D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A • FA L L 2 0 1 6
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SWEET ASIDES
Another of the best preserved of Mon-
tana's ghost towns is Garnet, once home
to a gold mine, but essentially abandoned
by 1942. It was in that year that the town's
only resident, a Mr. Frank Davey, owner of
Davey's Store, filed for taxes. As the story
goes, the form required that he sign in front
of a witness, so he watched himself sign in
the mirror and included a note to the effect
that he was the town's only inhabitant.
Then there's Granite, not to be confused
with Garnet. Granite was so high and
rocky that it could not support a graveyard.
Instead, bodies were brought down the
mountain to Philipsburg, and buried there.
Water, in turn, had to be either carried
several miles overland, or eventually trans-
ported through a long series of flumes and
cisterns.
Marysville, home of the Drumlummon
claim, was named after the parish in which
Thomas "Tommy" Cruse was born. Though
the claim had been abandoned, the industri-
ous immigrant eventually found a rich vein
yielding nearly $150 thousand, built a mill
and a mansion, and went on to contribute
money and land to help build the Cathedral
of St. Helena.
Erik the Excellent
A Bannack reenactor
Bannack, Montana
Jack Albrecht
Evalyn Johnson
A Bannack
magician
