Garnet Ghost Town

Garnet is a gold-mining town from the 1890s, left standing at about 6,000 feet in the Garnet Range east of Missoula. It is managed by the Bureau of Land Management with the Garnet Preservation Association, and it is often called one of Montana's best-preserved ghost towns. The Garnet Historic District, listed on the National Register in 2010, covers 82 contributing buildings plus structures and sites on 134 acres.

A stamp mill was built at First Chance Gulch in 1895, and a camp first called Mitchell grew around it; it was renamed Garnet in 1897. By 1898 as many as 1,000 people lived here. The gold soon ran thin, and by 1900 the population had fallen to about 300, rising and falling after that with the fortunes of the mines. A fire in 1912 destroyed much of the town. What remains are dozens of historic wooden buildings, among them the Wells Hotel, built by John and Winifred Wells.

The visitor center is typically open daily from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., May through September, weather permitting. By mid-October it has closed for the year. Day use costs $10 per person, and children under 16 are free. You pay by cash or check in a fee envelope, by card or mobile wallet at a remote kiosk, or ahead on Recreation.gov. An America the Beautiful pass covers the holder and up to three more adults.

Winter changes everything. From January through April, Garnet Range Road is closed to wheeled vehicles and becomes the Garnet National Winter Recreation Trail, open to snowmobiles, cross-country skis and snowshoes. The BLM rents cabins in the town from December through April through Recreation.gov, and reservations open on October 1. Camping is not allowed within half a mile of the town.

From Missoula, allow about an hour and twenty minutes each way. The BLM advises using the signed route from MT-200 and avoiding the other roads into Garnet, which it describes as steep, narrow and rough. There are no services at the site, so bring water and food. Plan two hours to walk the town and look into the buildings.