ENNIS, VIRGINIA CITY, & NEVADA CITY, MT

After having a great “Judy” breakfast we headed out for a day of sightseeing. We are staying in Ennis, Mt.  It is a tiny little town with the bare necessities that include an old fashioned ice cream parlor and a very nice campground.  It is only fifteen miles from Virginia City and is serving as our sightseeing base.

Alder Gulch was the scene of Montana's greatest placer gold rush in the spring of 1863.  By the fall of 1864, nearly 10,000 gold seekers crowded the surrounding hillsides.  Small settlements were so numerous and so scattered that the area was called "Fourteen Mile City."  Virginia City and its near neighbor, Nevada City, were the main centers of commerce.  Alder Gulch yielded an estimated $30 million in gold just in the three short years between 1863 and 1866.

Nevada City is an old placer mining camp 1½ miles west of Virginia City, Montana.  It began at the same time when gold was discovered in Alder Gulch in 1863.  It was one of numerous settlements established along Alder Gulch, surrounding Virginia City.  By 1869, the population of the mining camp had fallen to about 100 people. In 1876, Nevada City had all but become a ghost town as the miners moved on to new finds.  Today, the town has been restored as an outdoor historical museum, linked by railroad to the Virginia City Historic District with numerous historic buildings, artifacts, and furnishings.

Before and after dinner we had three thunder storms and saw several rainbows.  The video below shows a double rainbow, the first one we've ever seen.

Here are two more rainbow pictures.

DILLON, MT

We’ve spent the last several days in Dillon, MT.  It is located in Montana's Gold West Country, and was an important shipping point from Utah to the gold fields of Montana.  The rich agricultural valley was a welcome place for cattle and sheep ranching.  The area was central to early Montana mining camps and settlements.  Today, Dillon has a population of about 4,000 people.  It is a pretty little town with a lot of the old buildings preserved.

The University of Montana Western campus which opened it’s doors in 1893 is here.  They are completely redoing one of the main buildings that resembles a church.  The University is the only public 4-year institution offering an innovative approach to learning, called Experience One.  A student takes a single class at a time, three hours each day for three weeks, then moves on to the next class.

We visited Bannack, Montana's first territorial capital and now a well-preserved ghost town.  It was a mining town and many of the old buildings are still standing, although in very poor condition.  Some of the buildings we saw were the assay office, drug store, county court house, hotels, saloon, gallows, private homes, church, boarding house, cabins, store, jails, masonic lodge, school house, and the site of the first governor’s mansion.  There were many artifacts on the grounds.  Bannack’s very existence depended on the extraction of gold.  In the winter of 1862-63, between 400-500 people lived in Bannack.  Mining stopped during World War II and resumed after the war. Because of the low price of gold the population dwindled and people were forced to go elsewhere for jobs.  In 1940 a group of concerned citizens organized to preserve the town site.  On January 23, 1954, the property was donated to the state of Montana with one stipulation.  Bannack was not to be made into a tourist town in competition with Virginia City.  The ghost town atmosphere was to be preserved.

Thursday started with us seeing a herd of about 18 deer feasting in a hay field.  We have never seen that many together before.

We drove the “Big Hole Scenic Loop” that passes through several small towns in the Big Hole Valley.  A portion of our drive was the Pioneer Mountains Scenic Byway.  It is backcountry driving that bisects the Pioneer Mountains. Granite peaks topping 10,000 feet in elevation are to the east, and gentler, forested terrain stretches out to the west.  The road gently ascends a 7,800 foot divide between Wise River, flowing north, and Grasshopper Creek, flowing south.

Cattlemen have been here since 1874.  Haystacks of over 20 tons of hay, standing 30 feet tall were produced using a device called a Beaverslide that was invented here in 1910.  It has been mostly phased out with more modern equipment, although some are still in use.  Due to the large amounts of hay needed to feed the cattle over the long winters this area earned its nickname  “The Land of 10,000 Haystacks.”   

                                                                                   

We stopped at Crystal Park which is a unique recreation area at an elevation of 7,800 feet.  This area is open to the public for digging for smoky, amethyst and clear quartz crystals.  We were there for two hours, Mike digging and Judy watching.  We brought home a few small crystals.

HELENA, MT

Traveling from Great Falls took us from rolling hills through farm land with crops and horses and cattle; through an extremely beautiful canyon; and then onto the flatlands with crops by Helena, Montana.

On the way we stopped to take the Gates of the Mountains boat ride.  The boat ride was very enjoyable; Judy even remembered being on it 34 years ago with the kids.  We were on the same waters that Lewis and Clark sailed. Meriwether Lewis coined the name "Gates of the Mountains" while plying this portion of the Missouri with his party.  At almost every bend in the waterway, the towering rock formations seemed to block their passage, only to magically open up as they drew closer.  We saw osprey nests with chicks in one, big horn sheep, a deer in the water by the shore, many mud swallow nests and Indian pictographs.

Today our Helena site-seeing started with a one-hour ride aboard the Last Chance Tour Train . We learned about the discovery of gold in Last Chance Gulch in 1864 and heard about how Helena became the capitol city of Montana.

Some of the things we saw were the original and new Governor’s Mansions, opulent mansions of Helena’s mining millionaires and a restored miner’s village from gold rush days (Reeder’s Alley).  The Greek Renaissance architecture of Montana’s impressive state capitol constructed of native sandstone and crowned with a massive copper dome was impressive.  We also saw the unique downtown architecture along Last Chance Gulch including buildings embellished with giant lizards, thumbprints and gargoyles.

Note the corner of the above building: on the first floor (street level) there is one window, on the second floor - two windows, third floor - three windows, fourth floor - four windows, and fifth floor - five windows.  Pretty unusual!

A beautiful sight to behold was the St. Helena Cathedral with 230’ spires (about 20 stories high).  The cornerstone was laid in 1908 and it took nearly 20 years to complete.  It is modeled after Cologne Cathedral in a style called Victorian Gothic and is known world-wide for its stained-glass windows.  They are beautiful and there are many of them.

We then went to Last Chance Gulch in the downtown area, which is Montana's only out-door walking mall, and enjoyed a delicious late lunch at Bert & Ernie’s.

Here is a beautiful Helena sunset.