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Ghost Town Accommodations in Garnet, Montana
Ghost Town Accommodations in Garnet, Montana
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Montana's most intact ghost town wasn't built to last. Enterprising miners were more interested in extracting the riches below ground than building above. As a result, buildings grew quickly, most lacking foundations. They were small and easy to heat.
Yet, a century after Garnet emerged, remnants of the town stayed hidden high in the Garnet Mountain Range east of Missoula. It was named for the semi-precious ruby-colored stone found in the area.
Garnet was a good place to live. The surrounding mountains were rich in gold-bearing quartz. There was a school. The crime rate was low. Liquor flowed freely in the town's many saloons. The bawdy houses did brisk business. Missoula and Deer Lodge were just close enough for necessary supplies.
In the 1860s miners migrated north from played-out placer mines in California and Colorado. The Garnet Mountains attracted miners who collected the gold first by panning, and then by using rockers and sluice boxes as the free-floating gold diminished.
Placer mining of gold or other minerals is done by washing the sand, gravel, etc. with running water, but by 1870 most area placer mining was no longer profitable. Although miners had located gold-bearing quartz veins, the lack of decent roads and refined extracting and smelting techniques made further development unfeasible at that time. Silver mines elsewhere drew the miners out of the Garnets.
In 1895, the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act set off a panic throughout the region. Silver miners closed, and within weeks thousands of unemployed miners were on the move. This event, combined with improved technology, led to a renewed interest in gold mining in the Garnets. Miners began a steady trickle back.
At the head of First Chance Gulch in 1895, Dr. Armistead Mitchell erected a stamp mill to crush local ore. Around it grew the town of Garnet. The town was originally named Mitchell, but in 1897 it became known as Garnet.
Soon after Mitchell erected his mill, Sam Ritchey hit a rich vein of ore in his Nancy Hanks mine (first photo above) just west of town. The "boom" began. By January 1898 nearly 1,000 people resided in Garnet. Four stores, four hotels, three livery stables, two barber shops, a union hall, a school with 41 students, a butcher shop, a candy shop, a doctor's office, an assay office, and thirteen saloons, comprised the town. Eager miners and entrepreneurs built quickly and without planning. A haphazard community resulted. Most of the buildings stood on existing or future mining claims. About twenty mines operated.
After 1900 many mine owners leased their mines out, the gold became scarcer and harder to mine. The Nancy Hanks yielded about $300,000 worth of gold. An estimated $950,000 was extracted from all the mines in Garnet by 1917.
By 1905, many of the mines were abandoned and the town's population had shrunk to about
150. A fire in the town's business district in 1912 destroyed many commercial buildings and death dealt a blow to the remnants of Garnet. The coming of World War I drew most remaining residents away to defense-related jobs. By the 1920s Garnet was a ghost town. Cabins were abandoned, furnishings included, as though residents were merely vacationing. F.A. Davey still ran the store however, and the hotel stood intact.
In 1934 when President Roosevelt raised gold prices from $16 to $32 an ounce, Garnet revived. A new wave of miners moved into abandoned cabins and began reworking the mines and dumps.
World War II drew the population away again. The use of dynamite for domestic purposes was curtailed, making mining difficult. Garnet again became a ghost town. Once again F.A. Davey and a few others remained.
Several new cabins were constructed following the war, and in 1948 an auction was held with items from the Davey store. Much remained however, and souvenir hunters soon stripped the town not only of loose items, but of doors, woodwork, wallpaper, and even the hotel stairway.
The future of this historic town now depends on the work of volunteers and contributions from the public..
Society in Garnet differed from that of earlier mining camps. While single males were predominant in the early mining camp, Garnet had a larger number of families. Social life therefore was quite different. Although drinking, gambling, and houses of prostitution were still enjoyed by men, married women were far more numerous in Garnet. They rarely visited the saloons and only went to the business district to shop for necessary food and clothing. Also, unlike earlier camps, a school house was established in Garnet soon after it's founding.
A variety of social activities were available to the residents of Garnet. Family-oriented activates, such as dinner parties, card games and hay rides were common. Family picnics, fishing trips, and shopping trips took place during the summer months. Sleigh-rides, sledding parties, and skiing were favorites in the wintertime.
One of the largest community celebrations in Garnet was the annual Miners Union Day gathering held at the Miners Union Hall. Many of the social functions wee held at the Hall, which was completed in June of 1898. Community dances were held there every Saturday night, and in the early years of Garnet's history, there were often three or four social functions a week. The Hall with its one large room and small stage often was scarcely large enough for the crowd.
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Kriss Hammond, Jetsetters Magazine Correspondent – Read Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.com To book travel visit Jetstreams.com at www.jetstreams.com and for Beach Resorts visit Beach Booker at www.beachbooker.com
About the Author
Kriss Hammond, Jetsetters Magazine Correspondent. Join the Travel Writers Network in the logo at www.jetsettersmagazine.com Leave your email next to the logo for FREE e travel newsletter.
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