First was Bannack , Montana's first major gold discovery in 1862, in its heyday
over 50 buildings lined main street.The sheriff ended up being the leader of some
gang called [ The Innocents ] and was hung on the towns own gallows that he
helped build.In the early 50's the state acquired the town and slowly turned into
a state park and helped sav.e the buildings.Leaving town we visited the old
cemetery with some fancy headstones for the time and the earliest marker dating
1816 to 1902.
Our next target was Coolidge, which run us up the pioneer scenic byway
partly paved drive up and over the pioneer mtn's.Coolidge was more of a
silver town and didn't get started until late 1800's, had the last narrow gauge
railroad built to service the town,alot of money was spent on this town and the
Elkhorn mine only to discover a poor grade of ore,and finally the depression &
reduced silver prices the town quickly died..
Things were looking good ,great scenery up past the Maverick ski area, about
6-8 miles from our target[ road closed] we ended up backtracking about 18miles
to a junction , to go back thru Big Valley and into Butte.
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