Elkhorn - Montana's Most Iconic Ghost Town
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- čas přidán 21. 10. 2022
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A huge thank you to the Jefferson County (Montana) Museum for their help with research and imagery. www.jeffersoncountymuseum.com/
Elkhorn, Montana has to be the most preserved ghost town I've seen in the Northwest and is debatably the most iconic ruin in the state. High in the Elkhorn Mountains of Central Montana, about an hour south of Helena and tucked behind the small town of Boulder is one of the state’s most visited ghost towns. The town is so popular, in fact, that the population has actually begun to regrow up from zero about thirty years ago to about a dozen now.
It was one of the most cosmopolitan, civil, and refined mining boom towns in the Territory, though it had its fair share of excitement. Let’s dive into the ghost town of Elkhorn, Montana.
My grandfather, born in 1868 in Kentucky, owned a saloon in Elkhorn. The earliest date I know of his owning it was 1895 because we have a bill of lading for Woodford Distilling Company, Woodford, Kentucky dated May 1895 when he had an agreement with the distilling company to receive kegs of Penns Club Rye - which he received in October, December, June and March in 1898 and 1899. My grandfather is said to have had a problem with gambling and drinking. He was always being challenged to play cards and the saloon would sometimes become collateral. One night he almost lost the saloon to a professional gambler. He decided that was no way to live; so he just walked off the next morning. He went to Oregon, took out a homestead - and became a dry land wheat farmer. My dad said grandpa wasn't really very fond of horses. He spent his youth walking the West.
Fellow Kentuckian here. Thanks for sharing your story.
My step grandfather David Walker was the third owner in tha elk horn mine
He was smart for leaving Kentucky.
I thought my grandparents had been born a ways back, but yours predate mine. My grandfather was born on July 5, 1882, and my grandmother was born 2-14-1888, in the Ukraine, and came to Ellis Island in 1913.
How old are you??
As an Englishman, it's really very interesting to see this kind of history, very different to our own. It's all so recent in America and the quality of the construction is such that things have already almost disappeared when left untouched. There's a pioneering temporary feeling to things. Find a resource, build what's necessary quickly and then when the resource is gone, so are the people and the structures quickly follow. I went on a walk in Yorkshire, England just last week, an abandoned 1809 church was present, dilapidated but still standing, though in its red brick it had an air of modernity. Many churches date back to 1100 in England, this is mainly the Saxon era in England, and those churches still stand today, maintained of course by each generation. History is fascinating and I hope to one day visit the US, I would love to see somewhere like this in person, they are our forefathers after all that made the journey from Europe (UK, France, Holland etc.). Thank you for the video
We have to much rain that ll be stupid to build wood house . And wood is very expensive . My houqe is done by old stone and sure it ll be there 300 years old . Concrete house is recent but in 2100 most of them ll be to destroy.
@@bretagnejean2410 you mean concrete isn't as good as stone?
Check out "Ghost Town Living". There are a lot of great videos of Cerro Gordo Ghost Town in California. Cerro Gordo helped finance Los Angeles in its early days.
European construction was built to last for centuries, you got that right.
@@blackterminal concrete is a chemical reaction , a glue with sand and small stones. In the time this glue is destroyed and craked. Hundred millions houses in the world ll be to destroy for security.
I never considered that there would be burn marks on the ceiling of a building from lamps. That such a cool detail 👍
Surely soot, rather than burn.
@@gitfoad8032 Just a derpy possum.....not like us. No critical thinking.
I have a cabin, and use lamp oil. To prevent a possible fire, i use a metal sheet above the lamp
Your methods of contextualizing places like this brings so much humanity to your presentations. Highlighting that they're not just piles of rubble, but were homes for some people their entire lives is such a grounding touch that I deeply appreciate.
Kay
with
Hello Tom, did you notice ladies and gentlemen how the story teller (or historical presenter) Mr. Tom removed his hat while visiting the interiors of the halls, that's what draws me so much to his work, respect for those who came before and treating those appurtances with dignity and kind regards. Another well done worthwhile adventure, best wishes to you and your family from N.E. FLA.
The log cabins were usually built by Norwegians, Swedes and Finnish immigrants. They introduced this style of house in the northern territories. I grew up in a log house in Norway, the house was built around 1880, then moved 20 years later around 1900.
