SOUTHWEST MONTANA 36 SOUTHWEST MONTANA - VISITMT.COM SOUTHWEST MONTANA www.southwestmt.com · 800.879.1159 Even when you’re not cross-country skiing to ghost towns, checking out the Old Montana Prison or digging for sapphires, you’ll stumble into history everywhere in Southwest Montana. It’s in the ornamental details of Helena’s West Side Mansion District, testament to boom-year prospectors who struck it rich (and in Reeder’s Alley’s one-room shanties, proof of those who didn’t). History is plentiful in Butte’s towering mining structures—homage to the “Richest Hill on Earth”—and in the Native American pictographs along the limestone cliffs at the Gates of the Mountains. Southwest Montana’s ample outdoor options don’t skimp on history, either. Hikers at the Big Hole National Battlefield retrace the action on self-guided trails. In Anaconda, the Old Works Golf Course features antique processing works and black tailings piles discarded as early as 1884. Even quaint mom-and-pop ski hills, complete with home-grilled buffalo burgers and hot springs down the road evoke a bygone era. This region doesn’t stop at offering a window into the past—it invites visitors to try it out. Sampling old-fashioned candies and pasties (a miner’s delicacy), taking in live plays at restored theaters and slumbering in historic hotels, travelers here tend to find themselves in a time gone by. Or has it? Left: Another roadside attraction along the Pintler Veterans’ Memorial Scenic Highway Above: Historical Uptown Butte SOUTHWEST MONTANA AT A GLANCE + Around the end of December, Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park tour guides show off the caves the old- fashioned way—by candlelight. Generally the caverns are closed for the winter. + At the massive candy shop dubbed The Sweet Palace in Philipsburg, look upstairs for a tiny “chapel.” The owner jokes it’s where patrons can pray the calories don’t turn into pounds. + More than a few generations of Butte miners passed through the 43 rooms of the Dumas Brothel (now a museum in Butte), which started serving clients in 1890 and finally closed in 1982 due to tax violations. + At the Old Montana Prison Complex in Deer Lodge (now a self-guided museum), convicts were forced to build their own barracks and grounds in the 1890s. SOUTHWEST MONTANA - VISITMT.COM 37 fall and spring often provide gorgeous Homestake Pass east of Butte on I-90, KNOW BEFORE weather and dramatically fewer tourists. often slow down to make the climb or descent. Sit back and enjoy the scenery. YOU GO Winter here means gathering at Southwest Montana’s less well-known WHAT TO PACK BEST TIME TO VISIT (but no less terrain-packed) ski hills, zooming around on snowmobiles and Comfort is the deciding factor in this Montana’s mild, pretty summers are schussing on cross-country skis (try region, usually dictating plenty of layers a popular time to visit, making for Bannack Ghost Town for a unique ski and comfortable walking or hiking boots. wildflower-strewn hikes, pleasant trip). It also means bikinis—at hot springs In the winter, bring extra layers and a to Cranbrook, BC horseback rides and perfect golfing to Regina, SK to Cardston, AB ranging from historic to rustic to resort-y. weatherproof parka (here, Gore-Tex will to Assiniboia, SK to Lethbridge, AB to Kildeer, SK weather. Historic towns like Virginia City CANADA to Swift Current, SK Rexford Southwest Montana does receive be more readily accepted than Gucci).CANADA Yaak Eureka Westby and PhilipsburgGLACIER are popular summertime ample snow in the winter, but roads and Expect to see (and go ahead and wear) Whitetail Babb Sweetgrass Port of Four Flaxville destinations, NATIONAL so make sure to reserve highways are generallySweetgrass plowed and safe. Opheim Buttes Fortine Polebridge BLACKFEET Sunburst sweatshirts, tennis shoes, ball capsTurner and Trego your accommodationsSt. Mary early. While thereINDIAN Peerless Scobey Plentywood Loring Whitewater ND to Fortuna, PARK RESERVATION jeans even at nice establishments. And might be more patronsLake at museums, Cut Bank when we say jeans, we mean Wranglers, Troy Apgar McDonald HOW TO GET HERE historic sites and popular recreationBrowning spots, Chinook Medicine Lake Libby West Glacier Carhartts or Levis. FORT PECK Columbia K INDIAN RESERVATION “touristy” in Montana is a very relative Shelby AMTRA Falls Coram Both Butte and Helena host regional Rudyard A Martin City Chester Froid MT term, and most visitors find our definition Havre Fort AMTRAK Hinsdale RAK Whitefish Hungry Horse East Glacier airports, and most driversGalata will come to the Saco Saint Park Valier GHOSTBox TOWN ETIQUETTEBelknap Marie Lustre of “crowded” charming. Nonetheless, area via I-90 or I-15. Trucks ascending Elder Dodson Vandalia Kalispell Essex Agency Malta Culbertson Heart Butte FORT BELKNAP Kila Dupuyer As well-preservedROCKY and BOY’S accessible INDIANas Glasgow Nashua Wolf Poplar Marion Bigfork Flathead River AMTRAK Heron Big Sandy INDIAN RESERVATION Point Bainville Somers Southwest Montana’s ghost towns are, to Williston, ND