…and Historians Trace the History along the Trail.

When the Milwaukee Road abandoned its route over the Bitterroot Mountains, salvage companies stripped the line of all the rails, ties, signals, posts and everything else of value. The small fragments left behind are the remains of one of America’s proudest railroads.

From 1907 to 1911 thousands of people lived, worked and played in this secluded part of the Bitterroot Mountains. They constructed a railroad while leaving faint signs of their own passing.

Today, you may see archaeologists digging and sifting along the Route of the Hiawatha looking for clues about people and places not found in written documents.

Historical research and archaeological field work helps breathe lire into the history of the Milwaukee Road years.

Artifacts tell a story if they are found in the context in which were used. It is illegal to remove or destroy artifacts from the Route of the Hiawatha Trail. This preserves the history of the Milwaukee Road for everyone to enjoy.

Creation of the National Forest Service in 1905 brought Elers Koch, one of the nation's first professional foresters, to inspect and evaluate the Forest Reserves of Montana and Wyoming. Appointed Forest Supervisor of the Bitterroot and Lolo National Forests in 1907, Koch happened upon the abandoned homestead of a German settler named Savennach. He thought it a perfect spot to establish a tree nursery. Work began in 1908 and just as the first pine seedlings were ready for transplant in 1910, fire swept through the region scorching 3 million acres of timberland. The nursery was destroyed, but the disaster influenced Forest Service policy, making fire prevention and conservation its primary mission. Reforestation of burned and logged areas figured prominently in that goal. Savenac Nursery was ideally situated along two railroad routes and the historic Mullen Road ran right through the property. The nursery was immediately rebuilt. Circa 1912 national road improvements incorporated the new Yellowstone Trail into this segment of the Mullan Road and in 1916, Savenac shipped several million seedlings to the vast Northern Region. The Civilian Conservation

Corps rebuilt and modernized the facility a final time between 1932 and 1948. Savenac became the largest tree nursery in the northwest producing up to twelve million trees annually. The nursery operated until regional reorganization brought closure in 1969. Savenac Nursery, where much of the theory and practice of silviculture was pioneered, reflects the conservation ethic of the Forest Service.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

Travelers along the Mullan Road and prosectors lured by the 1869 discovery of gold on Cedar Creek opened the way for settlement of this area. After the placer gold played out and other mining camps became ghost towns, the town of Superior continued to grow. In 1891 the community organized a school district and elementary classes were held in a small log cabin. By 1892, there were ninety school-age children in the vicinity. Into the 1900s, several rural schools accommodated local children but none offered a high school curriculum. Older students had to leave home to advance beyond the primary grades. Mineral County was organized in 1914 and a year later bonds for the construction of a high school passed. A secondary curriculum was offered for the first time that fall with classes held in the Methodist Church basement; students from all over the county attended. The new high school, constructed by local builder Charles Augustine at a cost of $10,000, was dedicated on January 28, 1916. Additions in 1925 and 1947 eased overcrowding and the school remained in use until June 1995. It is today one of Montana's few examples of Colonial Revival style school architecture. Along with the Mineral County courthouse, this impressive landmark with its three-stage bell tower, flanking dormers and strict classical symmetry has alway drawn visitors to the center of town. Despite its closure, the Superior School maintains a strong visual presence at the heart of the community where, for eighty years, it served the county and its children.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

The Bruck, a custom-designed bus-truck, has a unique place in the history of Whitefish and of the Great Northern Railway, an important residence in the life of the town.

Because the Empire Builder and Westerns Star passenger trains stoped in Whitefish, passengers from Kalispell, 15 miles to the south, had to be transported to and from Whitefish... a trip originally made on a short-line, gas-electric train known as the Galloping Goose. In 1950, after 46 years of operation, the Galloping Goose was abandoned for economic reason.

A GN passenger bus and mail-express trucks provided service between the two towns for a short time. The railroad replaced them with the Bruck, built to Gn specifications by the Kenworth Motor Truck Co. of Seattle. The "tastefully furnished" 39-foot vehicle had room for 21 passengers and their baggage, as well as a spacious freight and baggage compartment in the rear. It boasted a 220-horsepower engine and a 10-speed transmission. The floor was the same height as railroad car, for ease of loading and unloading. Operrating on the highway rather than on the circuitous rail line, the Bruck saved time and money.

