A Step back in history...

A step back in history...

After a crummy night sleep, we arise groggy eyed and a little sleep stupid Sunday morning.  Lucas is fine, but Phil and I are... Well lets just say a little sleepy.  I find as a person gets older, countless things can keep you awake at night, from diet to temperature to comfort or lack there of, to cold feet, to hot feet.  It’s just part of this time of life I guess.

We try to see and do all things around the Butte Montana area on a Sunday where almost everything is closed.  

First we head to Copper King Mansion, which is a huge home built on the side of the hill of Butte, by a Mr. Clark.  The home is really big, and the typical rich man’s home of the day.  The stair case alone, took longer than the whole house  to build as it was all carved in wood. Beautiful Stained glass windows, woodwork, panelling, and marketry flooring graced the home.  A step ahead in advancement - the owner of the house put ash ducts ( a grate similar to a heating register to a duct) that when the fire in the fire place was out, and cleaned, the ash could be swept down the ash register and duct to the basement area garbage, thus keeping the house clean of the ash dust and soot.  The home had painted frescos on the ceilings, and alot of plater etched with multiple tools to create interesting designs.  Back in the day when the gas chandelier was lit the walls with their  plaster textured finish looked as if water was rushing down the wall.  Because it was painted with a gold finish, it sparkled as the “water rushed down’  Would have been magical in the day I am sure.

  

Our next stop was the Granite Ghost Town.  We drove more than 4 miles up an extremely narrow mountain road on switchbacks on a one lane logging road.  Quite steep and rough, we were praying all the way up we wouldn’t meet a logging truck as there would be no where to go, but to back down the hill to a wider area.  Prayers answered, we arrived at the Granit Ghost town.   So ghost town-ish, we almost missed it!  

There were roads everywhere, but the info center consisted of a small sign that basically said the “hiking tour” was 2 hours, that you were at high altitudes, so  we were encouraged to take our time and pace ourselves. 

After moving along the trail about 100 yards, we decide to backtrack to the main road because we were knee high in stinging nettle, the path seemed overgrown, and there was an abundance of plants with berries ( bears...).   Along the road we see the Moore House Hotel which was a 2 story building (we saw remanents - a hole in the ground with rocks and rusty ceiling tiles), a small bank made of stone granite, and a large miners union building that was a 2 story brick building.

As we made our way back down the mountain, we pass a logging truck that had just been filled with logs, and was being strapped into place, just before his return down the mountain. We were happy to be ahead of it, and a ways away!  This logging truck diver was one of the few working on a Sunday in Butte area.

We then head to Philpisburg, where they have an old fashioned soda shop and candy store, so we indulge and have a soda a the malt bar, and purchased salt water taffy at the candy store.  

We head back to Butte for an early supper and get a hotel room for the night.  We are all tired today.