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.
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