EXPERIENCE MONTANA’s MOST REMARKABLE TOWNS From culturally rich cities to Old West ghost towns PLAY WITH THE PUPS Outdoor adventures your kids will never forget 2015 TRAVEL PLANNER southwestmt.com I 800-879-1159 2 Missouri River (Jason Savage) Virginia City (Chuck Haney) SOUTHWESTMT.COM Powwow (Lisa Wareham) SOUTHWEST MONTANAWhen you think of Montana, do you picture skyscraping ranges of snowcapped rock? A cowboy tipping his hat to greet you as he passes by on a boardwalk? Herds of elk under a sky so wide it seems to swallow you up? Then you’re picturing Southwest Montana. Hemmed by the snow-crowned peaks of Glacier National Park to the north and the geological marvels of Yellowstone National Park to the south, this vast region holds the best of what Montana is about. Here you’ll find a treasure trove of friendly, lively communities and intriguing 19th- century ghost towns. You’ll meet a diverse mix of friendly people and have opportunities to glimpse the same wildlife Lewis and Clark encountered more than two centuries ago. When you’re done exploring for the day, you’ll find gems of places to rest your head — from campsites along crystal streams to lavish Western resorts. Rexford Yaak Eureka Westby GLACIER Whitetail Babb Sweetgrass Four Flaxville Welcome to Southwest Montana. NATIONAL Opheim Buttes Fortine Polebridge Sunburst Turner Trego St. Mary PARK Loring Whitewater Peerless Scobey Plentywood Lake Cut Bank Troy Apgar McDonald We’re glad to have you. Browning Chinook Medicine Lake Libby West Glacier Columbia Shelby Falls Coram Rudyard Martin City Chester Froid Whitefish East Glacier Galata Havre Fort Hinsdale Saint Hungry Saco Lustre Horse Park Valier Box Belknap Marie Elder Dodson Vandalia Kalispell Essex Agency Heart Butte Malta Culbertson Kila Dupuyer Wolf Poplar Marion Bigfork Flathead River Glasgow Nashua Heron Big Sandy Point Somers Conrad Bainville Noxon Lakeside Rollins Bynum Brady Proctor Swan Lake Fort Fairview Trout Dayton Virgelle Peck Creek Elmo Fort Benton Loma Thompson Big Arm Choteau Landusky Zortman Sidney Falls Hot Springs Polson Lambert CONTENTS Crane Condon Fairfield Great Haugan Ronan Vaughn Falls Plains Savage De Borgia Charlo Augusta Winifred Bloomfield St. Regis Paradise HISTORY .............................. 4 Moiese Fort Shaw Brusett Circle Belt Dixon St. Ignatius Ulm Roy Stockett Raynesford Denton Jordan Brockway Superior Cascade Ghost Towns ...................... 6 Geyser Arlee Seeley 253 Lake Museums ............................ 8 OUTDOOR RECREATION ... 34 Stanford Glendive Craig Monarch Lewistown Alberton Sand Springs Wibaux Missoula Lincoln Hobson Winnett Cohagen Ovando Wolf Creek 253 Native Sites ....................... 12 Hiking ............................... 36 Greenough Neihart Grass Mosby Bonner Utica Range Lolo Helmville Terry Clinton Canyon Creek Fallon Heritage Sites ................... 13 Biking ............................... 37 Marysville East Florence Drummond Helena Judith Gap Historical Tours ................. 15 Fishing .............................. 38 Helena Melstone Ingomar PINTLER White Sulphur Ismay Victor Stevensville SCENIC Elliston Montana Plevna ROUTE Garrison Springs Two Clancy City Winston History Directory & Map .... 16 Dude Ranching ................. 39 Dot Harlowton Miles City Deer Roundup Baker Corvallis Philipsburg Jefferson Martinsdale Lodge Basin City Hysham Forsyth SOFT ADVENTURE ............ 18 Winter Sports.................... 40 Hamilton Townsend Ringling Rosebud Georgetown Lake Boulder Bighorn Scenic Beauty ................... 20 Outdoor Recreation Darby Anaconda 569 Custer Conner Butte Worden Ekalaka Directory & Map ................ 42 Wise Wilsall Birding ............................. 22 Logan Big Colstrip Sula River Manhattan Pompeys Timber Pillar Dewey Three Belgrade Clyde Park Wildlife .............................. 23 ARTS & CULTURE .............. 44 Whitehall Forks Greycliff Divide Silver Livingston Reed Point Laurel Lame Star Harrison Billings Wisdom Columbus Hardin Crow Deer Performing Arts ................. 47 Melrose Pony Ashland Olive Rockhounding .................. 25 Twin Gallatin McLeod WARRIOR Agency PIONEER TRAIL Bridges Gateway Bozeman Park H 278 MTNS Sheridan Norris Absarokee Busby IG City HW Broadus Art .................................... 48 SCENIC Fishtail Rockvale Saint Xavier Garryowen AY BYWAY Hot Springs ....................... 28 Jackson Nevada Joliet Polaris City Ennis Pray Nye Roberts Pryor Lodge Fort Smith Grass Birney Alder Emigrant Roscoe Bridger Radon Mines .................... 29 Architecture ...................... 50 278 Virginia Big Sky Bannack Dillon City Red Lodge Otter Biddle Alzada Arts & Culture Directory ..... 