Children on the Mountain, Children in the Trees

Though I have visited the graveyard at the ghost town of Elkhorn, Montana many times, I am always a little troubled as I leave there.

I think of the children.

Elkhorn thrived in a narrow mountain valley near Helena in the last half of the 1800s and reached a population of 2500 during the peak of silver production.  Elkhorn grew, as most mining towns did back then, in fits and starts, and with a mix of shacks and fancy commercial buildings.  Elkhorn, however, was different in that whole families of European immigrants came to populate the town rather than the usual flurry of single raucous men.  At one point, the town boasted over a dozen saloons, three hotels, a two-lane bowling alley, and Fraternity Hall—which is pictured below.

The immigrants carved an honest community from the wood and stone of the nearby mountains.  Elkhorn bustled until the silver crash of 1893.  The saddest episode, though, befell Elkhorn in the latter half of 1888 and extending into the early months of 1889.  A diphtheria epidemic began taking the lives of the town’s children one by one and two by two.  Many families lost multiple children.  Mother’s and daughters perished side by side.  Few families were spared.

The graveyard at Elkhorn can be found on a mountain above the town and is now overtaken by the forest.  Many of the grave markers were made of wood and have long since been reclaimed by the elements.  The stone markers and an occasional fence still stand—often aslant amidst upright pine and fir trees.   You can still find the names and ages of many children on the mountain there.

The arched tombstone pictured below is for Beatrice and Clara (aged 3 and 5). 

All of the photographs posted today were taken yesterday afternoon while Martha and I visited the Elkhorn during a rainstorm.

--Mitchell Hegman