Southwest Montana living history (relatively) close to West Yellowstone
In the boom days of Western mining, prospectors set out to find gold, and towns sprang up wherever they found it. Tent cities grew into real towns with newspapers, saloons, churches and bawdy houses –and when the gold played out, many were abandoned and are now real ghost towns, left to weather and crumble. Enough buildings have remained in some and enough people hung on, or returned, to become what I think of as semi-ghost towns.
Two such are neighboring Virginia City and Nevada City, not too far, by Montana standards, from the west entrance of Yellowstone National Park, from the fabled fishing burg of Ennis and even from big Bozeman. These two old mining towns set amid mineral-rich hills date from Montana’s biggest gold rush, which occurred even as the Civil War was raging back East. These towns have been restored and appear much as the did in the 1860s through the 1890s and perhaps a bit beyond. Nevada City has 14 historic buildings original to the site plus more than 100 others saved from locations all over Montana.
This wooden grave marker bears witness to the wildness of the Wild West during the Alder Creek gold rush.
Located in southwestern Montana’s Gold West Country, the “twin cities” tell the story of life as it was in the Wild West of Montana in the late 19th century. Still, since this is the 21st century, the story is also told via audiotour on an iTunes channel or downloadable for MP3.
Bill Fairweather and Henry Edgar hit the great Alder Gulch gold strike on the evening of May 26, 1863, and the next year, some 10,000 people lived there. In July of that year, there was another huge gold strike at Last Chance Gulch near Helena, and the population soon plunged to about 5,000. Placer mining and dredging continued there into the 1930s. Today, there are something like 130 year-round residents, but in summer, the towns really come back to life as the Nevada City living history museum, where costumed actors play cards at the local saloon, bake homemade bread and indulge in other diversions and perform other chores at a time before labor-saving devices.
Costumed actors flounce down a Virginia City boardwalk, part of the historic mining town's living history program. (Photo by Donnie Sexton)
The Nevada City Music Hall has the world’s largest public collection of historic music machines such as gaviolis and player pianos from the Ragtime era.
All aboard! A 1910 steam eingine pulls a tourist train the 1 1/2 miles between Nevada City and Virginia City. The driver of a horse-drawn Virginia City Overland Stagecoach tour spins lore about the rough-and-tumble town’s most notorious residents.
The Virginia City Players bring the historic Opera House to life again with a turn-of-the-last-century melodrama followed by a knee-smacking vaudeville act. In the evening, adults can head to the Gilbert Brewery, Montana’s oldest, for the Brewery Follies, an evening of cabaret entertainment. The Star Bakery is known for its pies, and there’s even a place to stay in town. The Fairweather Inn boasts boasts authentic Victorian furnishings and has 14 guest rooms, six with private baths; call 800-829-2969.
