We started our day by heading to the Garnet Ghost Town, a remarkably intact ghost town that is supposedly the best remaining ghost town in Montana. On our way there, we had to dodge a herd of cattle that were apparently quite surprised to see us as they bolted up the hill.
These store fronts show how good a condition the builds are in, in general.
They have kept this whole town as original as possible, only stabilizing the buildings to “freeze” them in time so they don’t collapse. Here’s some furniture left in the hotel that looks like it hasn’t been touched in 100 years. It’s remarkable how the buildings and furniture appeared to rot and then got frozen in time, preserved only to the point of keeping the buildings from falling down.
Overall, it was a very interesting place. Here’s the view from the middle of the town. I’m sure it was much more populated with buildings than this, but there was a fire at some point that destroyed many of the buildings.
Our next adventure for the day took us to Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Park where we got to see one of the very early ranches of the area. Our visit began at the main ranch house here.
We could not take any pictures of the inside of the ranch house, so my description of it will suffice. The ground floor of the house was the portion we saw on the tour, and it was like it was frozen in time in the late 1800’s or early 1900’s. The park ranger giving the tour explained why it was that way, saying that one of the descendants that lived on the farm lived upstairs and kept the downstairs “exactly as grandma kept it,” essentially preserving it as it had always been with the decor and furnishings.
Here’s a view from the rear of the ranch house as we stood on the porch.
As you can see, the view is awesome, and apparently it was also a great location to raise cattle. We visited the blacksmith here that explained to us how the blacksmiths were most valued for making the cattle brands, which are required by law in Montana to be unique and registered with the state.
Although it was a bit rainy here, we really enjoyed the ranch. Afterward, we ate dinner at a surprising hole in the wall Italian restaurant that had some delicious pasta and headed back to the KOA to call it a day.