GSA 2109 Montana Part I

Our next stop was the Fairmont RV Park in Anaconda, MT. This would be our base for exploring the neighboring city of Butte and the rest of the area around it. We had no idea of the mining history of Butte and Anaconda. 

Mines were known as 1 mile high and 1 mile deep

Butte was known for its mining of copper and Anaconda, for the smelter plant it had for processing the waste from the copper mines. Railroad cars transferred the waste from Butte to Anaconda. 

View of the Smelter from the road, it can be seen from 20 miles away

The brick smokestack was built in 1918 as part of the Washoe Smelter. When the smelter itself was built at the turn of the century, it was the largest nonferrous metallurgical plant in the world. The stack is still the largest free standing masonry structure. The facility was shut down in 1980. Anacondans saved the stack from demolition in 1985. It stands as a monument to the thousands of men and women who worked at the smelter, as a symbol of the complex industrial history of this one company city, and as a towering remembrance to the people of Montana of the power of the Anaconda Co. in the state's history. 

Butte was once known as the "richest hill on earth". Originally prospectors came there looking for gold. But what they found was rich deposits of iron and manganese and also copper. With the advent of electricity, pioneers Marcus Daly and W.A. Clark opened mines to provide copper for the increasing electrical industry. In 1882 the district produce over nine million pounds of copper.

These towers dot the landscape of Butte

One of the mines

Hardhats required for our tour at the World Museum of Mining

A tour at the World Museum of Mining gave us a chance to see an abandoned mine. The temperature changed quickly as we descended. We got a first hand look at the conditions the miners endured. 

We also attended the Butte Folk Festival, held every year in July. For the second year in a row(!) we met up with good (college) friends Jan and Jim F. Montana has it's share of natural hot springs, and we were fortunate to have one next to our campground. We made good use of it while we were there. 

From Anaconda we went to Polson, MT to stay at the Polson Motorcoach & RV Resort. This had been on our bucket list of places to stay as we had heard many great things about it. It did not disappoint us. The location is near the beautiful Flathead Lake in MT. This is a place I could come back to every year!

Flathead Lake in MT 

Polson is a small resort town without a whole lot of things to do, but there is the Miracle of America Museum. It was started by a gentleman who decided that certain things, like military items, needed to be preserved for future generations to see. Thousands of artifacts are housed in multiple buildings. 

Aliens?

While in Polson, we also drove around the area, going up to Whitefish, MT. There I revisited the Great Northern train station that I had been at years ago on a ski trip to Big Mountain, MT. 

Today's waiting room at the train station 

Our goal for the rest of our time was to get to Glacier National Park. Since Polson was an hour and a half away, we decided to move the RV closer to the park so we didn't have the extra driving at the beginning and ending of our day trips to Glacier. We were able to find a spot at North American RV Park near the west entrance of the park.