My ancestors on my dad side from Sweden & Norway
Farmers my grandpa was as his father and his went to MN THEN TO MISSOURI where I'm born - some went on to Montana too I'm a COUNTRY girl had horses lived off the land my great grandfather was milk man in MN drove horse drawn carriage I got a PIC it's FREAKING AWESOME FINDING IT ALL OUT FROM GENEALOGY AND A FAMILY MEMBER WROTE IT AKL OUT HOW HE WAS FUNNY LOUD EVERONE LOVED TO GO TO HIS HOUSE HIS LAUGH JUST MADE YOU LAUGH WELL THAT WHERE I GET THAT FROM💖💖
A lot of spirits still reside
Oh
That makes so much sense
Log houses of old days were so well done. My summer cottage was my late father's childhood home and it was build 1919. It's been renovated 1952 and 2001 but is basically same building.
People have lived in Elkhorn as long as I can remember. Hard to believe the population was at zero 30 years ago.
We lived in the cabin across the street from the Fraternity Hall next to the bowling alley.
This was really well edited, I appreciated all the subtle background audio effects. Thanks for uploading!
@18:39 Evans & Howard Fire Brick Co. founded in 1855 Cheltenham Fire clay works with world wide sales.
As a city dweller you can see old buildings every day. However the history of the common man disappears or is displayed behind glass in public museums. I love seeing the communities you explore and feel such a connection to the history and people.
So glad to see more of these videos. As someone who loves to explore ghost towns like this, it’s lovely to see it in a compact video form that has all the history of these towns, and the videos you get in all of them is incredible. Thank you so much for doing what you do!
When I was a small child, 6 or 7, we went to Elkhorn. At that time, the mine was still there and alot more of the homes. My mom sketched some of the buildings and then painted them. We went there at least 3 times. Mom's garden in Helena had big rocks that had sparkly sides, blues, yellows and one red. Beautiful. I played all over the town. We went to the grave yard on top of a mountain above the town. We walked all through it and read all the inscriptions. I loved that ghost town. I am 70 now but have a clear picture of it in my mind. So sad that so many buildings were not saved from collapse. Enjoyed the video.
I am a Fire Cause and Origin Investigator and a few years ago, the caretaker's residence caught on fire, I was the Investigator assigned to it. It was my first time there and after my investigation, I explored Elkhorn, what a Cool Place. And I live in Hungry Horse Montana, another unique place
This video brings back the sadness I felt when walking through that cemetery. Just imagine having to climb that mountain every few days and weeks to bury another child. 😭
The county side around the town is stunning beautiful.
We visited Elkhorn about 18 years ago when visiting friends in Helena, MT. We spent one whole day visiting Elkhorn and a number of other townsites in the region. In the other communities, all that were left were foundations and cemetaries. That diptheria epidemic spread out to those communnites, too. Our imaginations ran wild trying to picture and appreciate what it must have been like because the lion's share of those headstones and plaques recorded deaths during winter.. The Elkhorn town and those others used to have horrendous winters with several feet of snow assured. Your video has refreshed my imaginings of living in those thin-walled, uninsulated homes and shops with a house full of sick kids and if "lucky", a single doctor to visit everyone for about a 75 mile radius. We are so blessed these days. Thanks for these memories!
There's a ghost town near me...kind of a ghost town, anyway; it is in the middle of a very settled area. North Bloomfield, CA is part of a state park and every building has been preserved, identified, and catalogued. They do tours. It's very cool
My 2nd great grandfather wandering cowboy and part time outlaw in the 1880s nineties and early 1900s I have a letter to his mother after his father died in 1894 Telling her that he would be passing through Elkhorn Montana soon To meet with a few "friends of his"
In 2013 or early 2014 when I was working for Adecco Staffing I worked the BNSF Mapping Project at Bartlett and West Engineering in Topeka, Kansas. One of the areas I mapped former BNSF properties was Elk Horn. I mapped all the old Northern Pacific right of way through that valley along with the Jefferson County and Helena RR from Boulder to Helena. Sometimes I could only find the original rights of way by finding curving tree lines or straight tree lines. The images of the old hand drawn maps would be lined up and scaled until everything fit. The old mines were fun to match up their spurs, but the ones like at Elk Horn were far easier than the strip pits at Butte and to the Northwest of Boulder.
Thank you so much for this video. I visited Elkhorn many times as a child, while I spent my summers in nearby Basin with my grandparents. It was my grandma’s favorite area to pick gooseberries, from which she would make jam, cooked on her wood burning stove. I still have tons of family in the area. I can smell the amazing mountain air…
Heck yes love this channel
Never heard of Elkhorn, very interesting video Tom! Aside from liners, I’ve always had a fascination with old ghost towns and abandoned mines.
Your not alone!
This is Elkhorn, Kentucky right?
@@atlantic_love I heard him say it was Elkhorn, Montana.
I highly recommend Pony, Montana. Or what's left of it. The old buildings are in disrepair, but the scenery of the town is incredible. The road literally ends at Pony and behind it is a valley rising into mountains. You can find old homesteads and hunting cabins as you go back. Awesome place to explore.