The Bruck, painted in GN's familiar orange and green, averaged six round trips daily, starting on July 17, 1951, and covering the route for more than 20 years. Times changed, however, and Amtrak, the federalized passenger service, retired the Bruck in 1972. The vehicle ended up in the railroad's maintenance department.

Its glory days over, the Bruck languished for years in a salvage yard in Great Falls... until a Michigan couple, Larry and Connie Hoffman, happened to notice it there while attending a meeting of the Great Northern Railway Historical Society. Larry, a railroad buff, set out to buy the Bruck, but he died before the purchase could be made.

In 1999, Connie bought the derelict Bruck and donated it to the Stumptown Historical Society, which went to work to restore it. After hundred of hours of volunteer work and an expenditure of about $20,000, the refurbished Bruck, with authentic paint and fittings, is home to stay... a memorial not only to Larry Hoffman, but to the colorful story of the railroad in Whitefish.

Erected by Stumptown Historical Society and Whitefish Community Foundation.

Pioneer newspaperman George M. Houtz was the first owner of this stately Italianate style home, built in 1899. Houtz, who had learned the printing trade in Illinois and founded a newspaper in South Dakota, came to Montana in 1891. He and a partner established a newspaper in nearby Demersville. That town was soon abandoned in favor of the new town of Kalispell, and Houtz moved his paper here. Houtz and his wife, Irene, built their new home in 1899 on the very outskirts of town. Spring Creek ran through the back of the property and the neighborhood was sparsely populated. When stonemason Mike Greig finished laying the foundation of native rock, Houtz’s newspaper, the Flathead Herald-Journal, declared it a “splendid piece of work.” The low-pitched roof, gabled dormer, wide bracketed eaves, and arched window are hallmarks of the elegant Italianate style. Fancy wood shinglework complements the clapboard sheathing. The entry porch is remarkably intact with its Tuscan columns and denticulated cornice. Hardwood floors and much of the original woodwork preserve the home’s interior vintage appeal. During the 1930s, the city diverted Spring

Creek, and the spacious home, like many in Kalispell, was divided into apartments. Once again a single-family residence, this fine turn-of-the- twentieth-century home stands out among its more recent neighbors.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

The 1887 Dawes Act gave Congress the power to survey Indian reservations, assign land (allotments) to individual Indians, and open the remaining land to homesteaders. Although tribal leaders, including Chief Charlo and Sam Resurrection, resisted allotment of the Flathead Reservation, the U.S. government opened the 1.2 million acre reservation to homesteading in 1910. Within a year, the Montana School Board established Big Arm School District #65. For a brief period, white and Indian children attended separate schools, but in the mid-1910s, the community built Big Arm School, which served all area students. The gable-roofed, clapboard-sided school followed best practices for small school design. Near the entry were two cloakrooms. Health professionals believed that “cross-lighting” harmed pupils’ eyes, so builders placed a single band of windows on the north wall to let in light. Two outhouses, a modest distance apart, served boys and girls respectively. At lunch, students would heat jars of soup brought from home on the wood stove before going out to play softball, red rover, or kick-the-can. Increased teachers’ salaries and better roads led to students being transported to Polson and to the school's closure in 1952. However, the building was always more than a school: it continued as a community dance hall, polling place, and club room long after the school district officially abandoned the building. In 2008, the school had been boarded up for almost a decade when the Big Arm Association started restoration work to preserve the building. In 2011, the school once again became the center of the Big Arm community.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

The Flight of the Nez Perce In Search of Peace

In the mid-1870s the United States government attempted to force the Nez Perce (Nee-Mee-Poo or Nimiipu) people of Oregon, Idaho, and Washington onto an Idaho reservation. For those who didn’t move to the reservation, a tragic sequence of events resulted in open warfare. After several fights and two major battles in Idaho at Whitebird Canyon and the Clearwater, five bands reluctantly left their homeland. They followed the Nee-Mee-Poo (or Nimiipu) Trail, one of their traditional routes, over the Bitterroot Mountains.

When they reached this point in late July 1877, many Nez Perce thought they had left hostilities behind them. They anticipated safety in Montana, among a white and Indian population who had always been friendly. It was here, however, that they received their first indication of the relentless pursuit that was to come.

