It wouldn't be October without visiting a ghost town to get us into the spirit of Halloween and I'm sure Granite has more than a few ghosts around. At one time over 3,000 people lived here and a couple thousand more in the surrounding area. Now no one lives here, well, no one alive anyway. A lot of miners died of pneumonia, and strep throat, and then there were all of those poor kids that died in a diphtheria outbreak.
The Granite Ghost Town State Park is about 3 miles from downtown Philipsburg. To get there follow Broadway the main street through town. Turn right onto South Montgomery St. and continue for about a 1/4 mile until the paved road turns to dirt. Follow the dirt road a couple hundred yards to a fork and stay to the right. In less than a 1/4 mile you will see a Granite sign on a metal stake with a red arrow pointing to your left. Follow this dirt road for approximately a 1/2 mile until you see a plywood sign with Granite painted, in red, on it with an arrow pointing to your right. You will come to this "Travel at your own risk" sign continue for about 2 miles to the Granite parking area. If you're intimidated by my directions you can always follow what it says on Montana's Official State Travel Information Site "Inquire at Philipsburg."
From the parking area these GGW signs direct you on the self guided Granite Ghost Walking tour. There's supposed to be maps at the visitor's center, which is a wooden stand, but we were never able to get one. The tour is considered difficult because of the altitude and the air is a little thin at around 7,000 feet.
When we were exploring these old deserted buildings a voice said, "Now wait just a minute!" Even though the voice sounded kind of familiar both Daisy and I almost jumped out of our skin; especially since I knew we were the only ones at Granite that day. When my heart started beating again, and I could breathe again, I reached into my pocket and removed the digital recorder that had gotten accidentally turned on. I shut it off and locked it so it wouldn't startle us again.
The GGW tour will lead you up to where Mills A and B processed the ore from the main Ruby shaft. Walking around you can imagine the loud noise from the stamps crushing the ore and then the silver was extracted using mercury. The Ruby shaft was the richest ever silver mine. During the silver panic of 1893 3,000 people left Granite in 24 hours.
We usually never see anyone at Granite and usually ours is the only car in the parking area. The GGW tour ends here at what's left of the Catholic Church where we met a Canadian couple out actually ghost hunting; I'm not kidding. They were nice enough to take this rare shot of the Double D's together.
I'd plan for a minium of 2 hours for the GGW tour and more if you just like to explore. There are lots of buildings in Granite and it can get a little spooky. Even with our Toyota Tundra I would not want to drive out on that road when it was getting dark and/or starting to rain. I certainly wouldn't pick up any hitchhikers especially if they're dressed in period clothes from the late 1800's.
"Hey, did you hear something!"
Until Next Time,
Doug
It wouldn't be October without visiting a ghost town to get us into the spirit of Halloween and I'm sure Granite has more than a few ghosts around. At one time over 3,000 people lived here and a couple thousand more in the surrounding area. Now no one lives here, well, no one alive anyway. A lot of miners died of pneumonia, and strep throat, and then there were all of those poor kids that died in a diphtheria outbreak.
When we were exploring these old deserted buildings a voice said, "Now wait just a minute!" Even though the voice sounded kind of familiar both Daisy and I almost jumped out of our skin; especially since I knew we were the only ones at Granite that day. When my heart started beating again, and I could breathe again, I reached into my pocket and removed the digital recorder that had gotten accidentally turned on. I shut it off and locked it so it wouldn't startle us again.
I'd plan for a minium of 2 hours for the GGW tour and more if you just like to explore. There are lots of buildings in Granite and it can get a little spooky. Even with our Toyota Tundra I would not want to drive out on that road when it was getting dark and/or starting to rain. I certainly wouldn't pick up any hitchhikers especially if they're dressed in period clothes from the late 1800's.
Until Next Time,
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