51 Cameron Wyola Golf................................... 31 Cooke Belfry Grant Gardiner Silver Decker BREWERIES 324 Gate City Soft Adventure 324 Tower Junction Quake Mammoth Lake Hot Springs BEARTOOTH Directory & Map ................ 32 & DISTILLERIES ................. 52 YELLOWSTONE ALLAMERICAN ROAD Dell Canyon Norris Lima NATIONAL Madison COMMUNITIES .................. 54 Monida Lakeview PARK West Junction Yellowstone Lake EVENTS ............................. 72 West Thumb Old Faithful Grant ACCOMMODATIONS ......... 74 Village RECREATIONAL GUIDES ... 76 STATE PARKS .................... 77 COVER PHOTO BY JSOUTHWESTMT.COMASON SavaGE 3 4 Virginia City (Chuck Haney) Butte (Lisa Wareham) SOUTHWESTMT.COM Bannack (Jason Savage) Helena (Jason Savage) Nevada City (Chuck Haney) History: WALK AMONG THE ECHOES Three major gold strikes spawned the influx of settlers to Southwest Montana in the 1860s, followed by a silver boom and then the discovery of copper in the 1880s. But as the ore ran out or prices fell, most of those early settlements became ghostly shells of their glory days. Today, Southwest Montana is beloved for different treasures. Well-preserved ghost towns offer precious windows into 19th-century life. Last Chance Gulch would be the only gold strike to evolve into a viable town — Montana’s capital city, Helena. Butte’s sprawling historic district also lives on, giving vivid testimony to the wealth of the Copper Kings and the diverse cultures that converged in this mountain town. To come here is to walk among the echoes of pickaxes on stone, of traditional native drumming, of the clatter of spurs. Listen closely and you will hear a history that’s as epic as the scenery. See directory and map on pages 16 and 17 for historical sites. SOUTHWESTMT.COM 5 Nevada City (Renny Torgerson) Ghost Towns: FRONTIER LIFE, FROZEN IN TIME It wasn’t always easy to love this place. In the was founded that fall and became the first territorial hardscrabble early days of settlement in Montana capital of what would become Montana. Infamous when the gold ran out, the people often did too. Sheriff Henry Plummer and his gang of outlaws once See for yourself with a visit to a few of Southwest called the town home. Montana’s well-preserved ghost towns. Bannack, Virginia City, Nevada City, Garnet and Elkhorn all Today, many buildings from those early days of feature excellent self-guided or guided tours that will settlement still stand in Bannack State Park. The have you hearing the ghosts of the past. Visitor Center is open from May through October, and the park offers tours, living history presentations, A logical place to start your ghost town tour is gold panning and Saturday programs — as well BANNACK, located 25 miles southwest of Dillon off as Bannack Days, a celebration of pioneer life that Highway 278. The discovery of gold on Grasshopper takes place on the third weekend in July. Bannack Creek in 1862 triggered the first major gold rush to is also a popular spot in winter, with open-air ice this once-remote region of the country. Bannack skating on the old dredge pond. 6 SOUTHWESTMT.COM HISTORY In May of 1863, gold was discovered in Alder Creek by six prospectors returning to Bannack. Word quickly HIDDEN GEMS spread, and the towns of VIRGINIA CITY and NEVADA On the back roads of Southwest Montana CITY sprang up virtually overnight, swelling to 10,000 residents within just three months. Over the next quarter you’ll find plenty of other towns from a bygone century, at least $90 million in gold was extracted era — some of them all but forgotten, some there, making it the richest placer gold strike in history. still inhabited by folks who are happy to show Located 60 miles northeast of Bannack, the towns now you around their ghostly neighborhoods. You feature America’s finest collection of 1860s “boom might need a four-wheel-drive vehicle to get to town” buildings, more than any other town in the West, some of them, but that’s half of what makes the along with Old West artifacts. adventure enjoyable. The THOMPSON-HICKMAN MUSEUM in Virginia City features Civil War-era guns and a 100-year-old birthday For a full list of ghost towns, directions and cake. Five lonely grave markers on Boot Hill tell the additional information, visit southwestmt.com. story of road agents who were hanged in 1864, at Hangman’s Building. During the summer months, living For a directory and map of these ghost town history interpreters bring the past to life among Nevada locations, that correspond by number, please City’s collection of 100 buildings from the 19th and early see pages 16 and 17. 20th century relocated from across the state, and the Alder Gulch Shortline Railroad runs 1.5 miles along the dredge tailings between the two towns. Gold was discovered in 1898 at what became the Nancy Hanks Mine west of Drummond, and the town of GARNET was