Wow while my family came to visit this place ! I took red roses with a wire and id run up to the graves and place a rose on most of them. The days back in the late 70s to early 80s was a fantastic time many families also showed up. Thank you for this Elkhorn history. The views are just breathe taking. I love those ol Mountains. i would run to the old train track and would see a post that read unsafe turn around.
Great work, especially the little details like overlaying old photos on particular shots - very well done, almost cinematic. Respect as well for literally going the distance and travelling to these places when you can. This stuff is fascinating as a European who usually thinks of towns as places that are just 'there' and have been for centuries.
you are so AMAZING! this is channel deserves 100,000,000x more views, subs ,and more your videos make me feel like I am back in the day i was their when it all happened. ITS AMAZING!!!!
In the winter of1988 I worked for a core drilling company and spent many 12 hr shifts drilling on the mountain above Elkhorn. Very interesting to hear the history of Elkhorn!
I really enjoyed going back in time.
Thank you
Growing up in Montana, my Family spent summer weekends packing up the camping gear and driving all over the central and southern MT Rockies, exploring the ghost towns. Some amazing out of the way places, especially northeast of Helena. Thanks for making me really homesick and yet bringing back a lot of great memories. 😊
I was born in Billings and lived in Great Falls also , my dad would do the same thing we were always going to a Ghost town on the weekends
Great work. I live in this area, and often wonder at the amount of blood, sweat and tears that went into this state. It is an amazing homage to remember these pioneers, who deserve remembrence and respect. There is also a wonderful resort/hot springs in the area. This is a beautiful, magical state; think of all the treasures that are both above and below.
Love, love the ghost towns! And this was an interesting, but sad one. For such a thriving town to just either and disappear is a heartbreaking thing. You document them well and give them a little spark of life again.
You and Emma are a formidable team.
These videos are totally fascinating! Wish I had the time and money to do what you do. Please, don't stop what you're doing. God bless.
Just as a side note, I'm very near retirement age (61) and I've often told my kids that I'd love to retire to a small town or cabin out in the middle of nowhere. This place would do just nicely!
Love this! I used to visit Elkhorn once or twice a year for years through the 80’s and 90’s. I haven’t been there for a long time but now want to see it again.
For The Ghost Town Algorithm!
Just looked at the photo of the Metropolitan Hotel that our family has. It is where Grandpa Leon had his saloon.
I'd have loved to have had that when putting this video together - I couldn't find any images of the hotel. Would you be willing to send a scan of it to me? My email is tlynskey@historicalfx.com Thanks!
Great to see a good number of the remaining buildings still in good condition on of the best ghost towns I've seen thanks for the video Tom
You could totally reuse a good portion of that lumber and easily last another 100 years. Only thing is though, if this is really a ghost town, where are the ghosts?
Great vid. Nice to see some conservation work being done - those 2 large buildings look like they've bee re-roofed fairly recently. Future generations will be pleased for that, & there'll always be extreme train-spotters for the water tower. Eerie place.
Great video Tom.
My great grandparents, Nilda and Leslie Harris lived in Elkhorn before moving to Boulder. The White House on the left side of town (coming into Elkhorn) is where they lived. It is still standing. Owned by a different family now. My family and I had the b opportunity to stay in the cabin in the early 1990’s before being sold. It was a rainy day. We also visited the cemetery where my great grandfather Les is buried. We visit his grave site annually. The community has done a beautiful job maintaining it. Hiking around elkhorn is one of my passions and going through this town is very special. A very well done documentary showcasing a Montana Gem.
As a young kid (13) I went to this town. We explored the whole town and tried to find objects so that we could add them to the still standing buildings there to give a better picture of life in that time. While looking through an old house I found a brick that was loose. I pulled it out to reveal a 130 year old photograph of a man, his wife, his son and daughter. The daughter being the oldest of the two. I placed it back where I found it. But It was one of the coolest finds of my life! Definitely visit if you get the chance.
Another excellent production, I like your style of presenting, plenty of interesting and well researched information. I'm in the UK so despite having written history going back over well over 1000 years we don't have these fascinating ghost town's, the closest thing we have are abandoned medieval villages which are now just lumps and bumps in fields.
So sorry so sad im so glad my ANCESTORS fled the greedy British crown
What a beautiful part of the US! It's fascinating to imagine the trains going through those mountains and hills in the forest. I also love when you went through the fraternity hall and there were people's names carved into the walls (I think I also saw a heart with initials in it), what a human thing to do. Another great video!! Thank you for sharing it with us :D
Good to see you again Tom ! Hope the Lusitania project is doing well and the beginning of your next project too !
Thankyou Tom and Emma for another fantastic video.
