The next morning, it was time to leave our gorgeous spot in the Bitterroots and head to Missoula. On the way, we stopped to hike the 3.6-mile Barmeyer Loop. This trail climbs almost 1,000 feet to a rise above Missoula. While not nearly as scenic as the Blodgett Canyon Overlook, it provided a lovely introduction to the next stop on our Montana journey. It also helped us appreciate the immensity of the Montana Valley and Foothill Grasslands ecoregion as the hills in all directions were covered in tall grasses interrupted occasionally by trees, a significant departure from Utah’s scrub oak, aspen, and spruce-dotted slopes.
Afterward, we had just enough time to drive to and through the Bison Range before it closed for the evening. The Bison Range is an 18,766-acre refuge formed over a century ago to protect the American bison, a species then on the verge of extinction. Located in the heart of the Flathead Reservation, the Bison Range is now operated by tribal leadership.
A drivable scenic loop comprised of two roads (Red Sleep Mountain Drive and Prairie Drive) runs through the range with stops along route that include places to undertake short hikes. The entire loop is supposed to take two hours. It took us a little longer as we paused for a half-mile trek on the Bitterroot Trail. However, we were not able to complete the one-mile High Point Trail to the top of Red Sleep Mountain, the highest point in the reserve at 4,885 feet, due to the approach of closing time.
We were told at the visitor center that we would see bear on our drive. We did not. We were also told we would not see elk. We did. Additionally, we encountered white-tailed deer, pronghorns, and of course plains bison.
The next day, after a visit to the Missoula People’s Market and Missoula Farmer’s Market, we headed to Garnet, Montana’s best-preserved ghost town. We were expecting Garnet to be interesting but found it incredible. This settlement, which boomed and busted with the mining industry between 1895 and the 1940s, left behind over 25 buildings, most of which are open to visitors. Kelly’s Saloon, Davey’s Store, the J.K. Wells Hotel, and the Garnet School were some of the more remarkable ones, but there were fascinating facts, artifacts, and structures at every turn.
Unlike other ghost towns, at Garnet the goal of the Bureau of Land Management and Garnet Preservation Association isn’t restoration or replication of buildings but simply maintenance of structural soundness. Wallpaper is allowed to peel and reveal its cloth backing or gluey newspaper underside. Cabinetry is permitted to deteriorate and nails to rust, but buildings are preserved enough to allow guests to continue to enter them and imagine the life they once contained. This gives a sense of the passing of time while keeping the town’s character and stories intact. Stories like the one about the three secret compartments for gold built into the sawdust-floored icehouse.
Even with all the history and architecture we witnessed at Garnet, Jason seemed most enthralled by the outhouses, which remained as prolific in the settlement as they ever were. He found it particularly entertaining that almost all of them had dual holes with no dividers between giving “bathroom buddy” a whole new meaning.
We wandered around Garnet for about three hours before crossing the road to the Sierra Mine Loop Trail. This 1.2-mile path chronicles the area’s extraction history and the processes of gold mining. From mining equipment, dump piles, prospecting pits, log-lined mine shafts, and boom cranes, this route was captivating. The Sierra Mine produced 45 pounds of gold, 100 pounds of silver, and 7,500 pounds of copper between 1872 and 1916 with another brief opening in the 1930s. We humbly roamed this quiet landscape once full of hardy men, growling machinery, hazardous pits, and hopes for wealth. The men may have been gone, but much of their gear, channels, and hopes still lingered.
Before leaving Missoula the following day, we made what we thought would be a relatively quick stop at the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula. Online, visitors said they spent about an hour and a half there. We spent four. How you wonder? I wonder how anyone could not.
The museum’s main building features a permanent exhibit on the history of Missoula and three changing exhibits. We perused just the permanent portion and briefly explored one of the temporary ones, Fire Call! A History of US Forest Service Back Country Communications. All this took an hour and a half. Where did we spend the other 2.5 hours? The museum also operates a 32-acre swath of land strewn with 19 buildings, milling equipment, a steam-powered mill, train cars, and other artifacts relevant to Missoula’s past. These absorbed the rest of our time.
Many of the buildings at Fort Missoula are original to the location like the Quartermaster’s Root Cellar, Quartermaster’s Storehouse, and Noncommissioned Officer’s Quarters. Others were moved there. These include a tipi burner, a L4 lookout tower built in the 1930s by the Forest Service to watch for forest fires, and the St. Michael Church, a wooden structure built in 1863.
Beyond the buildings, two train cars proved noteworthy. One was Willamette Locomotive #7, the oldest surviving Willamette locomotive in the United States. It was featured in the 1954 movie Timber Jack! The other was the “Lumberman’s Library.” This was the only library train car ever created for sawyers. During the early 1900s, it traveled from lumber camp to lumber camp with a live-in librarian. Even with its thousands of books, 25% were typically checked out at any given time and did much to improve sawyer satisfaction.
Some parts of Fort Missoula were a disheartening reminder of the prejudice and paranoia common in America’s past. The fort contains some of the most intact World War II interment structures in the country. It has three original barracks, guard towers, a loyalty hearing courtroom, and a post hospital. Over 2,000 men were confined at the fort during the war under the Department of Justice. Unlike many other WWII camps, most of those interned at Missoula were not American citizens but Japanese men living in the United States denied citizenship because of the Naturalization Act of 1870. This act prohibited all those who weren’t of white or African descent from attaining citizenship. You may be scratching your head in disbelief at this point, but this crazy law was even upheld by the Supreme Court.
During our visit, we learned the Japanese men detained at Fort Missoula had an average age over 60. They were established members of their communities with families, which I guess the government thought made them more of a threat. Not all the inhabitants of the internment camp were Japanese though. A large group of young Italian sailors and entertainers, who happened to be in America when the United States entered the war, were also filed through Fort Missoula.
American history is such a mixed bag. This nation has accomplished marvelous feats of innovation and propagated revolutions of ideology. It has survived numerous identity crises and civil strife. Nonetheless, our land has fallen short under modern scrutiny as our story is stained by colonization, slavery, bigotry, and xenophobia. Yet, there is something powerful in the idea of America. American denotes no ethnicity but simply a faith in democracy and a dream for a better life. I hope and believe, despite the embarrassing and discouraging parts of our past, we as a nation can still overcome. After those somber reflections, we continued to Butte.
For the most part, Missoula wasn’t a destination in of itself, but it was a great base from which to seek nearby adventures. We filled our days with those and then moved on to Butte. Butte was one of the most unusual cities I’ve ever visited. In my next post, I will share why.