Saturday, February 26, 2011

Marysville, Montana


Marysville is located about 25 miles northwest of the State Capitol of Helena.  At one time its mines, including the famous Drumlummon, were some of the richest producers in the country, yielding gold, silver, copper and lead.  The town is located on the side of a mountain with the mine below and a ski hill above, there are still several residents living there, and the Drumlummon Mine is still in operation under the stewardship of Canadian company RX Exploration, Inc.  In July of 2010 it was announced that a rich vein of gold and silver had been discovered at the Drumlummon, so Marysville may find itself in for another boom period.  But as of now, plenty of this almost ghost is available for visitation.



 There are several buildings in various states of wonderful disrepair clinging to the side of the mountain.  I wasn't in the best shape for hiking when Moira and I visited, but I'm hoping to get another bash at it sometime this coming summer!


There are a wealth of old vehicles.


Some of the architecture is really lovely.  The roofline on this house, despite the sliding shingles and the holes in the roof, still has an aesthetic beauty.

I didn't take any photos of the Drumlummon while Moira and I were there as we didn't have a great deal of time, but it appeared to be an active place, readily seen from the road.  The town itself I'm sure we didn't see a third of, as we stayed on the road and didn't explore much.  We're hoping to be back soon, though, and with me in much better condition, I should get better images to post.  In the meantime, here are a few more links on the town to whet your appetites!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

February 21 Trip To Beaver Creek And Beyond!

Yesterday I posted about the kids, the dog and I going up to Beaver Creek State Park, but devoted it to the dog...today I'll deal with the rest of the trip!


We actually spent the majority of our trip south of the Park proper...but we found this magnificent slope of untracked powder to play in!  The wind was blowing, but it didn't seem to have the bite it has in the recent past, so we were pretty comfortable.  My main goal was to set up a couple of footprint shots with the kids, but as I walked up I must have gotten off the road and ended up in a huge drift!  So I got very few of the shots I really wanted before the kids and the dog tracked the hillside up!


Since I don't own a pair of snowpants myself, I'd worn a big old pair of sweats, my boots, and long socks.  All of these became soaked in the drift as I struggled in snow up to my thighs!  Below the two inches of fresh powder there was a tough crust that I had to break through...it took a lot of energy just to get back to the road!  When I stopped to rest I took a couple more pictures of the kids.


Liam was my hero, helping break a trail for me out of the drift.  What a guy!


The sun glaring off all of that snow made it hard for anyone to pose without squinting...especially when Mom's mobility was limited by snow drifts!


The boys brought their Nerf guns...but no ammo, so at least we didn't have to hunt through the snow for little, orange, squishy bullets!


It seems like these frowny-faced pictures happen more and more with Liam, though this time it was definitely due to the glare off of the snow.  I think he's reaching the age where he's trying to be tough and serious!


The smiles do come, though!


Its pretty funny when the kids start to critique shots as I take them.  When I was pointing the camera at Jackson here Liam pointed out "You can't see his eyes, Mom!"  He was right, of course!


Moira seems to know exactly how to pose...but she's grown up with it!  I wonder if her being a girl has anything to do with it, or is it just that she's the youngest in the family and a natural attention seeker?


 I love finding these little gems out in the middle of nowhere!  We've been up to Beaver Creek State Park before, but never went far beyond it.  This old cabin was a few miles beyond the little reservoir between the Park and the ski hill.  It was a perfect day to take its portrait!
 
 
 And placing the cabin inside its environment, with the sun shining off that bare knob in the background perfectly framed by trees....Wow!  It was a wonderful day!
 

Back inside the Park we stopped at one of the many campgrounds and had another run.  The creek runs through here and the spot really was lovely! 

Our family is not from the 'flat land' here in the central and eastern portion of Montana, so its been difficult to equate the Bear's Paw Mountains with the Rockies we're so much more used to.  But being in those mountains with the snow deep and brilliant around us, the creek flowing down through the coulees, and the sun shining down around us made for an incredible afternoon, and reminded me how blessed we've been to live in this area of the state!

