Rise To Demise, Now Preserved Or In Ruin

While staying at Meadowlake Campground, we took some time to explore the local surrounds. Ennis, Montana has great opportunities for outdoor adventure with the Madison River, Ennis Lake, and the historic sites just to the west in the Madison Range Mountains.

We started out the day heading east from the campground to see the Madison Dam, which forms Ennis Lake that we have enjoyed overlooking from the campground, and Bear Trap Canyon where it is located. The water in the lake was so calm this morning that it looked like a mirror.

We crossed the bridge at the end of the lake and started down to the dam. The shear walls of the canyon are quite the contrast to the prairies and fields along most of the Madison River, and those walls get more severe the closer you get to the dam. They say the canyon has a lot of wildlife, and we were able to spot an eagle flying up the canyon and perch on one of the rock ledges for a second. Unfortunately it flew away before I could get focused a picture.

The dam itself is unique. It has several ledges/steps that the water flows over as it leaves the dam. A 13 foot diameter pipe transports the water from behind the dam to the powerhouse, which is 1.4 miles downstream. This pipe was originally constructed of wood staves when the dam was built in 1906, similar to how a barrel is made, but the wood pipe was quickly damaged by landslides and it is now a steel pipe. Below the dam are some Class 4 rapids, that require a guide. We left the canyon and continued around the lake, seeing some great views of the mountains all around us. In one place we saw three osprey in their nest between us and the lake.

After circling the lake, we ventured through Ennis into the mountains to the west, with Virginia City as the first stop. This was a very significant and prosperous town in the late 1800’s and was even the state capital for a short period of time. The richest placer gold mine in the U.S. was discovered here in 1863. In a park just south of Main Street, we found the granite marker for the exact place in the creek where gold was first discovered and it honors the six men who were part of that discovery.

The explosion of people and buildings in town was incredible, quickly reaching 10,000 residents. From all accounts it was a time of lawlessness and crime. It makes me wonder what everyday life was like for the people back then. How the hope of striking it rich made you take chances you might not otherwise take.

Many of those old buildings in town have been preserved, with some of them open with objects from the boom-time on display, while others maintain their old appearance on the front, but are modern stores or restaurants inside. One building even had grass growing on the roof. This town has become more commercial than we like, and having all the modern cars parked on the main street took away from the experience, but was still a good stop to see the old weathered buildings.

We wonder about the men who made the discovery? How did they use their gold? How did their lives change? Were they good or bad people? We know the sad ending of one of them: William Fairweather died penniless of alcoholism at the young age of 39.

In today’s terms, it’s like winning the lottery. What would you do if you won the lottery? Tom says he would buy a large property and invite friends and like-minded people to join us there in a supportive community taking care of one another. I‘d like to use the money to help people we have met along our path and have made our lives better.

Nevada City sits just west of Virginia City. Most of the original town is gone, but they have been gathering old historic buildings from around Montana and moving them here. They are lined up along the streets just like they were always part of this town. There is also an old passenger rail car alongside the main road, rapidly succumbing to the elements. There are a couple of newer rail cars there too, and they seem to be faring much better.

An enterprising Irishman, John Daly, built a small house and stagecoach stop west of Nevada City. It was a festive place and quickly became a gathering spot for the community and provided a vital link in the travel route between the main cities of Virginia City, Bannack, and Salt Lake City. It came to be called Robber’s Roost, because it was thought that the highway robbers used it as a base of operation. Some old to cabins from the surrounding area have been moved to this site to help preserve them.

We ventured up the mountain in Alder Gulch, seeing various ruins from the mining that occurred there. This was the main area of mining. In the area of the town of Summitt, we saw buildings, equipment, and even an old mine entrance that is boarded up. There is what appears to us to be the back end of a concrete mixer truck rusting away on the hillside. It was a narrow rutted path we took to tour the gulch this day Other than the deer grazing in the woods, a couple of sharptailed grouse, and some cattle along the road, we had it to ourselves. There were some nice views once we got near the top. As it was getting late in the afternoon, we turned onto Hungry Hollow Road, saw more buildings in ruins, leading us to a closed gate where we turned around went back down to Virginia City.

Seeing the remnants of the boom and bust of this area makes me stop and wonder about the people that came here back then. How did they live? What was daily life like? Where did they go after here? Why would they just leave their homes to decay? How many made their fortune? Were they always chasing the quick fortune? Was their behavior any different than what we see today?

If you could be transformed back to that place and time, would you do it? I don’t think I would fare well going from this technological life today to a life of that era.

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