Unknown to the Nez Perce, soldiers in Montana had received orders to assist in cutting off their escape. Soldiers and citizen volunteers set up a system of barricades here to prevent the Nez Perce from passing. Fort Fizzle was not just a tactical obstacle - it was an ominous symbol of the government’s determination to stop the flight of the Nez Perce.

Fort Fizzle A Successful Failure

What occurred here was one event among many in an American tragedy - the flight of the Nez Perce.

In July 1877, scouting parties from the 7th Infantry at Missoula verified rumors that “hostile Nez Perce” were approaching over the Lolo Trail. Ordered to block the passage of the Nez Perce, about 35 soldiers headed up Lolo Creek where, on July 25, Captain Charles Rawn selected the terrace in front of you for his defensive position. His soldiers, joined by citizen volunteers, constructed a breastworks from earth and logs, and dug shallow rifle pits. Over 200 men joined forces to prevent the Nez Perce from passing.

About four miles west of here, at Woodman Flats, parleys were held between the Nez Perce and Rawn’s forces; the Nez Perce were ordered to surrender arms, ammunition, and horses. They refused, promising to pass peacefully.

Many of the citizen volunteers accepted the Nez Perce promise. Sharing fears of destructive retaliation on families and property, they abandoned the “fort” and trickled home. Soon Captain Rawn had insufficient forces to fulfill his orders - orders from an Army still embarrassed by the Little Big Horn disaster of 1876 and now stung by Nez Perce victories in Idaho.

On the morning of July 28, the Nez Perce bypassed the breastworks by climbing up the low ridge to your left and traveling just out of sight behind the ridge in front of you. They descended east of here and entered the Bitterroot Valley. The “fort” had “fizzled.” But it was a successful failure. The battle few participants wanted was avoided. The Nez Perce proceeded south through the Bitterroot Valley, confident that they had a non-aggression pact.

When the confrontation here was over, locals sarcastically named this place "Fort Fizzle" to ridicule a mission that failed.

Regulars & Volunteers

An Uncomfortable Alliance

The events here at Fort Fizzle brought citizen volunteers shoulder to shoulder with Army regulars. It was, however, an uncomfortable alliance. The Army regulars viewed volunteers as a disorganized, undependable mob looking for thrills and booty. The volunteers thought soldiers were illiterate immigrants, drunks and shiftless Easterners unable to hold a job.

Upon hearing of the imminent arrival of the Nez Perce, the Governor issued an emergency call for citizen volunteers. Missoula’s newspaper ran the plea, “HELP! HELP! COME RUNNING!” Scores responded, coming from nearby communities. Leading the volunteers were their “officers,” elected in democratic fashion based on prior military experience and local reputation.

The soldiers were volunteers too, but for five years of service. Some were career soldiers, several were Civil War veterans, and many were immigrants. Most had been laborers or tradesmen prior to enlistment; their ages ranged from 18 to 49. Some of these soldiers were killed or wounded 12 days later at the Battle of the Big Hole.

Although skeptical about the volunteers, Captain Rawn realized that he could not hold his position without them. When the citizen volunteers began leaving after accepting the Nez Perce promise to pass peacefully, Captain Rawn bristled at the militia’s refusal to submit to his authority. Another officer threatened to shoot a volunteer officer to prevent “desertion.” But the volunteers left anyway.

Erected by U.S. Forest Service.

In 1920, the local Rod and Gun Club purchased this acre of land as the site for a community building. Constructed twelve years later, the Swan River Community Hall has served as a locus for valley residents, who gathered here for school functions, card parties, plays, dances, weddings, and funerals. The Grange and Farmers Union met at the facility for years, and roller-skating was an important social activity during the 1950s and 1960s. As one resident recalled, “If we didn’t go to the Hall every week, something was wrong.” Local builder Joe Johnson designed the building, which is made of timber from surrounding state lands and salvaged from abandoned mills. Most of the other building materials were donated, often in lieu of membership fees. Plays and dances also financed the project. The first fundraising play was performed at the school across the road in 1931, and the first dance was an open-air affair held on the Hall’s new birch floor the following summer. The thirty-six-by-sixty-foot structure was completed in 1933. By 1945, an entry hall and two small rooms had been added to the front of the building. The exposed rafter tails, milled trim, lap siding, and shingled gable ends of the addition match those of the original Craftsman design. After a fire burned the rear of the Hall in 1976, the Board considered abandoning it, but an outpouring of support led them to restore the structure. The Hall continues to serve as an important gathering place for this rural Montana community.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

