Travels with Twinkles: Dillion to Helena, Montana

July 18 - 20, 2020 - Dillon to Helena, MT:

I am traveling north on route 41 making a stop at a viewpoint for Beaverhead Rock. This was a landmark used by the Indians and fur trappers, upon seeing it Sacajawea recognized it and advised the expedition that they were near the summer camp of her tribe.

Takes some imagination to see the Beaver's Head

I next came to the town of Twin Bridges which is a very nice small town on the Beaverhead River. I’m not sure about the town’s name, I only saw one bridge. It is a very nice town however, any place with a Library, a historical society, a nice cafe, an old bar, a Saturday farmers market and a few good murals is my kind of place.

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

Library

Historical Association

Bar

Cafe

Nice floatable river

Nest stop was the town of Silver Star which had an impressive collection of mine equipment and old farm equipment, all sitting there rotting away behind a fence with many "No Trespassing" signs. I drove down an adjacent public road and was able to get a few photos, many treasures are stashed in this field.

http://www.grannysstore.com/Silver_Star_History.htm

A major mine disaster for sure

After mining everyone started farming

Many old cars and trucks lying around

These giant sheave wheels were across the front of the property

Next was a stop in Whitehall, another very nice town where I end up buying a few small items at a flea market and antique shop. They had several Lewis and Clark murals around town. There was also a interesting cafe that I was tempted to go in for lunch. I relented as if I did that very time I saw an interesting cafe, I would weight about 300 lbs by now.

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

All the essentials in one place

Nice thought of the day

Sacajawea is everywhere around here

I then turned onto route 90 east to the town of Three Forks where the the Jefferson, the Madison and the Gallatin Rivers converge and become the Missouri River which then travels 2,341 miles to the Gulf Of Mexico. There is a great looking lodge in town called the Sacajawea Inn. I lost my will power and went into the pie shop and bought a slice of pie, it was great. There is also an excellent museum in town, but I am momentarily all museumed out (making up that word).

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

The Ruby Theater

The Sacajawea Hotel

I went to the Missouri Headwaters State Park where crowds of people were frolicking in the water at the confluence point. It's a great place for river tubing, and rafting.

I expected it to be more exciting actually

There was once a town there called Gallatin City (1865 - 1880's) which had high hopes of becoming a transportation hub, but it didn't pan out (that's a real mining term for you). The remains of the old hotel is about all that is left.

The Gallatin Hotel remains barely

John Colter was a tough man

I then took route 287, with much (miles and miles) rough road construction, north to Helena, Montana and the local Walmart. I didn’t feel like cooking so I went to the “Last Chance Gulch” area of Helena to the Windbag Saloon. I got lucky with an open seat on the outside patio and the food was great.

Helena’s claim to fame was gold mining, it seems that everything in the west, both good and bad, (mostly bad) came about because of man's insatiable quest for precious minerals and resulting wealth. It’s quite understandable when things are practically free for the taking with little law and order.

In the morning, I’m back to the Last Chance Gulch area for a more serious photo adventure, lots of interesting buildings, stores, bars, murals and signs. I kept wondering; where was this rich gold mine ? Well, it was a placer mine and it was right under my feet in this gulch, back when it was really was a gulch, not a paved city street. This is a walking pedestrian mall for 4-5 blocks, but then continues on with vehicle traffic into an area that is more suiting my nature.

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

The Atlas in a very unique building

The Rialto is a beauty

Another view

Monument to the finders of the gold

Nice mural

Gambling is everywhere in excess in Montana

Nice shop in the gulch

A resurrection of the old fire tower in downtown

There are some great old historic buildings from the late 1800’s. The surrounding residential area has many tree lined streets with beautiful old victorian era houses. The Capital building and other state government offices are all near center city. I visited the Capital which was very impressive, not the best I’ve ever seen, but very nice. This all came about because of the wealth generated by the mining, this city became one of the richest cities in the west with many millionaires, back when a million was something really special.

The Capital

The original governor's Mansion

I then went to the Great Northern complex with its Hotel / Conference Center, restaurants, stores, carousel ride, and children’s activities, movie theater, etc.

The carousel didn’t seem that special to me, but the ice cream stand was superb. After that I found my way to Black River Brewing. Everything in Helena seems to be within about a two mile radius.

Great Northern Carousel building

The Montana Historical Society Museum and Research Center across from the Montana Capital Building is not to be missed. I am there as the doors open and there are two featured exhibits that are excellant.

The first exhibit was the Indian portraits by Joe Scheverle who for some reason is not so well known, but should be, as his portraits are fantastic. His story is equally remarkable, born in 1873 to German parents vacationing in Vienna, Austria. His family then immigrated to the US in 1882, settling in Cincinnati. Unable to speak English in school, his teacher put him in the back of the room where he indulged in drawing and daydreaming of the west. He went to art school, became a commercial artist, moved to Chicago where he produced several movie and circus and “Wild West” posters. He was then hired to travel to Montana to do promotional art for the Great Northern Railway. He actually created the Great western’s iconic Mountain Goat trademark. He started painting Indian portraits and became friends with Charles M Russell and they often painted together.

http://mthistoryrevealed.blogspot.com/2018/12/joe-scheuerle-and-his-remarkable-indian.html

The other featured exhibit was the well known western artist Charles M Russell who was also quite a folksy, western cowboy personality. His western art is internationally known and admired.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Marion_Russell

Charles liked to personalize his letters

There was also a good exhibit on Montana Beer, I learned that Montana is a heavy beer drinking state (no surprise really), and there is man in the town of Polsom, Montana who has a beer museum that sounds like a future destination for me.

Everybody still likes it

Afterwards, I took a historical tour of Helena, on an imitation train for an hour done by a local history teacher. He was excellent, he gave a non-stop talk on everything historic in town, about as much as possible in a one hour time frame. There were several family types with their children, I think they were on it for the train ride only as they didn't seem so interested in the history.

Lastly, quite by accident, I located the original Helena Train Depot built in that still exists and looks pretty good from the outside. It’s mostly forgotten these days but was a very big deal when it opened in. It is still utilized by the Montana Rail link for freight train operations and they have an old Baldwin Steam Locomotive on display out front.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montana_Rail_Link

http://montanaconnectionspark.com/2019/10/13/transportation-history-of-montana-railways/