September 9, 2020 A trip to a Ghost Town

This morning was cool but not as bad as yesterday.  I waited until 8 to put on my sneakers and run a few miles.  I turned around when I saw real honest to goodness bear skat.  So a bear does shit in the road.  

We are leaving tomorrow for parts relatively unknown so we headed into Missoula to stock up on important things like boxed wine, coke and popsicles.  Traffic there was as bad as Reno, probably worse.  I think that they will have to install a few roundabouts.  Not sure if Montanans believe in those things though.  These folks are pretty proud and pretty conservative.  Everywhere we go we see Trump 2020 flags.  We have not even seen one Biden sign.

So after a run and shopping you would think a couple of old farts would be ready to take a nap.  Not so, we decided.  We headed out to an old mining ghost town called Garnet.  It was situated way back out a dirt road and was located right next to another ghost town called Beartown.  

We hit Beartown first and read the information on it.  It appears as if this town was a really rough and tumble place.  Sounds like the folks that lived here did nothing but mine and drink.

A little further up the hill was Garnet.  What a sweet little spot that is.  Someone has done such a great job of preserving this place that you can almost put yourself there, back in time. Walk inside one of the cabins and (after living in a 25' trailer for a month) realize that it is possible to live here.

Here is a picture of one of the cabins.  I peeked inside and there were 2 tiny rooms, and of course, the necessary outdoor toilet.  




Here is Kelly's Saloon (by the way there were 13 in this town) which offered "male oriented entertainment."



There was even a cabin that a miner built on land owned by a Mr. Davey  called the "Newly Wed Cabin" which was built between 1896 and 1900. When the miner left, Mr. Davey offered this cabin to newly weds.  They could remain there rent free until the next couple needed it.  Nice huh?  But, can you imagine going to the aforementioned bathroom to gussie yourself up on your wedding night????

I also saw a cabin that was owned by a Mr. Samuel Adams (beer -- I don't think so).  His wife had 3 children here one of which died in childbirth and the other died at 3 years old.  Their one surviving offspring Maryanne tells the story of when the family finally had to leave for Missoula because of her father's health.  She had a little kitty that was her only friend (there weren't a lot of kids in this town, duh).  As the family drove away with all of their stuff she recalls seeing her little black kitten sitting on the porch.  Sad huh? 

The road into this ghost town was 11 miles long and rather rustic.  We bumped and bounced and prayed to God that no one was coming the other way.  There were blind corners and switchbacks galore, not to mention the precipitous cliffs below the road.  In the end, we met no one on the road, had no flat tire and were able to negotiate the hills.  It was quite an interesting experience and I hope to return to Bodie this next year to compare it.  The country around the town was amazing and the road, which had been built by the owner of the mine, was difficult.  We kept imagining horses dragging wagons up and down these mountains.  

I wish you could really see how beautiful this vista was from that hideous road.



And there are a few hoodoo's along the way!



We haven't quite decided where we are going tomorrow -- let you know,


Comments

  1. Helen GrahamSeptember 10, 2020 at 9:29 AM

    Wow you sure have some exciting adventures, thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete

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