Constructed in 1922 following the 1918 Carsley-Gilbert campus master plan, this women’s residence was intended to be part of two U-shaped clusters of men’s and women’s dormitories. Its identical contemporary counterpart, Elrod Hall, and Corbin Hall were the only three buildings of the two “U”s erected before the plan was abandoned in the 1930s. Renowned Helena architects J. G. Link and C. S. Haire designed the handsome Renaissance Revival style facility with its striking red-brown brick façade and simple cream-colored terra cotta ornamentation. Renamed Brantly Hall, the building functioned as a women’s residence until 1987.

Erected by Montana National Register Sign Program.

Despite Civil War turmoil, progress was bravely pushing Westward, leading into the Gilded Age of substantial growth in population and wealth.

Cantonment Wright and Hell Gate In November 1861, John Mullan established Cantonment Wright just across the Blackfoot River to the east of here. The little camp consisted of six crude log cabins from which he planned the next year's construction program while his men built a bridge across the Blackfoot River. The camp was located near a trading post established by Frank Worden and Christopher Higgins in 1860. Called Hell Gate, it was one of the toughest settlements in the territory. Over its four year history and a permanent population that never exceeded twenty people, nine men met violent ends, including four hanged by vigilantes in 1864. Mullan clearly did not like the area, which he called a "cold and bleak place" and the camp an "abode of not over much comfort." Mullan's men built the bridge during the winter, completing the 235-foot structure in March and then abandoned Cantonment Wright two months later. Described as a "picturesque piece of architecture," the bridge carries wagons and pack trains over the Blackfoot for only a couple of years before high water destroyed it. Mullan's bridge was the first of may bridges that would span the Clark Fork and Blackfoot rivers here.

The Black Bridge 1896 -- Missoula County builds a bridge across the Blackfoot at the site of the old steel bridge just to the north.

1908 -- A devastating flood significantly damages the 1896 bridge. Due to cost, the bridge is repaired just enough to remain open and useable.

1919 -- The Montana State Highway Commission agrees to fund half of the cost of a new bridge. The County raises the money to pay for the other half of the structure.

1921 -- Billings, Montana-based Security Bridge Company begins construction of the new bridge.

1922 -- At a cost of nearly $110,000, the new bridge is completed. It was the most expensive bridge built in Montana up to that time. It carries traffic on U.S. Highway 10 for the next three decades.

1950 -- A new bridge is built downstream after engineers declare the bridge "quite dangerous."

2008 -- Long closed to traffic, Missoula County and the local Save Our Bridge committee successfully raise money to rehabilitate the old bridge and save it from demolition. The bridge's two original spans are combined into one longer span to negate the need for a concrete pier in the Blackfoot River. The rehabilitated Black Bridge is just over 56 feet longer than the original bridge and once again serves as an important crossing of the Blackfoot River.

The Izaak Walton Inn symbolizes the difficulty of keeping the United States’ northernmost transcontinental railroad open during Rocky Mountain winters. Each winter, sixty Great Northern Railway workers were stationed here to clear the rails of snow between Essex and East Glacier. Originally, their days of fighting snow and frequent avalanches ended with a return to abandoned railcars and wall tents, for Essex had only 150 permanent residents and nowhere for the workers to board. After numerous petitions, the Great Northern built this twenty-nine-bedroom structure in 1939, on its standard pattern for a division hotel. Railroad policy called for only a section house at a location other than division point, but the difficult winter maintenance of Marias Pass required changing the rule. The railroad also realized that the hostelry could serve summertime tourists, when fewer railhands needed lodging. Naming it for the renowned English fisherman underlined their intended double use. This Craftsman-style inn has been in continuous use since its construction and, to this day, serves both railroad workers and tourists.

Erected by montana Historical Society.

Once, the Garnet Mountains echoed with the blasts of dynamite, the clatter of hooves on steep, narrow roads, and the shouts of men out to find fortune.

Once, miners swapped stories in the saloons of Beartown, Top O'Deep and Reynolds City — towns that exist only in history and local legend. Once, loggers felled great trees with crosscut saws to supply timber for railroad ties and mine shafts.

Today, follow the Byway to the ghost town of Garnet and continue over the summit to complete a 26-mile journey. You'll take home memories of country that is rich in natural wealth and in stories of hardy individuals who lived and died here.

