Doin' it in Dillon

It was a 300 mile drive from Twin Falls to Dillon ... I was driving like I was on a mission from God!  Montana was just so close that I felt we needed to make a run for it and with trading off driving responsibilities it gives Gary's back and sciatica the relief he needs ... and I'm getting so much more comfortable behind the wheel.  With long, straight back country traffic-less roads that we can use the cruise control on the miles just seem to fly by.  I was, however, ready to get off the road when we finally arrived at destination, Countryside RV Park.

Here's one of the views from our RV site.



And here's home sweet home (on the right with the Jeep tagging behind)!

 As the sun was setting in the west ...

The moon was rising in the east.  So awesome to capture this on camera!

Dillon, Montana, was founded in the Beaverhead Valley as a railroad town in 1880 by Union Pacific Railroad President, Sydney Dillon.  The location of Dillon was selected by the railroad because of its close location to gold mines in the area.  It sits at an elevation of 5,102 feet and according to the 2010 census has a population of 4,134.  

This is the Beaverhead County Museum.

 Looking down Main Street.

 An old historic hotel.

 Dillon's BIGGEST little store!

 The Old Depot Theatre.

 Some cool old houses that Gary loved.

 

 The University of Montana.

 Once a garage, now Sparky's Garage Restaurant.



 The next day we headed out to Bannock State Park, only about 25 miles from the RV park.  These photos were taken during our drive.  These mountain peaks are located in the Beaverhead National Forest and are over 9,000 feet high.

 

Here's the turn-off to the park.

And here's the park entrance.



Bannack is one of the best preserved ghost towns in America.  Note the word "preserved" and not "restored".  They are simply preserving what's there and not restoring anything so the inside of almost all of the buildings were empty and looking quite shabby. 

Gold was discovered in Grasshopper Creek in July 1862.  By spring 1863 the population in Bannack exceeded 3,000.  The town seemed poised to be a major city with the first Territorial Legislature meeting there in 1864.  Gold flowed freely and some unsavory characters, unwilling to earn an honest living, robbed unsuspecting miners of their hard-earned gold. Vigilante activity in 1864 put a stop to much of the lawlessness.  Bannack's boom and bust history is preserved as a National historic Landmark with over 60 structures still standing.  These next two structures are Turner House and the Assay Office. 

The Assay Office was one of the first and most important buildings in Bannack.  Bannack's gold was unique.  While most gold is 80-95% pure, some of Bannack's gold assayed 99.5%, as pure as refined gold.

 

This next building was the County Courthouse.  In 1891 it was purchased by Dr. Meade and turned into a plush hotel.  The hotel operated off and on until 1940.



Skinner's Saloon.

 Have a drink and get a shave!

Gary and Sadie getting ready for the next deal.  He's such a card shark!

 

I'm going to play a little honky-tonk!

 

Let's belly up to the bar, cowboy!

 

The mining artifacts found here represent all of the major mining phases that went on in the area.

 

In the first few months of the gold discovery miners rushed to the area to stake their claims. They slept in bedrolls, tents, brush wickiups or wagons, not wanting to take time away from mining to build adequate housing. As cooler weather approached they realized they needed something more for the winter months.  Bachelors Row consisted of a dense row of small cabins to the north of and paralleling Main Street.

 

The Methodist Church was built in 1877, 15 years after the founding of the community.  Circuit riders or traveling ministers were the norm for isolated mining communities like Bannack.

 

 Inside the church with Pastor Gary and his assistant, Sadie!

The first two rows had these nice, padded chairs.  These were for the faithful tithers (just making that up!)

 And then the unrepentant non-tithers get the hard seats ... giving them a hard time to repent!

Some flotsam and jetsam from yester-year scattered around town.

 

 

 

For the next couple of pictures I'm going to have a tough time telling you names of some of these buildings because I didn't do a good job of documenting while we were walking Main Street.  So, I'll just post them and leave the rest to your imagination!

 

 

This is to show you the way the logs are joined and is a nice example of the craftsmanship of the early day builders using simple hand tools.  It shows the double dovetail log notching and the wooden peg construction.

This is an underground something ... we're not sure if it was simply a cellar or a residence.  It's your guess!

This is Spokane Mining House that served as the office for one of the last companies to try their luck at hard rock mining in the area and as a residence from time to time.

 

Here's one of the two town jails.  It features a sod covered roof.

 Here are two of the jail's occupants serving a very short sentence!

 

This is the original jail, showing just the window.  It was pretty small especially compared to the other jail.

Ye olde schoolhouse (first floor) and Masonic Lodge (second floor).  Talk about double-duty!

 Antique merry-go-round ... use at your own risk!

 One wall featured a long chalkboard.

 It was quite a large schoolhouse serving K through 8th grades.

Desks featured the requisite pencil slot and ink bottle holder.  Do you remember using a fountain pen?  I do!  First from an ink bottle, then using the ink cartridges.  How's that for a blast from the past?

The next is Dr. Ryburn's house.  It was one of the few houses with antiques left inside so it was locked and we couldn't go inside.  It was also the only house that had curtains in the windows.

 

More unnamed houses.  These were probably some of the houses that were occupied until the town's final demise.  The post office closed in 1938 and the school was closed in the early 1950s.

 Notice the electrical box below the left-side window! 

This is the site of the first governor's mansion.  Love the skulls on the rooftop!

 

Behind the governor's site was a nice creek.

 

 Sadie is sniffing out the tasty delicacy found all over here ... bunny poop!

In addition to bundles of bunnies running rampant, we had a deer sighting.  This deer was very interested in what we were doing and kept his eyes on our movements to ensure he wasn't in any danger.  It wasn't too long before he disappeared into the brush.  We just looked too suspicious!

 

Looking back towards the town from the other side of the bridge.

Some photos from around town that Gary took with his phone camera.

 

Hope you enjoyed pulling back the curtain of time to take a peek at life long ago in an old mining town!  While we thought it was excellent, we were somewhat disappointed because all the buildings were empty unlike Bodie that has very well maintained both building exteriors and interiors.

 

 

Haggai 2:7-9
"I will shake all the nations; and they will come with the wealth of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory," says the LORD of hosts. "The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine," declares the LORD of hosts. "The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former," says the LORD of hosts, "and in this place I will give peace," declares the LORD of hosts.