Mining History

Anaconda, Helena, Butte & Southwest Montana

Anaconda Smoke Stack State Park

View the 585-foot brick smelter stack, among the tallest masonry structures in the world

Dillon, Helena, Butte & Southwest Montana

Bannack State Park

Montana's first territorial capital, a gold-rush ghost town with 50-plus buildings

From $4

Butte, Helena, Butte & Southwest Montana

Berkeley Pit Viewing Stand

Look into a mile-long former copper pit filling with acidic, metal-laden water

Missoula, Missoula & the Bitterroot Valley

Garnet Ghost Town

1890s gold camp in the Garnet Range, 40 miles from Missoula, with winter-only cabins

From $10

Philipsburg, Helena, Butte & Southwest Montana

Granite Ghost Town State Park

Silver-boom ghost town at 7,000 feet, reached by a steep road above Philipsburg

From $4

Virginia City, Helena, Butte & Southwest Montana

Nevada City

Open-air museum of about 100 gold-rush buildings, plus a hall of mechanical music machines

From $8

Butte, Helena, Butte & Southwest Montana

Copper King Mansion

W. A. Clark's 34-room 1888 house, still largely in its original condition

From $10

Butte, Helena, Butte & Southwest Montana

Granite Mountain Memorial Overlook

Hilltop memorial to the 168 men killed in the 1917 Speculator Mine fire

Helena, Helena, Butte & Southwest Montana

Last Chance Gulch

Helena's main street follows the 1864 gold gulch that started the city

Free

Butte, Helena, Butte & Southwest Montana

World Museum of Mining

Underground tours and a rebuilt mining-camp street at Butte's Orphan Girl mine

Virginia City, Helena, Butte & Southwest Montana

Virginia City Historic District

Montana's 1865-75 territorial capital, a gold-rush town of nearly 300 historic buildings

Free