Garnet, Montana, Ghost Town

Garnet is one of Montana’s most intact ghost towns.  In fact it had a post office until 1942 and the general store didn’t close until 1947.  Like so many ghost towns it started as a mining town in 1895.  Gold was actually discovered in 1865 in the creek that ran down hill from Garnet.  Due to the lack of water in the area it took another 30 years before roads were developed and hard rock mining was started.  An exact number is not known but it is estimated that just under 1 million dollars in gold was extracted from all the mines in Garnet by 1917.  A large portion of the downtown district was destroyed by a fire in 1912 and most of the mines were closed by 1905.  The town sprang to life again in 1935 when President Roosevelt raised the price of gold from $16 to $35 an ounce but it was short lived when WWII caused new restrictions on the use of dynamite.  This was a very interesting site to visit.  We came in from the East following the creek just as the early miners had done back in 1865.  The road wasn’t quite a 4 wheel drive road but it was close to it.  When we got to the town we found out there was a much better road coming in off Highway 200 and that was the way we left to return to our RV Park.  We are still at the RV Park near Turah, MT.  Rather than trying to write all the information on Garnet, I am going to post pictures of the descriptive signs that were next to several of the buildings.

Remember, if you click on the pictures it will make them larger and easier to read.

Going out the West side we found this sign and a small cemetery beside the road.

Turah, Montana

We left Polson, MT the morning of the 22nd headed for Turah RV Park.  Turah isn’t even on the map but it is a small community about 7 miles East of Missoula on I-90.  The campground is only about 1/4 mile South of the Interstate but you have to exit a couple of miles away.  We have mountains on both the North and South since I-90 runs East and West .  We have pull through’s that are about 100 feet long but not very wide.

We drove down to Phillipsburg, MT yesterday.  Phillipsburg was a mining town back in the 1800’s.  It officially became a town in 1867.  The mining changed over the years.  It was silver, sapphires, and in WWI Manganese which just dumped in the waste dump when they were mining the silver.  The town has re-painted the old buildings and they are quite impressive.  It is nice to see the old buildings being restored instead of just torn down.

There was a Viper Car Club in town.  Some really nice cars.

The Jail is really old too but it doesn’t look it.

If you look really close you can see a hanging noose in the top window of the tower.

We came upon a waterfall that just came out of the rock or so we thought.  It turned out it came from a lake on the other side of the rocks and the stream went through a hole in the rock.

Polson, MT

We came down to Polson Saturday the 16th to their Cherry Festival and while we were here we found a RV park that we decided to move to on Sunday the 17th.  We have been here ever since.  We started out with 3 nights and decided to add 2 more.  We are scheduled to leave here in the morning.  Polson is located at the South end of Flat Head Lake.  Flat Head Lake is the largest lake West of the Mississippi River.  It is a beautiful town located in a valley with mountains on both the East and West.

We are staying at Eagle’s Nest RV Resort just East of town off Highway 35.  We are in their overflow section which has full hookup but only 30 amp electric.  It is in a grassy area and we are really close to each other.

Glacier National Park

Before I get to the park I need to say we got Gage to Great Falls and on the airplane.  Everything was great until he got to Denver.  Denver was having thundershowers and the plane was delayed several hours.  I don’t know exactly what time he got to Oklahoma City but I think it was around 10pm.  The next morning we left Lolo and headed to Columbia Falls, MT.  We are staying at the La Salle RV Park on Highway 2.  It isn’t a bad park just a little hard to get around in due to tight corners and trees.

We went into Glacier yesterday and again today.  Yesterday we used the free shuttle service and went from the West headquarters up to Logan Pass.  It was OK but I really can’t recommend it.  You can’t really see good unless you are lucky enough to get a good seat and although they stop at certain places on the way up you can’t just pull out and take a picture.  Coming back down I was lucky enough to get to ride next to the driver but even then I had to take pictures through the windshield.  Due to the heavy snows this Winter, there is a lot of road construction going on at several places on both sides of Logan Pass.  This of course caused lots of delays.  The road wasn’t even completely open for vehicle traffic until Wednesday, the day we left Lolo.

 

The snow was really deep up at the top of Logan Pass.

You will notice the coats and remember this was the 14th of July.