to Sandpoint, ID Conrad Noxon Lakeside RESERVATION FLATHEAD This map is for reference only; see the it’s easy to forget that they are actually Rollins Bynum Brady Proctor VALLEY Swan Lake Official Montana Highway Map for more detail. UPPER MISSOURI Fort Fairview Dayton delicateVirgelle antique structures. On self-guided Trout RIVER BREAKS C. M. RUSSELL Peck Creek Elmo Lomatours, takeNATIONAL care and MONUMENT help preserve these Choteau Fort Benton Zortman NATIONAL WILDLIFE Thompson Big Arm Landusky REFUGE Sidney treasures. Look, but don’t touch, and the NORTH DAKOTA Falls Hot Springs Polson Lambert Crane Condon Fairfield Great towns might be around to impress the Haugan Ronan Vaughn Falls next century’s visitors. Plains Savage De Borgia Charlo Augusta Winifred Bloomfield St. Regis Paradise FLATHEAD INDIAN Moiese RESERVATION Fort Shaw Brusett Circle to Coeur d’Alene, ID to Coeur d’Alene, IDAHO Belt Dixon St. Ignatius Ulm MINES Roy Stockett Raynesford Denton Jordan Brockway Superior Cascade Geyser Arlee Seeley Hikes in this area will sometimes take you 253 Lake rightStanford up to unmarked (and sometimes Glendive Ovando Craig Monarch Lewistown Alberton Sand Springs Wibaux Missoula Lincoln unobstructed)Hobson open mineshafts. While Winnett Cohagen Wolf Creek 253 Greenough Neihart it’s highly unlikely you’d accidentallyGrass fall in Mosby Bonner Range Helmville Utica Lolo Canyon Creek while hiking, don’t let children approach Terry ND to Dickinson, Clinton Fallon Marysville or explore mineshafts. Montana’s mines BITTERROOT East Florence Drummond Helena areJudith long Gap abandoned and go on for miles— to Kooskia, ID VALLEY Helena Melstone Ingomar PINTLER White Sulphur they’re not a safe place to play. Ismay Victor Stevensville SCENIC Elliston Plevna ROUTE Garrison Montana Springs Two Clancy Winston City Dot Harlowton Miles City Deer Roundup Baker Corvallis Philipsburg Jefferson MartinsdaleFOOD Lodge Basin Hysham Forsyth Hamilton City Townsend Ringling ND to Bowman, Georgetown Lake Boulder Health-foodies, your best bets are in Bighorn Rosebud Darby Anaconda Helena and Butte, where health-conscious 569 Custer Conner bakeries, coffee shops and cafes have Butte Worden Ekalaka Wise Wilsall Logan been aroundBig for a while. Elsewhere, dig Colstrip Sula River Manhattan Pompeys Pillar Dewey Three Clyde Parkinto European-styleTimber bakeries, hearty Whitehall Belgrade Greycliff Silver Forks steakhouses and home-style cafes. Divide Livingston Reed Point Laurel Lame SOUTH DAKOTA Star Harrison Billings Wisdom Epicureans with a historicalColumbus leaning Hardin Crow Deer to Melrose Pony A Ashland Olive Twin Gallatin McLeod W RRIOR Salmon, ID Agency PIONEER Bridges Gateway should sample Butte, where pork chop CROW INDIAN TRAIL MTNS Bozeman Park H 278 Sheridan Norris Absarokee City RESERVATION Garryowen Busby IGH SCENIC PARADISEsandwiches are legendary and century-oldRockvale NORTHERN CHEYENNE WAY Broadus BYWAY Fishtail Saint Xavier Jackson Nevada VALLEY cafes (and newcomers) serveJoliet up the city’sPryor INDIAN RESERVATION Polaris City Ennis Pray Nye Roberts Lodge Fort Smith Birney Alder Emigrant signature dishRoscoe and miner lunchpail staple: Grass 278 Bridger Virginia Big Sky Bannack Dillon City the pasty. (Courtesy of Welsh and Cornish Red Lodge Otter Biddle Alzada Cameron miners, this buttery meat- and veggie- BIGHORN CANYON Wyola Cooke Belfry Grant Gardiner Silver NATIONAL REC. AREA Decker 324 packedGate Citypastry is pronounced pass-tee, WYOMING to Belle Fourche, SD 324 Quake Towernot Junction pay-stee.) WYOMING to Gillette, WY Mammoth to Sheridan, WY Lake BEARTOOTH to Cody, WY to Lovell, WY Hot Springs ALLAMERICAN ROAD YELLOWSTONE Dell Canyon Norris Lima NATIONAL Madison Monida Lakeview West Junction PARK Yellowstone Lake West SOUTHWEST MONTANA IDAHO to Idaho Falls, ID Thumb to Rexburg, ID Old Faithful Grant Village 38 SOUTHWEST MONTANA - VISITMT.COM to Grand Teton Natl Park and Jackson, WY Along the Pioneer Mountains Scenic Byway Philipsburg’s colorful Main Street with 32 rooms of exquisite antiques and Playthings, where a collection of Raggedy PLACES TO GO architectural detail, is a must-see stop on Ann and Andy dolls are on display. Deer your uptown tour. The Charles W. Clark Lodge’s 1,500-acre Grant-Kohrs Ranch COMMUNITIES Chateau Mansion features changing National Historic Site illustrates the art exhibits, marvelous collections and development of the Northern Plains cattle ANACONDA sprang up when the giant elegant architecture. The Granite Mountain industry from the 1850s to recent times. Anaconda Copper Mining Company Mine Memorial offers visitors a stunning 406.846.2094 of Butte needed a smelter for its vast panoramic view of Butte and the nearby www.powellcountymontana.com amounts of copper ore. Smelting mountains including Our Lady of the operations were suspended in 1980, Rockies, a 90-foot statue on the East DILLON and its surrounding communities but “The Stack” remains an important Ridge overlooking the city. The Mineral carry on a centuries-old tradition of landmark and state park.