robberies between the two cities. Finally, a group of Vigilantes took the law into their own hands and hung Plummer and several others. Plummer was hung from the gallows in Bannack and five others were hung at one time from the center beam of a building under construction in Virginia City.   The gallows and the beam are now tourist attractions.

 

The original Boot Hill Cemetery was used for only a few years.  When the five “road agents” were hung and buried there, most other graves were moved to a new cemetery in 1868.  The road agents’ markers are all that remain at the original site.

When miners were seeking their fortunes, they turned Alder Creek upside down.  Rock and gravel debris piles and tailings can still be seen everywhere along the creek.  It’s a mess!  Today, miners are still working along the creek but not so much for gold.  Now they’re mining garnets and other stones for use in saw blades, sandpaper and other industrial uses.

Mining debris and tailings along Alder Creek

When we returned to Dillon from Virginia City, the smoke from the Idaho and other fires was worse than ever and our eyes were burning.  Mountains surround the Beaverhead Valley, but we couldn’t see them most of the time.  We had a good time visiting the ghost towns, but it was time to move on down the road in search of cleaner air.

Smoky sunset in Dillon