Montana’s topography is a jumble of mountain ranges and broad valleys. It bears some resemblance to Colorado, but the mountains don’t form as thorough a north-south wall through the state as the Continental Divide does in Colorado. Most of the passes are lower and less dramatic. One such pass is over the Pintler Range from Anaconda to Philipsburg with the Discovery Ski Area not far from the summit. It’s a rather east crossing I made once before in winter 2012 on my way to Flathead Lake.

Philipsburg and Granite are located in Granite County, which has a population of about 3,400 in about 1,700 square miles, so it’s population density of 2 per square mile isn’t exactly crowded. The county’s population was higher in the 1900 and 1920 censuses than it has been ever since. Although I-90 runs through the northern part of the county, Philipsburg, the county seat and main town is quite far off of it in a broad but rather remote valley. Philipsburg is quite well-preserved Victorian mining town with a Main Street lined with colorfully painted buildings housing businesses and a few small hotels. It looks a lot like a place left back in time and reminds me somewhat of Silverton, Colorado even if the surrounding mountains aren’t as towering here. The big attraction seems to be kid-oriented panning for sapphires in a nearby stream. The town’s Sweet Palace claims to be one of the world’s greatest candy emporiums, but my diet limited me to filling up but a very small back from the extensive mix and match selection. Likewise, I kept my day-drinking at the very appealing Philipsburg Brewing Company to one pint of “Gonk” amber altbier.  One of the town’s more interesting buildings is the original late 19^th century jail standing across from the county court house, remodeled on the inside and still in use.

I’ve come across Granite lists of Montana ghost towns, which generally means abandoned former mining towns. Abandoned agricultural settlements on the plains don’t usually get called such. Anyway, located high up in the mountains a few miles east of Philipsburg, Granite ghost town is a Montana state park and seems like it should be a significant attraction. My cousin Deb was rather gung-ho about going there three days earlier despite the distance and limited amount of time they had that day that effectively made it impractical. Personally, I don’t think she missed much. The poorly-marked and poorly-graded dirt road up the mountain to the site is a little scary in spots as it climbs up about 2,000 feet above the valley.  Yes, at several points in the late 1800s and early 1900s over a thousand people live dup here to mine silver.  You’d never know it from the way it looks now, though. With only the ruins of a couple buildings remaining and the rest just some foundations and scattered wreckage on things past, Granite is not particularly impressive as far as ghost towns go.