| It's a little hard to tell from this photo, but the clouds were very low. It seemed like I could raise my hand and poke a hole in them. They obscured the snow-capped mountains on the horizon. |
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| Back into Montana. |
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| One great thing about the western states is that the speed limit on most of the interstates is 80 m.p.h. It was even 70 m.p.h. on a lot of two-lane highways. |
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 This is the headwaters of the Missouri River at the confluence of the Jefferson and Madison Rivers. I (theoretically) could have put a tiny boat in the water and almost four thousand miles down river it would reach the Gulf of Mexico. |
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| On a slightly bumpy unpaved road up to... |
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| Elkhorn. |
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| The town actually has a population of ten. This is not one of the current homes. |
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| This is an old abandoned automobile. Stay tuned for more. |
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| I guess these were once residences |
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| These are the gems of Elkhorn, Gillian
Hall (left) and Fraternity Hall (right). The small plot of land on
which they stand is actually a state park. As well-preserved as they
are, they are two of Montana's most photographed buildings. Gillian Hall, constructed in the 1880's, was a store or saloon on the bottom floor and a dance hall upstairs. Fraternity Hall, built in 1893, held lodge meetings as well as dances, theatrical shows, graduations, prize fights and other public gatherings. |
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| Elkhorn was a silver mining town. There are still a few miners who work the nearby mines. |
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| Up the hill is the cemetery. It was fenced off, so I did not try to enter. |
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| I drove up to about where this sign is near the cemetery. I wasn't quite sure why it says not to enter. It might be a fairly new sign because of... |
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| This vehicle was parked on the road. One of the wheels is not pointing in the same direction as the other three. Can you tell which one it is? Maybe in a hundred years it will be a rusted hunk of metal like the one I saw earlier. |
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| A shoemaker's shop. |
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| The sign above the door says Elkhorn Trading Post. From the look of the windows, it might still be used as something these days. |
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| I would love to go into some of these mines with a flashlight, but they can be fairly dangerous. |
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| After a long day, I got to Helena. I don't necessarily recommend Jorgenson's. I particularly do not recommend the restaurant attached to it. It was not particularly good. |
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