MISSOULA - GRANT-KOHRS RANCH - ANACONDA - BUTTE

Another cup of hotel coffee and a pastry for the road. Crossing the river back to Idaho.
U.S. 12 follows along the Clearwater River.
Stopped off at the Pink House Recreation Site for a picture of the river and a pee break. I did not find John Cougar Mellencamp there,
Looking at where I might drive on this trip, I saw the North Passage Scenic Byway on the Visit Idaho website. It follows the route Lewis and Clark took through north central Idaho in 1803.
You know, it took a little while to realize who Lewiston, Idaho and Clarkston, Washington were named after. It was of course Jerry Lewis and Dick Clark.
Always be on the lookout for our four-legged friends.
Not long after getting back into Idaho I am back out again.
Scenery looks the same though.
Made it to Missoula. I had not initially planned to stop anywhere in Missoula, but when I got there I looked for some things. This is at Fotr Missoula. From the sign, it seems that this cabin was originally somewhere else in the area but was dismantled and reassembled at this location.
There was a museum that was free, at least on that day, but I didn't go in. I just walked around outside. This was the Grant Creek Schoolhouse, donated to the museum.
No dark sarcasm in the classroom.
The quartermaster's root cellar. A quartermaster has to keep his roots somewhere.
A carriage house and NCO quarters. Built in 1878, the quarters is one of the oldest fort buildings still standing.
And now we find ourselves on the campus of the University of Montana. It's a fairly compact campus situated between the foot of Mount Sentinel and the Clark Fork River.
The Grand Griz, a bronze statue of the school's grizzly bear mascot. Looking at it now, from the angle of the photo and how the sunlight hits the statue, it is rather hard to make out what it is. It kind of just looks like a blob.
I was desperate for a pee and I saw that there was a door open at the Natural Sciences Building so I went in, walked downstairs and found a restroom.
While I walked from one shady spot to another on the U of M campus, I had to apply sunscreen again here.
There would not be much shade.
It was a cattle ranch established by Johnny Grant, a Canadian fur trader who later traded cattle. Grant sold the ranch to Conrad Kohrs, a German immigrant and cattle baron.
This is the Ranch House, originally built by Grant in 1862 and expanded by Kohrs in 1890.
The old Ice House.
Cowboys and ranch hands ate and slept in Bunkhouse Row.
It does look like a place where someone could film a movie or television row set on a ranch.
The Draft Horse Barn.
Milk from this dairy was sold to the Deer Creek Creamery in the 1930's.
The ranch is located next to the town of Deer Lodge.
Also located in Deer Lodge is the Old Montana Prison. I had already done one prison on the trip, so I skipped this one.
*DUPLICATE PHOTO WARNING* This may be the only duplicate photo from this trip. Not quite from the same angle, this is the Anaconda Smelter Stack. For some reason I thought I could get up to it or at least closer, but no. The best you can do is go to a viewing area in the state park, which is where I was.
Back to Butte. I had been here before, but I had not seen this part of town. This is the Lee Mantle Mansion, circa 1890. Lee Mantle was a territorial legislator, mayor of Butte and a U.S. Senator. When you do all those things, you get a nice house. President Taft spoke in front of the mansion on two occasions. From 1931 until 2010, it was a mortuary. And no, I don't know what the RRR means.
Another mansion, the Clark Mansion. This time it is for a businessman, William Andrews Clark. It is now a B&B.
The Leonard Apartments (1906). In 1910, the Leonard Cafe was advertised as the best place in Butte to dine. You could get a complete dinner for $0.50. That's almost $17.00 these days.
The Silver Bow Club (1907). The club, Butte's first men's social club, was established in 1882 but ceased during the Great Depression. You could picture rich men sitting in big comfy chairs and smoking cigars while talking about whatever rich men talked about at the turn of the 20th century.
Built in 1907 (there was quite a building boom around that time), this was originally for the offices of the Montana Independent Telephone Company, but became home of the Butte Water Company in 1918.
Butte was a big union town. Maybe it still is for all I know. This is the Carpenters' Union Hall (1906).
A considerably more modern building, the Best Western Plus.
Definitely a mining theme. There is also lighting under the bed, which is nice for a middle of the night walk to the toilet.
The Hanging Five Restaurant, where I had a pretty decent tuna melt.

NEXT