Beaver Creek State Park 





Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Doggon Fun!

The kids and I took our one year old dog Lucy up to the Bears Paw Mountains here in north central Montana for an afternoon playing in the fresh snow we got over the weekend.  Now I took a lot of pictures, and they'll be added in a separate blog post, but when I processed the shots of Lucy I just had to giggle!


For those of you who don't know her, this is what Lucy looked like shortly after we got her.  Cute little puffball, wasn't she?  We had no idea what she was, what her parentage was, or what she would grow into.  She had that plushy, ticked coat, folded ears, and black spots on her tongue.  She really could be any mix you could imagine.


This is the portrait shot I did of Lucy today!  What a change!  You can kind of see that puffball puppy hiding in there somewhere, but she has really grown up into something beautiful!


She definitely does have her goofy side, though, and she loves plowing through the untracked powder just as fast as she can!  Look at those hind legs waaaayyy out in front of her front ones!  Snow flying, tail flying...



...and she just keeps going!  She's either inside the house or in the back yard at home, so all of this freedom...well we'll just say she knows exactly what to do with it!


 The endless exploring!  She doesn't ever venture too far, but it takes a lot of persuasion to get her to focus on us and what we want her to do...

Because she always finds something new and interesting and lasers right in on it...


But it really is great to watch her go!  I wish we could do this more often!


 I finally got her attention here, though she doesn't look like she really wants to be diverted...


But she always has an enthusiastic smile for her people, even when its time to go home!

  
I think we all had a great time together!  I didn't get any of the shots I really wanted (another subject for another post!), but I am pleasantly sore and have a whole new dedication to my own fitness!  After all, if I'm going to keep Lucy trekking, I have to be able to keep up!

 

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Galata, Montana

Galata is a little farming community on the Montana Hi-Line that one could consider to be a "Class D" ghost town according to Ghost Town USA, CT classification criteria. Most of the buildings are abandoned and slowly moldering.



Main street has some really great buildings that are for the most part still standing, but are definitely sagging a bit and that High Plains winter surely blows through the cracks in the walls!  The road is good, though, and the people in the area are friendly!



Galata is easily seen from the highway, but by the time we realized that it was the beautiful piece of history it is, we had passed it numerous times without giving it a second glance.  It was just one more small farming town on the Hi-Line.  The evening we actually made the turn onto the road and saw it for what it was, there was a gorgeous sunset brewing.  It was a fitting introduction, 
I think.


Most of the houses in town are in various degrees of disrepair, but like this one, still look relatively sturdy and are extremely photogenic.


Behind the main street is a large lot full of old wagons, farm equipment, and various other old relics.  This wagon is just one of the many interesting pieces of history the town has to offer!


The last time the kids and I were through Galata it was terribly cold, the wind had blown everything away but the ice, and the town definitely had a very different character than it did on any other time we'd visited.  But the charm was definitely still there, and thinking of the pioneers who built this place at the turn of the century, with minimal amenities and very basic equipment, facing this same sort of weather, really makes it all the more intriguing and well worth making that turn off the highway!
 

Friday, February 18, 2011

Bannack, Montana's First Territorial Capital


Bannack was the First Territorial Capital of Montana.  It is situated on a very rich gold strike on Grasshopper Creek in the southwestern corner of the state, and is our best preserved Ghost.  Much of the town has been restored and it's history is very well documented.


Though the town has been restored to a large degree, much of it is just being preserved in its natural state.  The sage has gotten a foothold again over much of the townsite, and the textures and colors are really incredible.  Bannack definitely screams "Old West"!


When you get out of your car in the parking lot, this building is the first one you see.  The green lawn is a dead giveaway that this town isn't simply mouldering!
 

