Big Timber to Bozeman, Montana

July 23 - 27, 2020 - Big Timber-Livingston-Bozeman, Montana:

I leave Big Timber at noon time and head on I-90 west towards Livingston, soon exiting I-90 for the parallel service road. I stop at an access point on the Yellowstone River to do lunch when a raft loaded with gear beaches to the shore. They obviously had done an overnight float trip and were at their pick up spot. 

   

  

Remains of an old bridge

Original Fort Parker built here in 1869, it was the first Crow Indian Agency

I arrive in Livingston about 2 PM and after a quick pass through town go north on route 89 to explore unseen territory.  This is now my 3rd time in Livingston, but I don’t remember ever taking this particular road north.  it’s all farm country passing through two small towns, Clyde Park and Wilsall.  I didn’t find much interest in Clyde Park, but Wilsall had quite a lot.  First thing that catches my eye is this wonderful large mural on the old Mercantile Store, then the mountain view with the scenic grain elevator in the foreground.  Across the street is the old bank turned into a bar and restaurant.  Next door is an old gas station turned into ?, the sign over the doorway said "former Norwegian Embassy". 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livingston,_Montana

Interesting mural on Mercantile building

The Bank Bar, the vault is still there, used for storage

It was told that this was the original gas station, but sign over doorway says
"The former Norwegian Embassy"

The old grain elevator

As I ride back to Livingston a thunderstorm is blowing in and it soon starts to rain with a little ice mixed in.  Since leaving Tucson there has been only one other brief rain shower in Elko, Nevada. 

Nice rainbow !

I settle in for the night on a quiet Livingston street.

In the morning I hang out for a while in the Livingston’s Sacajawea Park which is a huge impressive park on the Yellowstone River.  Its then downtown to take a few phots in good light, visiting a few shops and the downtown library to work on my overdue blogs.  I am having a tough time completing blogs as they occur, as a consequence I have a hard time connecting photos to the blog well after the fact.  Most of this is due to poor availability of the internet along with library times and services being cut back because of Covid-19.

The Yellowstone River flowing adjacent to Sacajawea Park

Many outstanding buildings remain in Livingston

Livingston was once the rail gateway to Yellowstone National Park

A classic street view

My favorite view of Livingston 

I decide to leave Livingston in the afternoon and move 25 miles away to Bozeman, Montana.  I park on Main Street and walk through the downtown area.  I saw it last year and not much has changed except that everyone is now wearing masks.  Montana merchants in Bozeman are obeying the Montana governors edit strictly.  Every town I come to is dealing with it in varying level of compliance ?  Bozeman has a more vibrant downtown with more trendy shops, the college atmosphere, more tourist traffic, more restaurants, etc, but I still prefer Livingston, it has a much a more authentic western atmosphere.  Also the view looking down Livingston’s Main Street towards the coming distant mountains is unparalleled.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bozeman,_Montana

Bozeman street view

The Rialto Theater and an interesting book store

Fly shops are everywhere

The Gallatin County Courthouse

I love this sculpture, but have no clue what it means

This one I understand

I could easily park downtown for the night, but go to the Walmart for convenance sake.  It is one that allows RV’s with no restrictions and by nighttime the parking lot is full of them.

I decide to take a ride to the historic resurrected ghost towns of Virginia City and Nevada City.  It was an interesting ride along the Madison River and being Saturday everyone was headed there for river rafting, tubing or fishing. I stopped at the small town of Ennis along with everyone else it seemed, lots of shops, restraints, bars, etc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_City,_Montana

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevada_City,_Montana

Beautiful hay covered hills

The Madison River is a beauty

How the girls dress these days, disgusting !

The Ennis Cafe

Ennis is a serious tourist trap

A fly fishing shrine too !

They are only about a mile apart and were both major mining towns of their day.  I was kind of thinking they would be over the top touristy with staged gunfights and such, but not the case, at least on this day.  These two towns both owe their existence to a remarkable man, Charles Bowey a wealthy man who used his family fortune inheritance to buy and save the existing buildings, collect and save old articles to display, buy other buildings to move here to fill holes and resurrect the towns much as they would have originally looked.  The railroad was even restored, although it came after the mining boom period.  He moved railroad depots here, fixed the track, bought old cars and locomotives and a maintenance shop was built. They have an arrangement with the Cumbres and Toltec Railroad in Colorado and have a few old cars from that area.

The State of Montana now owns the two town sites in which many people actually live in and take part in maintaining and support the authenticity of the area.

https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/100/for-the-love-of-history/article_fe081132-baff-11e0-a28c-001cc4c002e0.html

The old Saloon was very authentic

The buildings all remain original, repaired but not restored

The shelves are lines with period articles

Old arcade machines were a big hit, some actually still work

The Saloon is fully functional inside

Guided tours in a old fire truck

I decided to spend the night in Virginia City on the street near a Hotel, looks like overflow parking, that’s one of my secret tricks.  I then moved out at daybreak, stealthily, and parked in a vacant lot on the outskirts of town.  I then spent a few hours exploring Nevada City which has many buildings, many of which were moved to this site to recreate the original Nevada City.

 

The Music Hall is filled with rare old player pianos and similar instruments

Train service came after the peak mining period

They have a nice building and a restored steam engine

Many buildings from other sites were saved and moved here 

Buildings are filled with antique items

A complete shop for making wooden wagon wheels 

Period docents posed for me

After the placer mining ended, dredges were brought in to dig deeper and many more
minerals were found, but the valley was left riddled with holes and waste rock piles 

My dilemma is now connecting with my daughter Jessica and her family who are somewhere near Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  They are heading in my direction on Monday, eventually to Big Sky, Montana so I want to stay in the area.  I therefore head back to Bozeman and get a motel for the night.  I then find that they won’t be at Big Sky until Wednesday AM so I need to hang here in Bozeman doing laundry, working on the blog, shopping and not much of anything productive.

Next stop will be Big Sky, Montana