Garnet Montana Ghost Town

 

Garnet, Montana Ghost Town

The year is 1898.  In January, children raced to school down muddy streets.  Teamsters drove their horses down these streets.  Mining hoists clanged, and whistles blew.  Quartz and gold ore could be found in the mines here. About 1,000 people called Garnet home then.  However, by 1905, only 150 remained.  By 1917, Garnet miners had unearthed about $950,000 of gold (which was valued at $17/ounce then).  Although the town limped along for many more years, by 1917, Garnet’s heyday came to an end, although the last resident didn’t leave until the mid-1960s. All that’s left of the town are some buildings, most deserted.  They all tell the story of this town.  They have been maintained and stabilized to remain as close to what they once were as possible.

Before we walked the path down to the town, we saw a very small cemetery at the top of the hill (town was at the bottom).  This cemetery is called Sand Park Cemetery, and five simple graves pay tribute to five miners who died while working the mines in Garnet.  Their names are Willard Ross (d. 1895), Tom Williams (d. 1898), William Hamilton (d. 1905), William Sheehan (d. 1906) and Frank Holmes (d. 1914).  That is all that’s really known about these five souls.  Others who died, who had family or others that cared about them, were buried in “consecrated ground” in Missoula or Deer Lodge.  There were also others buried in this cemetery; however, there is nothing left of those graves.

This cabin can be rented over the winter months, as a hunting base.  Those who might rent it may want to raise a toast to Old and Marion Dahl, the former owners of this cabin.  Prior to Prohibition ending in 1933, they operated this cabin as a “Speakeasy” (aka underground tavern).  The speakeasy was frequented by miners who reopened some of the mines back in the 1930s.  Once the couple could legally have a tavern, they moved into this cabin, and added a front porch, side porch and kitchen.  Marion Dahl lived here through the mid-1960s, and holds a place in history as Garnet’s last full-time resident.

This building was once the Dahl Saloon, and operated from 1938 until the mid-1960s, when Marion Dahl left Garnet.  It had electricity that was produced by the Dahl’s electric light generator.  The site on. which it was built once housed another saloon and restaurant build by Mel Stairs in the late 1890s.  Fire destroyed that original saloon, and the Dahls built a new one. As you can see, it’s now the home to the Garnet Visitors’ Center.

This 2-story building used to be Kelly’s Saloon.  It was constructed before 1898, with Bob Moore as its owner.  Back then, it was called “Bob Moore Saloon”.  In October, 1989, L.P. Kelly bought the saloon from Bob Moore.  Since Kelly had a partner named Thomas Frazer and the saloon became known as “Kelly and Frazer Saloon”.  Over the years, several other ownership changes happened, but Kelly still kept operating it, so it became known as “Kelly’s Saloon”.  It was one of 13 saloons in Garnet during the hey day of Garnet.  Looking at the remains of the town now, it’s hard to imagine there being enough people here (mostly men) to keep 13 saloons busy!

We could walk into Kelly’s Saloon and it was very interesting to see the bar still standing, along with tables where some customers would have sat, what looked to be some sort of radio, and a small stove to keep the saloon warm in the winter months.  I felt like I could almost hear the rowdy fun that went on there back then!

What looks like 2 buildings built right next to each other (reminded me of a duplex type of structure) is only 1 building, the Davey Store.  Frank A. Davey purchased the building in 1901.  The building itself is one of the oldest in Garnet, built before 1898.  Frank Davey operated the store until 1947, when he died.

One could get just about anything one might need from the Davey Store – dry goods, shoes, jewelry, cuts of meat, canned goods, mining tools, hardware items, and apparently even skies!. In the 1910s, it also functioned as the Post Office. 

Further down the block was a rather impressively sized building, standing 2 stories high and quite long!  This building is the old JK Wells Hotel, and was build in late 1897.  Mrs. Wells designed it after one she owned in Bearmouth, Montana, about 10 miles away.  Of course, back in those days, 10 miles was quite the distance away!!  Such events as the Masquerade Ball, Hard Times Ball and St. Patrick’s Day Calico Ball were held in this hotel.  Looking through the windows, we could see some tables and chairs set up for meals, and even got a peek at the kitchen!

Along the main street in town, we also saw the remains of what was the carpenter’s shop, and old mine that was closed off when the mining there was done, and a sample of the lovely flowers we saw blooming along our walk to town, and in certain areas of town.

This cabin was built by Bill Hebner and his son in 1949.  They planned to rebuild a mill in the area and live in this house.  However, they never ended up living in this cabin.  It now serves as the staff office, and when we visited, it was manned by a volunteer, who was camped out not far from the town.

The last 2 buildings that we looked at were a building built as a cabin, but then converted to a livery stable (builder nearer to us) and Hanifen House.  The Hanifen House was built in the early 1900s by Hugh Hanifen, who lived in it until 1926.  It was then the home of Mrs. Cleary, a schoolteacher, until 1926.  The house closer to us was built between 1896 – 1900, by Frank A. Davey (who owned the store mentioned earlier), who purchased it and converted it to a livery stable, where he could house his stagecoach.  If you look closely at the image, you can see a carriage in the stable.

There were more buildings to the town; however, given the sun and heat of the day, after viewing these, we considered ourselves officially “pooped” and headed back up the hill to our Jeep.  Perhaps we’ll visit here again sometime and check out the other buildings in town!

Enjoy!