Why Gold?

Between 75 to 70 million years ago, great thrust faults carried the Sapphire Block eastward from the top of the Idaho batholith (near today's Montana/Idaho border). The Garnet Range forms the northern edge of the Sapphire Block. The key to gold mineralization lies in the granite magma that rose molten from the earth's crust, forming a slippery base for the Block to slide on. When the granite cooled in the fractures of sedimentary rocks, the crystallization process separated both quartz and gold into veins. As the rocks weathered, gold flakes eroded into the streams — and into the pans of prospectors.

A Close Alliance

Timberrrr! The crash of falling trees joined the whistle of stamp mills in the Garnet Range at the turn of the century. The two industries depended on each other. Logging profits came from the sale of timber for mineshaft beams, railroad ties and fuel for the trains that hauled ore from quartz lode mines.

Namesake of the Garnet Range When the granitic magma entered limestone, the two reacted to form a new kind of rock called a “skarn” that consisted mostly of garnet crystals.

1865: Gold strike at Bear Creek; placer mining era.

1883: Completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad.

1895: Founding of Mitchell, soon to be called Garnet.

1896: Completion of Coloma-Garnet Bearmouth Road.

1898: Fairview quartz lode mine opens.

1912: Fire in Garnet; end of hard-rock era.

1937: Establishment of Lubrecht Experimental Forest.

1956: Barite Mine starts up.

Who was Frank Hamilton? No one really knows. Simple grave markers pay a humble tribute to the five miners buried at the Sand Park Cemetery between 1898 and 1914. Little more is known than their names and year of death. Most of the other hard-rock-era miners who had family and means chose to be buried in "consecrated ground" in metropolitan areas like Missoula and Deer Lodge.

You're invited to walk across the road and spend a quiet moment at their graves. We can only surmise that these men died far from family in their quest for gold. They rest close to the source of their dreams of wealth, here in the heart of the Garnet Mountains.

They Hailed From Coloma

The nearby ghost town of Coloma (1895-1908) once hustled with fortune seekers, including some of the miners who rest in this cemetery. They probably bought grub at the company store and took a turn or two in one of Coloma's saloons.

"Frank Hamilton died last Tuesday and was buried in the Coloma Cemetery on Thursday, under the auspices of the Garnet Miners Union. Deceased was about 35 years of age, but nothing is known of his antecedents, further than that. He was born in Colorado, presumably at Canon City."

• Drummond Call, Friday, October 6, 1905

Remnants like this old pair of boots remind us of the hard life these early miners had. Adequate shelter and clothing were luxurious, and accidents, illness and lack of doctors often meant a much shorter lifespan.

Erected by Bureau of Land Management.

Railroad logging was an important facet of the history of Montana's lumber industry. The Big Blackfoot Railroad was one of several logging railroads created to sustain the Anaconda Copper Mining Company's sawmill at Bonner. Built by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific (Milwaukee Road) Railroad between 1911 and 1936, the line was used almost exclusively by the Anaconda Company.

The company acquired 625,000 acres of timber in the Blackfoot River Valley in 1904 to provide lumber and cord wood for its mining and smelting operations in Butte and Anaconda. For twenty-eight years, the company harvested approximately 40 million board feet of lumber annually from its property in the valley - making the Anaconda Company the largest timber producer in Montana.

This section of railroad grade was constructed in 1934. By the early 1940's however, economic depression, war and increasing use of trucks to haul lumber caused a sharp decline in the logging industry in the valley.

Although the Anaconda Company ceased logging operations in the Blackfoot Valley in 1949, the line was not abandoned until 1978. Since the line was never intended to be permanent and was often relocated to take advantage of new timber stands, the track was frequently place directly on the ground without the benefit of ballast or any significant grading. Portions of the old railroad can be seen adjacent to the highway to the south.

Erected by Montana Department of Transportation.

