Travels with Shadow
Montana and Home
In order to allow more liberal use of photos without causing long download times, I am mostly using black and white photos
The drive from Salt Lake City to Boulder and on to Sain Paul was 1,529 miles.
It was raining heavily when I left Salt Lake City and headed north. The
landscape remained parched until I approached Idaho. I noticed that a
lot of the resevoirs were half full. When I left Idaho and climbed the
pass into Montana, I was greeted with near white out conditions near
the peak. Fortunately it didn't last long and my main worry was
overcoming slow moving snow plows. After a few more snowey passes on
interstate 15, I pulled into Boulder, MT and looked for the Free
Enterprise Uranium Mine with a $10 a night rv park.
Although the demand for uranium has bottomed out, the Free Enterprise
Mine survives quite well by calling itself a "Health Mine."
People come from all over the world to treat their aches and pains.
They are lowered into the mine shaft where they are exposed to
radiation and breathe radon gas. People swear by it, one even brings
his arthritic dog to the mine for treatment.
Boulder, Montana where my great grandfather worked his gold claims
Although Boulder is in the high Rockies, about 6000 feet, it lacks
the rich vegetation of the northwest. It is cattle country, but the
cows not on the river have to work for what they get. I stayed six days
and managed to get copies of four gold claims that my great grandfather
had. The place names referenced in the claims have changed so it was
hard to fix their location with certainty, but it appears that he
worked a now dry creek in the north west part of the valley. It ran
about two miles along the creek. I found the reamins of of old cabin
that could have been his.
minning claim of my great grandfather William C Jones from 1893
Elkhorn, Mt, the tavern and dance hall is to the left
Family history shows that he went to Montana in 1865 after the Civil
War and the 1870 census shows him in Virginia City.
From there he drifted north following the gold strikes. In 1880 he was
in Catarack Creek and then Boulder in 1890. The ghost town of Elkhorn
lies about halfway between Virginia City and Boulder. There was an
enormous strike there in the 1870s and I assume that he tried his luck
there as well.
Abandoned storefronts in Elkhorn.
I made a run to the Misoula in northwest Montana and looked up my
cousin Noel Jones and his family. I had not seen Noel since 1961. They
have a beautiful home, or should I say lodge, in the mountains outside
of Misoula.
Noel Jones jr. and sons
The boat yard in Superior, WI phoned and said they had a buyer for my
boat. They needed my signature and some of the paperwork was missing.
I could have stayed longer but the storms across the Dakotas were
abating, so I decided to make a run for it. I had intended to overnight
a couple of times but the weather was not in my favor. When I looked
for a place to stop, it just didn't work. Instead, I pulled into truck
stops and rest spots to grab a few hours sleep and took off again.
Despite the favorable forecast, I was hit with sixty mile an hour winds
and snow across the Dakotas, and this was the middle of May. I left at
nine on Friday morning and arrived in Saint Paul at two thirty,
Saturday afternoon, and I was tired.
I unloaded the trailer and set up my room again. I think I will a few
months break and then head out to do research in Michigan and Ontario
in mid July. Hilltop trailers is doing some minor repairs on the
trailer and it should be ready by then, and hopefully, so will I