A couple of years ago, a late winter drive took a co-worker and me to White Sulphur Springs, Montana. The highway from Townsend to White Sulphur Springs ascends the Big Belt Mountains through the ever-twisting Deep Creek Canyon and then delivers you onto high-altitude rangelands. There are points, when driving across this open land, where you can see the Big Belt Mountains, the Little Belts, the Castle Mountains, and the toothy peaks of the Bridger Range in one expansive radius around you.
The ghost town of
Castle can be found in the Castle Mountains.
A silver rush mining town, the small burg formed in the 1870s and rapidly
grew to something near 2,000 residents.
Purportedly, the town supported seven brothels and over a dozen saloons
at the peak of mining operations.
For a time, Calamity Jane (Martha Jane Cannary Burke) resided in Castle. A professional scout, notorious drunkard, ox team driver, part-time prostitute, inn keeper, kindly nurse for the sick, and always unsettled frontierswoman—Calamity Jane lived in several other Montana towns over the course of her life. She is best known for her association with Wild Bill Hickok and Deadwood in the Black Hills. The town of Castle saw its demise when the silver market collapsed in 1893. The town now (on private property) rests in silence.
Today, in addition to
Calamity Jane and Castle, I am posting a photograph of clouds spilling over the
high rangeland. I captured the photograph
after emerging from Deep Creek Canyon.
As I took the picture, I marveled at how fast the clouds were drifting
over me. The photo very nearly captures
the motion.
I swear, this really is
big sky country.
--Mitchell Hegman
There's something riveting even about the dead, such as the ghost town you described. Thanks for the well written glimpse into once colorful and thriving Castle City, though perhaps it may now have been overwhelmed by fast-drifting clouds.
ReplyDeleteNothing compares to the feeling of strolling around a ghost town high in the mountains. You really struggle to imagine what the place might have been like.
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