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June 20
The day started with heavy clouds blanketing the sky & cool temps. Within a few hours we were seeing more & more blue sky & the sun was shining more & more. We had a lazy day today & went to town about 2 to have a look at the cemetery. On a hill overlooking town we found the well-kept cemetery with death dates back to the 1880’s to present. Family plots are common here and we saw several generations at rest together. A lot of the older single graves & some family plots are barren of flowers, but the bouquets of silk flowers seen everywhere were remembering people gone since the 19th century and up to the present. Quite moving. Wandered downtown to a few ‘spend your money’ shops. The candy shop is a must see. It’s now in the low 60’s when we return to the campground. Then, once the sun sets, the cold begins anew. We sleep snuggled down in our warm blankets & the heater going.
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Final resting place. From the 1800’s to present, this well-kept cemetery serves the community well.
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The cement-edged gravel areas are the family plots. The tall memorial stone in the front is to honor a 30 year man who died in the late 1800’s. His wife’s information is on our right side in the pic. She lived far longer than he.
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The children’s memorials always rip at your heart. in 1891, little Spiro lost his life at the age of 10 days. There were several more headstones that we saw with infants or toddlers being named with their tender ages noted.
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June 21
Our temp gauge is reading 33* at 5:30 this morning. The heater is vibrating from working so hard to keep us at 65*. Lots of blue sky with only bits of clouds. We visited the Granite County Museum. What a treat! The main floor has displays of local artifacts, information about the Chinese immigrants who mined here and locations & photos of the ghost mining towns that surround Philipsburg. Very nicely done. The basement of the museum has been turned into a virtual mine. The amazing ‘stage setting’ gives you the feel of being in a mine. When you realize only 930 souls live here, this part of the museum is unbelievable. Volunteer driven, this display ranks up there with the best. If you visit here, don’t miss this museum. We then drive to Georgetown Lake, which is about 20 miles from Philipsburg in the direction of Anaconda. The lake is very large and has residential settlements around it. There are few services here. Like all bodies of water in Montana, the lake is full. A sunny day creates bright sparkles all over the lake. Even though it is not very warm, people are determined to put winter behind them. So, there were a few boats on the water, including a speedboat pulling a skier. Brave, brave skier. The water has to be very cold. We found ourselves on a dirt road that we thought encircled the lake. It does, but not always in view of the lake. It is an access road for residents. Gotta tell ya, would not want to access my home from this very pothole-laden road. It is possible it has had no spring maintenance due to the very late winter, but the cars & trucks traveling this really bad road will have their fenders falling off soon. After a leisurely drive back to camp, we had dinner & played a little Scrabble.
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With the discovery of gold near Dillon in 1862, hundreds of Chinese came to Montana. There were about 1,000 around the state, with dozens working the mines in Philipsburg. By 1870, 1 of every 10 residents of the Montana Territory were Chinese Instead of working the mines, some offered hard-to-find services such as laundries & restaurants. Some even served as servants & cooks for the wealthy. In 1890, over 150 called Philipsburg home. Today, that would mean there should be over 100,000 Chinese in the state, but in reality only 600 call Montana home. I was really curious about this & found that in 1882, the federal government passed a law forbidding the immigration of any Chinese woman & children. The Chinese men working in Montana now had no hope of bringing their wives & children to the U.S. Many found their fortune & went home to China. Others never saw their families again. The Lee family, pictured here, had reunited before the ban & their succeeding generations still live in the U.S. Thanks to the University of Montana’s display in the Granite County Museum for this info.
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This represents some children’s clothing & toys encompassing the time period of 1890-1914. The 1914 piece, seen in the center, had me a bit perplexed. It is a German WWI soldier doll. How’d it get here?
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In the basement of this museum is a very realistic display & faux mine that shows the life & times of the miner in the 1800s. Had to use the flash for this one. This is a life size log cabin of typical size that one miner might own. Some stayed in boardinghouses. It was not uncommon to find that boardinghouses rented out their rooms by mine work shift. So, two to three men could share a bed one at a time-at different shifts.
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Gary studies the posted information about the miners & the mine’s equipment. Very realistic setting.
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A nicely done display of the tools used by women in the home from the 1800’s to 1930’s. In the foreground, two different types of non-mechanized washing tubs. The wooden ironing board with irons that must be heated over the fire. And the pedal-powered sewing machine. So necessary on the frontier, because if you didn’t make it, you wouldn’t have clothing or other finished items. In the background are the ‘innovative’ inventions of the refrigerator & the gas stove that made food storage safer & meal prep easier.
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The beginning of a waterfall. This is coming out of a water-created rock tunnel. The water continues dropping several hundred feet to a small stream far below.
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In the background to your right, you can see how steep and, in some places, how unstable this land is. We are driving to Georgetown Lake, about 20 miles from Philipsburg. Climbing a pass on Hwy. 1, this is where we found the waterfall’s genesis (on your left out of range of the camera).
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Georgetown Lake. A view from one end of this large body of water where there are some docks & some marine services. In the center back of the pic is a solid snow-covered mountain.
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Amongst the homes that surround this lake, a remnant of the past is slowly falling apart. Hwy. 1 is on the other side of the lake.
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Snow-covered mountains in the distance frame the lake. Two hardy fishermen try their luck on this clear, but cold, day.
