{"id":4318,"date":"2023-09-08T22:59:36","date_gmt":"2023-09-09T02:59:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/relativerest.com\/?p=4318"},"modified":"2023-09-08T22:59:36","modified_gmt":"2023-09-09T02:59:36","slug":"a-real-ghost-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/relativerest.com\/?p=4318","title":{"rendered":"A Real Ghost Town"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Friday, Sep 8 2023<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Road video and map<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My trip truly began today with a pleasant drive between Missoula and Helena, MT but the highlight for me was visiting a true ghost town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most ghost towns that are open to the public in the U.S. seem to be mainly reconstructions or living history areas but today I visited Garnet, MT which consists of original buildings preserved as they were left with minimal structural support where needed and a self-guided walking tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garnet came into existence in the 1860s when gold was found in the quartz of nearby mountains. Originally, gold was only panned until the railway came to the area, bringing the opportunity for machines to be used to dig true mines. This resulted in steady growth and Garnet was not like earlier gold rush towns, consisting almost entirely of single men and prostitutes, but developed slowly over 30 years with many families and children in the population of about 1,000 by 1900. The town went through several booms and busts as valuable seams of gold-bearing quartz were found and the price of gold varied but much of the town burned to the ground in a 1912 fire. The population declined slowly and the town was finally abandoned by the last resident in 1947.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The surrounding area remained populated with other mining activities and this discouraged the usual looting and vandalism that typically occurs with abandoned buildings so the remaining structures were in relatively good condition when the U.S. Bureau of Land Management bought the site in the 1970s. Since then they have worked with a non-profit group to preserve and protect both the structures and artifacts left behind using minimal interventions to maintain safety. I apologize for the excessive number of photos but found the place fascinating as I imagined the stories that must have unfolded in these buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is the densest collection of buildings remaining in Garnet.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Less significant buildings are still collapsing despite help from supporting beams – such as here where the roof has fallen in.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The interiors of many buildings still have furniture and artifacts left there by the owners. This was Kelly’s saloon which was an illegal speakeasy during prohibition and served its last drink in 1925. The building had slipped off the rocks supporting it and was only saved by lifting the entire structure and lowering it onto a newly built foundation in 1992.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Three views of Davey’s General Store. The building was built before 1898 and the store was the last business to close when, in 1947, its owner passed and most of the contents were auctioned off to pay his debts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Wells hotel, dating from 1897, was the best built structure in town and considered luxurious in its day. The horizontal pole sticking out of the right side at the second floor level was part of a winch system used to get guests’ heavy trunks upstairs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A view of one of those second floor hotel rooms.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The single classroom schoolhouse was a rarity in mining towns but was an important part of the social fabric of Garnet. This building dates from 1938 when it replaced the 1897 original. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The interior is largely intact, including class photos and a roll of all the teachers,<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Garnet was my only tourist stop of the day but, as can be seen in the video, much of the ride to Helena was scenic but not spectacular.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday, Sep 8 2023 Road video and map My trip truly began today with a pleasant drive between Missoula and Helena, MT but the highlight for me was visiting a true ghost town. Most ghost towns that are open to the public in the U.S. seem to be mainly reconstructions or living history areas but … Continue reading A Real Ghost Town<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[97,3],"tags":[36],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/relativerest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4318"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/relativerest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/relativerest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/relativerest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/relativerest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4318"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/relativerest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4340,"href":"http:\/\/relativerest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4318\/revisions\/4340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/relativerest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/relativerest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/relativerest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}