 


I visited Bannack with my parents in the early nineties and the above truck was parked on the main street.  I took a picture of it and when I went back to my ship I actually drew it in colored pencil.  I think my mother has it stashed away somewhere!  Its great to see that the old girl is still running and still serving her community!  This one, on the other hand is definitely at rest!
 


The cabins the miners lived in climb up the sides of the hill primarily on the north side of the creek...the same side of the creek most of the town itself was built on. 


This is the Masonic Temple/School.  The school is on the ground floor and the Temple is above.  At the time we were there the Temple was not open, but I'm hoping that on our next trip we'll be able to see more!


The kids loved trying out everything.  Jackson had yet to go to kindergarten but was in preschool at the time, and Moira wasn't even two, but they both fell right into 'playing school' as though it were old hat!

As fun as it was inside the school, the still functional playground was even better according to the boys! Yes, that merry-go-round is original!
 

The Hotel Meade is beautifully preserved, just enough for the visitor to get an idea of how it must have looked in its heyday without taking away from the historic ambiance its preserved state of decay gives it.


The details around the front door of the hotel hint at the kind of workmanship that was available, even on the frontier.  The people who settled in this new territory were proud of their town's status, and as the gold came out of the creek and the surrounding hillsides, some of it was spent making Bannack look the part of the Territorial Capital.


Moira sitting on the front stoop of the Hotel Meade.


And looking over the porch railing.


The Hotel has a really wonderful staircase in the foyer, and its in excellent condition.  Again, the workmanship is really amazing!


The boys looking out the window in the stairwell.  It makes one wonder whether the deep well held a plant, or a manequin, or nothing at all!


All three kids on the stairs.


Our Moira looked particularly lovely on those stairs!


This is the upstairs hallway at the Meade. 


I was struck by the light in this corner of the dining room in the Meade.  The sharp contrasts and the colors of the wall and trim were very interesting.  This was in early spring, so it was a harsh light.


Detail of the railing on the stairway.


The view down the stairs...complete with Liam!

This is the view from the Grasshopper Creek side of town.  You can see where the restoration of the Masonic Temple/Schoolhouse took place along the eastern side of the building.  The sage grows very high here!


One of the cabins along the draw north toward the gallows.  The gallows you see at the site today aren't the famous gallows that saw the end of Henry Plumber and members of his gang, but his grave is said to be nearby!


The kids did really well hiking around despite their ages.  When we arrived in Bannack we had a baby stroller for Moira...it had been used for both of the boys before her and it just wasn't able to take the rough terrain!  Before we'd gone half the length of Bannack's main street the part that held the stroller in its open position snapped and it became useless.  Moira toured the rest of Bannack, and Yellowstone Park over the next four days, on her own two feet.  We got a lot of compliments on her stamina and good nature!  Here Jackson takes a little rest against one of the doors on Bannack's main street.


This will always be one of my favorite pictures of Jackson.  He was looking at a spider on its web in the window in front of him.  The staircase he's on is narrow, but whoever built the house made it a centerpiece with a delightful curve in it and that fabulous window to let in the early spring light.


 Here the boys are leaning against another store front doorway. 


 The Roe-Graves House was undergoing restoration when we were there so we didn't get a look inside, but I remember going in when my parents and I visited in the early 90s.  It'll be interesting to see what's been done when we get back down to see it again.


Once you get to this point the buildings are in much better shape and are used for administration/maintenance.  It still has a great ghost town ambiance, though!


This stove is in one of the upstairs rooms of the Hotel Meade.  It probably warmed many a hand, backside, and pot of coffee in its day!


We would love to get back to Bannack this year, but we're not sure that'll happen due to other commitments.  Unlike some of the other ghosts I've seen over the last few years here in Montana, Bannack will be there the next time we do go.  And next time I'll know better how to photographically document it and the blog entry will be a lot more informative!  However, there are a couple of very helpful websites you can go to if you're interested in a more comprehensive history of the area.

This is the State Park Website:
and this is a very good website put together by Legends of America: