Friends, Rain, and Prison Cells - Finding Fun in Montana

August 5-11, 2021

Deer Lodge, Montana

There's not a thing wrong with Deer Lodge, Montana, but there isn't much to do here. I have zero memory of why I routed us here for more than a couple days. When I had to reroute due to the fires on Hwy 20 I was excited that I was able to add days to make a whole week. Hmmm...

While we feel like it's following us, there aren't many places not impacted by the smoke.

Winds blow the clouds in and out of the area each day.

Blue skies are a boost to the lungs and the spirit!

Hopefully just rain and no more lightening strike fires.

Those days are a diverse combination of heavy smoke, strong winds, rain storms, and clear blue skies. Indian Creek Campground is next to I-90, but the noise is never an issue even on the days when we finally have our windows open again. The long gravel 50 AMP FHU sites are level with decent green grass space. Weirdly the neighbor's utilities are in our outdoor living space, but we end up not spending much time out there anyway. 

We rarely have anyone parked next to us, and only one hooked up their sewer (next to water post). 

Lots of one-nighters make for good dog TV.

I spend a couple days feeling puny so I suppose being somewhere with little to do is good timing. One afternoon the winds are gusting up to 40 mph and we bring the big slide in for a few hours. 

Nearby Butte (we'll stay there next time) is home to a high school friend so we plan a meet up with her. Before that she attends a community play here in Deer Lodge and stops by for a visit with one of her adopted kiddos. It's great to see Brenda and meet Dallas. Monday we meet her at the Oasis Casino Restaurant to get caught up. The food is very good, and my seafood salad is huge. She's been here 40 years and is an enthusiastic ambassador for the area.

Brenda and Bill, 50-year friends.

Butte's historic downtown is the largest we've seen. About 50% of the original buildings are restored and in use as current businesses and residential sites. The rest range from good to barely standing. There are many museums and historic sites to visit that I add to the list of things to do next time.

A perfect 70 degree, blue sky day to enjoy Butte.

Built in 1898 for the son of copper magnate William Clark, the design of Clark Chateau is based on a French chateau where the son and his bride spent their honeymoon.

Although most mining ceased in 1983, the rich mining history in Butte is apparent everywhere including the large scale scarring and tailings piles.

Built in 1924, the Hotel Finlen remains a major landmark.

A line of laughing lions look over downtown from atop one of her many grand old buildings.

Fading advertisements add another layer of color.

A bright corner three-story grabs my eye.

For our return home we take the Pintler Veterans' Memorial Scenic Byway, a 64-mile loop that returns us to I-90 in Drummond. Meandering through the cute historic towns of Anaconda and Phillipsburg, following Flint Creek through fields and forests, I finally feel like we're seeing Montana!

Anaconda Smelt Stack

Georgetown Lake

The road climbs into the forest through colorful rock escarpments.

Several ranch homes add character to the vast landscape.

Phillipsburg looks like a mini-Butte.

The most perfect little log cabin along Flint Creek.

I never tire of the multi-color palettes of farmland. Not corn, I get tired of corn fields really fast :-)

Tuesday morning light smoke returns to our skies, but thankfully disperses by late afternoon. It's a good day to visit the museums we've been encouraged to visit by a couple of our traveling pals. For a small town with little else, Deer Lodge has two historic sites (prison and ranch), and half a dozen museums. We're seeing Old Montana State Prison and Auto Museum, connected by a visitor center and gift shop. Bill is enthusiastic about the cars, but after an hour on concrete floors his back isn't up to the large prison so I do that on my own.

One of the things I like about this museum of several hundred vehicles, photos and displays is that they've arranged them chronologically. It makes for a wonderful walk through the history of automobiles, from crank starts and huge headlamps to the sleek and fast computerized cars we drive today.

The largest collection of collections we've seen. 

After a 23-year absence, Ford brought back the Model A to replace the Model T. This 1931 Model A Coupe with it's rumble seat and spoke wheels is a beauty.

In addition to all the automobiles, displays include original sales brochures, car manuals, dash clocks, starter cranks and battery chargers. 

What grabbed my eye about these two grain trucks was the radical difference in the size of their engine compartments. In the back is a 1918 Ford Model T 1-ton. The 1928 International Harvester in front averaged 15 MPG fully loaded and was a favorite for hauling long distances.

In 1961 my family moved to the desert of Southern California. Our Ford station wagon had no AC. Dad installed one of these "amazing" Thermado Car Coolers in the back side window. It's one gallon of water in the evaporation unit did keep us cooler for the long summer drives to town, but what I remember is getting wet from the "spitting" water :-)

Probably the biggest surprise is this 1933 Kozy Kamper Pop-Up Trailer! Listed for $295, the trailer is 28"x48" and sleeps 4! Head room in the middle is 76". A small storage box completes the space. It could "tow at any speed without blocking rear visibility". 

Bill's dream car is a 1955 Chevy Belair Convertible. All these 1950's Belairs are one person's collection - this is a third of them!

So many great memories at the drive-in. These heavy speakers brought sound into our cars at the first drive-in theatre on Crescent Boulevard in Camden, New Jersey in 1933. 400 drive-ins remain in the US with only a few in Canada and Australia. One place where new drive-ins are being built? China!

Don't you miss great hood ornaments? This beauty is on a 1951 Pontiac Chieftain Coupe.

This 1955 Ford F-100 is my favorite. I drove my dad's 1956 for a few years - 3-speed on the column and one standard tail light. I loved that truck!

Bill loved his 1962 VW Karmann Ghia - same color, but his was a convertible. 

Throughout the space they've put up these Burma Shave sign series, a fun reminder of seeing them alongside many rural highways from 1927 - 1963.

Through a large double-door in the visitor's center I enter what was the Montana State Prison from 1871 to 1979. While it still feels like a 19th century structure, there are many signs of more modern operations. The self-guided tour takes visitors through the majority of areas that remain safe to access. There are only a handful of other people here, and sometimes it gets a little creepy wandering inside the cell block, the Hole, Siberia East, and maximum security areas. Classrooms, chapel, chow hall, infirmary, large exercise yard, huge theatre, and small library are reminders of how many hours, weeks and years inmates spent here. 

Inmates built this 24-foot high sandstone wall to replace the wood fence. It continues four feet below ground and is four and a half feet wide at the bottom.

Guard station at Tower 7 which was the entrance of the prison from 1911 until closing.

Several reminders that although the grounds are spacious, the inmates were not free to go everywhere.

A disturbing re-created "jerk-up scaffold" used to execute two inmates in 1908 after they killed a deputy warden. The expectation was that after placing the noose around the person's neck, dropping a 300 pound bag would pull up and break their neck. Unfortunately in both cases their necks didn't break and they strangled to death. These were the only two executions at the prison. 

Every part of the buildings feel massive and heavy, like you could never, ever get out.

Creepier than maximum security or the Hole, this section was called Siberia East where inmates were sent for isolation. Usually for major infractions, but occasionally at the request of inmates who wanted solitude.

Lit by my flash, three very small cells line a dark and narrow hallway.

OMG, this whatever-the-hell-it-is scared the crap outta me when the flash went off. Man's head on a rat body.....why?

The deteriorating walls added to the creep.

Many places look like a castle.

The Cell House was built in 11 months by inmates in 1912 with 200 cells. Each had good ventilation, running water, and flush toilets. It was a model facility at the time.

The Women's Prison was added in 1907, housing women in a separate space next to maximum security with heat and a separate exercise yard. It makes me uncomfortable that the no-wall, no-curtain shower is right in front of the guard cage. 

The men's shower rooms are more what I expected. 

Closed to visitors, the Clark Theatre was built in 1919 as a major incentive for inmates to stay in line. Music, boxing, movies, and religious events were enjoyed here by inmates and staff until a fire gutted the building in 1975. Set intentionally, no suspects were ever charged.

I highly recommend both of these locations when you're in the area. You don't need to be here a week to see them :-)

Our last day we take a day trip to Helena. We've been before, but it's a pretty drive up Highway 12 and back down I-15. Lunch at Nosh for healthy salads makes a nice break. 

Wonderful mural in Nosh's parking lot downtown.

Helena has a large neighborhood of lovely restored homes.

Completed in 1985, Our Lady of the Rockies stands 90 feet high, sitting on the Continental Divide overlooking Butte.

Although she resembles Mary, the statue is non-denominational and was dedicated by the workers to women everywhere, especially mothers.

We made the most of our week in little Deer Lodge with help from clearer skies, visits with friends, and those fun museums. Next up we return to a beautiful little town overlooking a beautiful river valley.

Back in Arizona, it's looking more like Ireland after all the much-needed monsoon rains.

Patagonia Lake, southeast of Tombstone.