Thursday, December 12, 2013

Comet, Montana - Revisitted

In May we took another trip down to Helena and this time got my sister and her family to come up to Comet with me.  The kids had a great time exploring, there was still snow on the ground so I got to see the town in a whole different character than on my last visit, and I got to witness some of the deterioration that has happened in the last couple of years.  It appears part of the town is now on private property, which can be either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on the intentions of the new owners.  I was able to take a few more pictures this time, though part of the town was closed to us!


It looks like the mill has lost some more of its corrugated steel siding and the roofs are in worse shape...



  On my first trip I took pictures of this house from the bottom of the hill and it is the house used in my "Comet Moon" photopainting.  It looks pretty much the same from the bottom of the hill, but walk around it and small but important changes have occurred.  The roofline is definitely sagging, the boardwalk around the building is in much worse repair...


I think of the house as the White House....but only the side from the bottom of the hill is actually still white.  From this vantage point the paint is completely gone and you can see where the shingles from the roof have almost been completely stripped away.


From here you can see an building adjacent to the White House.  I find it ironic that though the building is in a near total state of collapse, the barrel braced on its roof is still there.













































I started this post some time ago, but its been a good year or so since I've seen Comet.  I'm hoping to be able to go back in the spring, as I'll be in Helena at some point for school!  I'll post another update when I've got more pictures!

2 comments:

  1. Margo,
    Love your Comet, Mt pics. Just wondering are you related to Loren Dollan? He worked with my dad and was an amazing artist. He passed away in 1999. He lived in Kalispell MT but was born in Helena. My email address is below. I grew up in MT but now live in NM.

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    1. I apologize for not noticing this comment! Yes, my father-in-law, Jack Dollan, was Loren's brother. It would be great to get you in touch with my Mother-In-Law! She's been tracking a lot of family history.

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