Today we took the Jeep and drove all the way over the “Going to the Sun” road into St Mary and then on out to the lodge at Many Glaciers which is still part of the park and actually connects with the Canadian side of the park although you can’t get into Canada except by water.  I am going to finish with pictures of the park since they tell the real story.  Glacier is still my favorite National Park.

 

Still Here

We have decided to stay here in Lolo, Montana till it is time to take Gage to the airport.  He flies out of Great Falls, MT the afternoon of the 12th.  We plan on driving the Jeep from here to Great Falls then coming back and leaving the morning of the 13th with the motor home heading for Glacier National Park.  We aren’t doing anything noteworthy just enjoying the park and playing cards with Jack and Barbara.

Nothing exciting

We left White Bird the morning of the 5th headed for Clarkston, Washington.  We didn’t really have a reason for going to Clarkston, well maybe to go to Wal-Mart.  When we left White Bird we had to pull the long grade heading for Grangeville.  It was about 8 miles after we got on Highway 95 till we got to the top.  There were several grades over 8%.  I wasn’t able to get any speed up from the start and ended up pulling it in 2nd gear at 25 mph.  Jack could have pulled it a lot faster but he stayed behind me all the way up.

We stayed two nights at the Hillside RV Park in Clarkston and then headed out this morning.  We came down Highway 12 across Idaho and into Montana.  Highway 12 has been designated the Northwest Passage Scenic Byway.  It is part of the route Lewis and Clark took looking for the Northwest Passage from the Missouri River to the Columbia River.  It was a beautiful drive but very tiring since you went from one curve into another as the road followed the rivers.

We are staying at the Square Dance Center and RV Park just outside of Lolo, Montana.  We will be here for 3 nights.

Pittsburg Landing Hell’s Canyon

Yesterday we went to Pittsburg Landing.  When you cross over the bridge that I showed in the last blog you find the road to Pittsburg Landing. From the bridge, it is 17 miles over a winding gravel road except for maybe the first 3 miles which is a blacktop road.  You go up and then you go down on the other side of the mountains to the park that is run by, of all things, the Forestry Service.  Pittsburg Landing is one of the few places on the Idaho side of the Snake River that you can get down to the River to launch a boat.  The park was interesting but the getting there was better.  We took my Jeep and I put it into 4 wheel drive low going down hill just to slowdown the descent and to save the brakes.  This is a picture looking down on the road going into Pittsburg Landing.

The mountain at the back of the picture is in Washington.  The Nez Perce Indians and their descendants were in the area as much as 12,000 years ago.  We saw some petroglyphs that are suppose to date back about 2000 years.

This is where the river comes out of the canyon.

This is the launch site for boats.  It is hard to imagine hauling a boat over the road we came in on, but there were several there.

White Bird, Idaho

We left Stanley, Idaho the morning of July the 1st and traveled over some of the prettiest country we have seen yet.  At least that is my opinion.  We took Highway 21 down to Lowman (this is part of the Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway) and then took the Banks-Lowman road across to Banks, Idaho.  This is called the Wildlife Canyon Scenic Byway.  It is 33 miles from Highway 21 to Highway 55.  It is definitely easier to travel in an RV the way we went than coming from Banks to Lowman.  We were going down in elevation most of the way.  We then went North on Highway 55 till it ran into US 95 going North.  Highway 55 is known as the Payette River Scenic Byway.  I think you are getting the picture, they don’t call them Scenic Byways for nothing.  Since I was driving I didn’t get any pictures except for one when we stopped along the side of the road to eat a sandwich.

 

All the creeks and rivers are really full.  We saw white water next to the road that would have had to be rated class V or higher if there is a higher rating.  We arrived at the Swift Water RV Park South of White Bird, Idaho early in the afternoon and will be staying here through the 4th.  We are parked right on the edge of the Salmon River next to what used to be Highway 95.  It is now called Old Highway 95.  We have water and electric but no sewer hookup.  They do have a dump station however.  It was only $25 for 50 Amp and $23 for 30 Amp.

This is a picture of what was called the White Bird Grade when the old highway was in use.  Some of the switchbacks are so sharp that truckers had to back up to make them.  There were frequently long backups going up and down.  The new highway was built in the 1970’s.  This picture was taken from the new highway.