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6/22
On a nice morning we drove to Deer Lodge, home of Montana’s only state prison. We didn’t see the new one. We went to the old one. It’s grounds & some of the facilities are open for self-guided tours. There are plenty of signs, etc., to let you know just what it was like to be interred here. Beginning in 1871, added onto numerous times (sometimes done with prisoner labor), it lasted until the new one opened in the 1979. The 1896 cell house had a section for 32 youths & a section for 258 men. With no running water or sewer, this must have been an enchanting place. Each cell did have 2 buckets, one for water & the other…..well, I don’t want to think too much about the ‘other’. How’d you like to be the guard outside those cells if the prisoners are upset? That ‘other’ would be a dandy weapon, doncha think? There are some fascinating facts & interesting stories told within these walls. The old prison also houses a great collection of vintage & antique cars, many on loan to the auto museum. There was also the Montana Law Enforcement Museum housed there. I think it’s a work in process, but they had a comprehensive photo wall of those lives lost in the line of duty dating back to the 1800’s. Anyway, well worth the time to drive there. We stopped at an A&W restaurant so Gary could go in & get a root beer float. It was getting very warm in the late afternoon, so that float seemed a great idea. While he was inside, I got to talking to a gal who had just exited. She encouraged her husband to go in to place their order as things were a bit hectic inside. Seems as though management had left several teenage newbys on the job with no supervision. They did not know how to properly operate the various restaurant machinery & were very stressed out. Gary said he felt so sorry for them, as did other patrons, but watching them scurry about had an amusing aspect to it. Grinning broadly, he offered me some of his float & back to the campground we went.
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Downtown Deer Lodge on our way to the prison just down the street.
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Our first view of the prison. I thought I’d been transported to jollly ol’ England.
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Gary has this evil grin on his face. Don’t know if he plans to leave me here or is just thinking about justice-the old west way.
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This building dates back to 1896. See story above. Looks nice enough from the outside. The prison wall, above, is only about 50 ft. away from the front of this building.
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There was a very serious prison riot here in the 50’s. The assistant warden was killed and mayhem ruled for awhile. National Guardsmen had to be called in to help quell the riot. Look carefully at the upper floor, 4-window arch and you can see the damage done by the Nat’l. Guards’ 50 caliber bazooka. Needless to say, justice prevailed.
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Elvis was here, too. Not really, but the prison did have an extensive recreation-entertainment program throughout the 60’s. If you look at the drumhead with its MSP BAND logo on it, you realize that drum will never be played in a public setting.
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This good-sized building, built in 1912, effectively added many cells to the overcrowded prison. There was limited access to this building for us to tour. See below.
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A guard’s post is to the right. It gave him visual access to the 2nd & 3rd tiers of cells. On the first floor guard’s post there are signs indicating how often showers were to be & when fresh clothing would be available for the prisoners.
Below: One of two blocks of cells, 3 tiers high. They crammed a lot of bad guys in this building.
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This cell belonged to a long-term prisoner. His personal belongings are strewn on the bed. I believe the paintings were of him when he first arrived & just before he died.
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One of too many who died in the line of duty while protecting the citizens of Montana. This Helena city police officer was killed by burglars during a burglary in process 1885. The wall of the brave is in the prison at the Montana Law Enforcement Museum.
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The Car Museum at the prison. Way too many great cars to show here. Gary was entranced by the wide variety and time periods represented.
Below: The Burma Shave sign states: Shaving Brushes, you’ll soon see ‘em, on the shelf, in some museum. Burma Shave. I do remember seeing many of these road rhymes when I was a kid.
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Wild weather night in Philipsburg. A sudden gust of strong wind upended our neighbor’s awning. As quick as it came, it left. Then we got the dark, angry clouds swooping in on us as the sun set. None of the sky you see here is blue. Just dark, nasty clouds that eventually let loose on us. Along with a bit of lightening & ear-splitting thunder.
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6/23
Our last full day in Philipsburg finds us doing all the housework chores. We have tickets to attend an ‘opening night’ vaudeville performance at the historic Opera House Theatre. Pretty darn good show for a small low-budget theatre. We laughed & laughed. So did the 100 or so others watching the show. We had a terrific time. We are sorry we won’t be able to see the other 2 productions that this cast will perform alternately until early September. If you’re in the area, it’s worth the price of admission.
If you are a rockhound this area is where you want to be. This is sapphire country & the town has a couple of merchants who let you take a chance on getting your very own sapphire by digging for one (or more) for a fee. Of course, the sapphires are in rock & you have to pay to have a jewel-quality stone made from it. There is also crystal to be dug out of one mine & lots of folks have a great time at that mine, too.
This campground was OK as we were busy looking around & not hanging around the coach. Our water, sewer, electric hookups worked fine & they were all we needed. There really aren’t any campgrounds around Philipsburg that were any different. If you’re looking for other services, a tree, or a bush, or maybe a nice view, this is NOT the place you want to be. It is quiet at night & it’s inexpensive. The Inn at Philipsburg campground is not listed in Trailer Life or Woodall’s.
Unless you are going on a dig for treasure, a week here is a bit too long. Even at our slow pace, four days would have been plenty. We are glad we came.
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Encouraging some audience participation at the vaudeville show, this willing group of attendees is treated to a round of applause as they finish a very funny skit with the help of the actress in pink, who instigated it all.
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Fine performances were given by these two. He is playing the part of a man with a peg leg, one eye, & one hand. He does have two legs & he performed with that peg leg flawlessly. It was a very funny evening!
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A nice fellow attendee took this of us just before the show started. They did serve great popcorn with real butter. The ‘real butter’ was an advertising highlight and almost everyone in the theatre had a bag. They all seemed to be munching happily.
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