Road trip around Montana - Garnet
 | Author:
Brenda Phillips
Brenda Phillips: MT43 News Office Administrator |
Road trip around Montana - Garnet
Brenda Phillips
The 3rd Weekend in June is Garnet Days at Garnett Ghost Town. Garnett is a nice day trip from Townsend. Everything was green on the drive from Helena to Lincoln. We took Highway 200 west to the Garnet turn-off, just past Clearwater Junction (@25 mi). From Highway 200 the road is 3 miles paved and 9 miles of gravel but very well maintained. Google Maps will direct you to go to Drummond then north, however, that road is a narrow one-lane road that is not maintained for cars. The flowers & Beargrass and Indian Paintbrush along the road were fantastic this year due to the rain.
The town of Garnet is maintained by the Bureau of Land Management and Garnet Preservation Association Inc. Fees are $3 a person over 16 years of age. The BLM uses entrance fees to help protect, preserve and interpret Garnet Ghost Town.
Here’s a little history from the Garnet website: http://https://www.garnetghosttown.org
The town was originally named Mitchell, but in 1897 it became known as Garnet, for the semi-precious ruby-colored stone found in the area. The gold "boom" began and by January 1898 nearly 1,000 people resided in Garnet. There were 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 comprising the town.
After 1900 many mine owners leased their mines out, and the gold had become scarcer and harder to mine. 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 most remaining residents moved away to defense-related jobs.
By the 1940s, Garnet was a ghost town. Cabins were abandoned, furnishings included, as though residents were merely vacationing.
In 1934 when President Roosevelt raised gold prices from $16 to $32 an ounce, Garnet revived. New miners moved into abandoned cabins and began reworking the mines. Then, World War II drew the population away and again Garnet became a ghost town.
We arrived at a crowded parking area in the woods, but a short walk down the hill transported you to another time. The sounds of voices and a bustling town rose up from the valley, to greet you.
Volunteers for the Preservation Association were dressed in period clothes that gave you a glimpse of what this town may have looked like in the early days of Garnet. We found a bearded gentleman in overalls, sitting on the porch playing a banjo. The saloon girls were serving Sarsaparilla (& root beer) so that we could taste the drink that we have all heard of in the old movies. A gold panning area was available so that we could try our luck at gold panning.
We wandered around town to look in some of the buildings that have been preserved with a lot of the furnishings still in tack. Up on the hillside were the cabins/ homes of the miners. Most areas are accessible to the Handicapped.
A musical group consisting of Accordion, guitars, banjo and drums played fun background music. The gift shop was open for souvenirs & information. There were frontier games and activities that we could participate in, such as a watermelon contest, egg toss, pie eating and an auction of pies. There was a group of volunteers providing delicious BBQ hamburger & hot dogs for lunch – for a price, but all proceeds went to help pay for preservation efforts.
Garnet is open year-round, daily from 9:30 am-4:30 pm, however, access is limited in the winter. It is an interesting excursion any time of year but we find that Garnet Day is a whole separate type of adventure to experience. The activities I am telling you about are only available on this special weekend. Mark your calendar for the 3rd weekend of June next year (or contact BLM for the exact date). You won’t be disappointed.
Brenda and Kurt Phillips are from Townsend and enjoy visiting Montana
scenery and historic sites.
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