About 350 million years ago, much of Montana was submerged under a shallow sea. Billions of tiny marine creatures thrived in the water and when they died their bodies settled into the muck on the sea bed. After hundreds of millions of years of accumulation and many more millions of years it metamorphosed into the pale gray rocks that are known today as Madison Limestone. The limestone is common throughout Montana, eastern Idaho, northern Wyoming, and in the Dakotas. In Montana, the limestone beds are from 1,000 to 2,000 feet thick in places. Because Madison Limestone resists weathering and erosion much better than most other kinds of rocks, it forms many of the spectacular cliffs and dramatic ridges that make Montana such a scenic place to drive through. A magnificent outcrop of Madison Limestone is visible on the north side of Interstate 90 just a few miles east of this rest area. The limestone pinnacles were exposed when the soil around them eroded away, creating the dramatic canyon along the Clark Fork River. The red streaks visible on the rocks and soil is iron oxide.

About 75 million years ago molten rock intruded the area near the crest of the Garnet Range, seven miles north of this rest area. Northwest-trending faults and rock layers channeled mineral-rich fluids from the intrusion into Cambrian and Precambrian rocks to form three principal gold veins and numerous smaller, gold-bearing zones. Prospectors discovered gold placers at the mouth of Bear Gulch, about a mile northeast of the rest area in 1865; discoveries in other drainages of the Garnet Range soon followed. Although gold-bearing veins were discovered in 1866, the technology was not readily available to work them. By 1896, however, numerous underground mines were producing gold, silver, and copper. In 1898, more than 1,000 people lived in the town of Garnet to support the miners living in the surrounding area.

Geo-Facts:

Where the magma contacted the Madison Limestone, it caused a chemical reaction called a skarn that formed the garnets found in the range.

The Garnet area placer mines produced approximately 60,000 ounces of gold, as did the lode mines. Drilling has revealed gold placer reserves under the current rest area, and resources of several hundred thousand ounces of gold still remain in the Garnet Range.

A mining camp called Beartown was located in a narrow gulch near here. Between 1865 and 1869, miners recovered $30 million in gold and silver from Bear Gulch. As many as 7,000 people lived in camp during its heyday.

Geo-Activity:

What are some organisms you know of today that are similar to marine organisms whose shells and bodies accumulated into what we now know today as Madison Limestone? Remember, these creatures lived when much of Montana was on the floor of a tropical sea.

Erected by Montana Department of Transportation.

The Blackfoot River Corridor

Welcome to the Blackfoot Recreation corridor. The corridor stretches 26 mile along the Blackfoot River from Johnsrud Park to the Russel Gates recreation area. The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the Bureau of Land Management manage the corridor cooperatively. In the upper half of the corridor, much of the Blackfoot River shoreline is privately owned. Agencies work closely with land owners to allow public access along the river.

The Blackfoot River meanders 132 miles from the Continental Divide to its confluence with the Clark Fork River near Missoula. The river valley was greatly altered over 12,000 years ago from the movement of glaciers originating in the mountains of what is now the Bob Marshal Wilderness Complex.

Walk This Way "Cokahlarishkit" or "river of the road to buffalo", as it was known to the Nez Perce, was a trail etched deeply into the earth along the banks of the Blackfoot River. Salish, Nez Perce, and Shoshone Indian families all crossed the Divide in the summer and fall to hunt buffalo on the plains of what is now central Montana. Dried buffalo meat sustained them over the long winter months. Buffalo hides, when sewn together, made tipi covers, clothes and carrying bags. Along the way women gathered camas roots that could be dried and made into flour. Men collected high-quality chert for producing projectile points and butchering tools.

Captain Meriwether Lewis and nine of his men were "much on our guard both day and night" in July of 1806 as they followed the trail along the Blackfoot River on their return trip from the Pacific Ocean. The Nez Perce Indians that led them to the trail would not accompany the explores farther for fear of encountering the "Minnetares" or enemy Indian tribes. This alarmed Captain Lewis, especially after he encountered several abandoned Indian camps and fresh horse tracks.

The explorers were headed for home and didn't take time to enjoy the scenery - the day they traveled through this area they logged 31 miles on horseback.

Fire and the Blackfoot River Valley

A hot wildfire blazed through this area in October of 1991. Remnants of the fire are visible on the surrounding hillside. Changes in vegetation resulting from the fire include an increase in the quality and amount of forage, more soil nutrients, and new plants replacing burned off vegetation. Unfortunately, burned over areas also provide an opportunity for noxious weeds to spread.

Resource managers elected to speed up the recovery process for lost animal habitat in the area. Conifer seedlings were planted to help restore cover sooner and noxious weeds were treated with chemicals and biological organisms. Roads were closed or their use restricted in order to help stop the spread of weeds, to reduce disturbance or deer and elk, and reduce soil erosion.

