Some towns seem to have more than one life. Some even have more than two. Garnet has had three, so far. And who knows there will not be a fourth? About Garnet, one could say "gone today but here tomorrow." Garnet came alive the first time in 1862 as a gold mining town. It is recorded that the "Nancy Hanks" mine poured out $10,000,000 in gold. The mine was owned by two partners. After a disagreement, one partner sold his share to the other for $50. He later hanged himself. The mine operated until 1954 when it was closed. There is much to be seen today in Garnet including many of its original buildings. Submitted by Henry Chenoweth.

Trip - PART 6 (7/03) Date: 7/7/01) Tuesday, July 3, 2001, We left Anaconda, MT and continued taking pix of the views, rivers, falls and interesting things we saw along the way. When I thought we were getting back on 90, Ralph/Dad continued straight ahead cause he had seen a sign for a Ghost town named Garnet!!! Along the way to that town we saw a jeep, in someone's yard, all made up to look like a huge steers skull!! They really did a good job! :-) Hwy 90 ran right along side of the road we were traveling on until we had to turn north to get to the Ghost town, which was a single lane BAD gravel road - 10 miles of it!! Notice my delight in recording this info...>:-( Our livers are being shook loose on the 1st mile and people LIVE here!!! If we go any slower we would be stopped and w/ over six miles to go we see a sign "SLOW, CHILDREN AT PLAY" ! Didn't see a living soul the whole way to the town! At the 5 mile marker there is a 10 mile an hour sign! Who dares to go that fast? As you can tell, I can NOT believe this and we are seeing MORE houses. As I read out loud what I have written, the other person in the car tells me that he can detect a bit of sarcasm in what I have written! He is NOT nice! :-)) There is no Electricity up this road! It has taken us well over 30 minutes to get to the 6 mile marker. At about this same time we pass a gate and then a cattle feeding pen! There are mountains on both sides of the road, WHERE would cattle graze? We have not seen a living thing anywhere except vegetation! This goat path we are on now begins SHARP U turns up the side of the mountain. It is straight up on one side and straight down to nowhere on the other side of the road(?). We begin to see COLLAPSED log buildings! I told the other person in the car, that if this is what we came up here to see that he was going to see what was at the bottom of the straight DOWN side of the road!!! >:-( Soon we came upon a REAL parking lot!! and see a little building with a live body in it! I pull my fingernails out of the dashboard, get one foot out of the car onto solid ground then the other one and find that I CAN stand up! While Ralph/Dad is talking to the person and getting a guide pamphlet to the village I take pictures of a flower I have never seen anywhere else before. I later found out it is Bear Grass in bloom. We proceed walking DOWN a steep trail to the Ghost town (Garnet), being attacked and bitten by swarms of horse flies until we reach the bottom and the village. People LIVE there preserving and researching the remaining buildings and artifacts that are still being found in the area. Some of the buildings were burned down in a 1912 fire. One lady lived there her whole life until she died in 1960. One of her descendants lives in her home now. Gold, Copper and lead had been mined here. Some of the property is still owned by the descendants of the original settlers and they will not give it up or sell it to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management which oversees the other properties. These owners do nothing to preserve or maintain the property they have and some want to sell it to developers for RV parks and such like! We talked to a girl working there who had just graduated this past June with a degree in archeology from I.U. in Bloomington, IN! She is the one researching and identifying the artifacts. She Loves it there! I guess it is better than living in the middle of the desert and researching mummies! :-) Their only means of energy there is Propane gas. Ralph/Dad offered to drive down to the Handicapped Parking area, which was right at the edge of the village, to pick me up cause we both knew there was no way that I was going to be able to climb that steep trail back up to the parking lot! I waited around for a while then started to stroll up the road that lead to the parking lot where our car was parked, cause I knew it would take him quite some time to get up the trail. I was almost to the parking lot when he picked me up, cause the road was an easy slope up, unlike the trail! :-) We found that there was another road that we could take out of there, that would take us to hwy 200 and 90 right into Missoula. IT WAS MARVELOUS! A 2 lane very wide gravel road in wonderful condition! There were fantastic views everywhere you looked. There was one place that was steep going down but not any worse than many other places we have traveled on the trip. The minute we got near a town Ralph/Dad said look for a Car wash!! I said "why"? :-)) The car was so covered with dust you couldn't tell what color it was! :-) - Lynne Bissell

J.H. Wells Hotel - 1898 -
was the most impressive building in Garnet
Courtesy Dolores Steele

Window in old Hotel
Courtesy Dolores Steele

Miner's cabin
Courtesy Dolores Steele

Miner's cabin
Courtesy Dolores Steele