This restoration project helped bring animal habitat back to a more favorable condition. Organizations that funded restoration efforts include: The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the American Forests, the Bureau of Land Management, and Plum Creek Timber Company.

Forested hills adjacent to the Blackfoot River attract elk, mule deer, and white-tail deer. This habitat provides grass, forbes, and shrubs for food and conifer trees for hiding cover and protection from winter storms. Fire periodically changes habitats and how animals use particular areas. Some fire-related changes benefit elk and deer whereas others force animals to find a new home.

Erected by The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the Bureau of Land Management.

Prominent Missoula architect A. J. Gibson designed and built this two-story commercial building in 1905. The fine design includes a metal modillioned cornice and panels with a full height glass storefront and polished granite skirt below. The Walker Company operated stores in both Philipsburg and nearby Granite, selling dry goods and hardware. The Golden Rule handled similar merchandise at this location in the 1920s, and Philipsburg Hardware carried on the same tradition beginning in 1932.

Granite Mtn. Mine located July 6, 1875 and operated by the Granite Mtn. Company.

A rich silver bonanza shoot was discovered in Nov. 1882. The mine closed in 1893 and reopened again in 1911 and 1912 and operated for a brief time.

Erected by National Forest Service, Deerlodge National Forest.

By 1899, this house stood at the head of Magnolia Avenue, or “Silk Stocking Row,” where the elite of Granite lived. The first floor housed the living quarters for the Superintendent of the Granite Mountain Mining Co. The second floor may have originally housed the mine office, accessed through a door in the back reached by a plank bridgeway from the hillside. No inside connection has ever existed between the two floors.

From 1889 to 1893, Superintendent Thomas Weir lived in this house. A capable manager, Weir did much to improve living and working conditions for the miners. Sweat soaked miners would emerge from the 1,000 ft shaft into winter’s bitter cold, prime candidates for pneumonia. Without antibiotics, the death rate was high. Weir built a “drying house” and a hospital, had bunkhouses cleaned and fumigated, and gave his men one day off a week and good wages--$3.50 a day.

“Silver Queen City”

The Granite Mountain Lode claim was recorded in 1875, and in 1879 a piece of high-grade “ruby” silver was found. With financial backing from St. Louis investors, exploration efforts increased, without a lot of success. In 1882, the investors sent word to stop work—they would put no more money into the mine. One story goes that the pony express messenger was delayed by a blizzard and during this reprieve the big strike was made. The boom was on and before long, three mills were built to handle the flood of ore. In 1889, the Granite Mountain and Bi-Metallic Mines produced $250,000 - $275,000 a month. One mine alone produced 6,000 lbs of silver and 13.3 lbs of gold a week.

In 1892, 3,200 people lived in Granite, with another 2,000 or so at the mills nearby. Repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, which had guaranteed government purchase of silver resulted in the Silver Panic of 1893. Mines and mills closed and 3,000 people left in 24 hours. The mines later reopened but never again held the distinction they once had. The last of Granite’s residents left in the 1930s

Most of the ore that brought tremendous riches and fame to Granite was brought out of the Ruby Shaft, operated by the Granite Mountain Mining Company. Several tunnels outside the Ruby Shaft were also important in producing the silver (and some gold) ore that went to the mills and became ingots. The shaft work began in about 1880 when Mr. McIntyre was contracted to “sink a 50-foot shaft upon the ledge” in return for a one-quarter interest in the mine. The shaft that Mr. McIntyre sank, however, was one foot short. He decided not to finish the task and surrendered his share in the mine. This one-quarter share was eventually worth over $3,000,000 in dividends. In 1885, a new shaft, the Ruby Shaft, was started and was driven to a depth of 1550 feet. Soon several hundred miners were working three eight-hour shifts a day, six days a week.

The headframe of the Ruby Shaft, which has since fallen into the shaft, was contained in a building as shown. Power for the hoist was provided by steam engines that burned wood and coal. In the early years, ore was crushed in Mills A and B which were adjacent to the mine.

In 1888, the Granite

Mountain Mining Company began construction of a large mill called the Rumsey Mill or Mill C in a valley to the east on Fred Burr Creek. The mill was completed in 1889 and was connected to the mining complex by an 8750-foot aerial tramway.