Fine report! Thank You.
Great channel thank you.
Would love to see a 20-year time lapse video of a building decaying. Great video as always!
Sad end for origional prospector, but nice that town left a tribute and memorial to honour him. Hope all is well with mother and child.
LOVE THESE!! Thank you Part-Time Explorer. Great quality.
Really interesting 👍😊thanks
Great video. I love history about ghost towns. It’s awesome that there are people living there and watching out for the place. Thank you
AMAZING....Thanks
Shoe🇺🇸
Fantastic film. Thanks
another neat Ghost mining town is NW of Custer State Park, SD. Spokane, SD
a few buildings, foundations, and cisterns. And what looks like a small concrete building to store explosives
This is on my bucket list of ghost towns to visit. Great video!
Thank you verymuch for Showing us Elkhorn Montana 🏚🪦 .. The Town Folks of Yesteryear would love the Appreciation of their history .. GodBless 🙏
Thanks for showing the history of Montana.
Great job, Tom and Emma. Thank you for documenting these almost forgotten places in such a beautiful, factual and respectful way.
Thank you for your video. Quite fascinating. I ❤️ history so much. Wish there were time travel just to go back for a short time
Really appreciate you exploring old towns like this Tom, and as usual tell such a great story...👍
incredible
Enjoyed this very much. Lived in Boulder Valley from 1996 to 2017.
My family and I would visit Elko horn as much as possible, but most of the time it was impossible to get up there due to snow and icy roads. The cemetery although interesting is also very depressing since so many children’s graves are there. It’s sad to see that so many buildings have collapsed over the years. I guess we were very fortunate to get to see them standing.
Thanks for sharing this from my home state. You should try to make a video about Garnet ghost town near Missoula. It's my favorite ghost town.
Great presentation. Thank you for all the work you do.
I love these documentaries that I found by accident. Seeing these old ruins is kind of sad. I can almost see how simple life was then. Today’s world just doesn’t understand how to live. Everyone is in a hurry to get nowhere fast. I really appreciate your time in getting facts and real information on all the places you share. I look forward to watching many more.
How those buildings still stand is beyond me
Great video, Tom & Emma. Sure looks like the families moving into Elkhorn improved the ambient of the town when compared to others. And it seems to have stuck with their descendants, always a good thing.
Thanks for the upload and allowing me to live these field trips vicariously through you.
Cheers.
AGIN. THANK YOU FOR SHARING. !!!! The way early. Life once. Was. !!!!!
Fascinating! Thanks for sharing.
Beautiful video
Love to hear the Owners talk about their Town, or hear the tour guide talk. Thank you for sharing .❤🌹🙏🤩 Texas 🌹
This was so wonderful that I stayed awake til the conclusion at 1:10 am, I enjoyed 4-5 of your documentaries today, I'm just starting to nod off,. Thank you and God Bless 😌
Your productions are very tight and well done. The drone footage adds a lot.
And you do a good job of steadying the camera. I can't watch videos that shake around, it makes me feel ill. Your must have good equipment and a steady hand.
Thank you. I particularly enjoyed the one on treasure on Catalina Island. I will watch more.
I am 65 years old, but along with my parents and siblings first visited Elkhorn and the area fifty-two years ago. (I have an old enlarged photo of me sitting up on the second floor railing of one of the remaining lodges.) We continued to come often and our love for the area and its history and people has stayed with us. So many stories of people and their joys and sorrows. You told some of their stories so well.
Great research and presentation...such beauty..keep doing these lost places...love these stories...
That was awesome. I love ghost towns.
This was recommended by Ytube.
Absolutely LOVE learning about our history & seeing what footprints are left.
Near us is a very old church.
The cemetery is full of those who died, all the same year.
I can't remember the date.
There were four kids, & Mother from same family.
So sad.
I live in Helena MT. Been to this ghost town numberous times.
Back in the summer of 1981 when I was 9, my parents took the family went on a road trip vacation from our ranch in Cardston County AB down to Yellowstone. My favorite memories were Old Faithful, a mock gunfight in Jackson Hole, WY, the Charlie Russell Museum, and a ghost town we visited. I believe it was this one.
I love your documentaries because you have so much info on these wonderful places to explore from back in the day! Brings us the history and to feel part of it! Well done and thank you! Warm greetings from Canada❤
Amazing how intact those signs still are and even those few buildings so rare you see that and love those photos too great video 😀
Also check out Garnet Montana. It’s a very large spread out ghost town with lots of buildings.
I love the old ghost towns and often think of the history that must have taken place in the buildings over the years. When abandoned to the weather, it doesn't take nature long, in the grand scheme of things, to reclaim the materials, subtly change the topography, and eventually bury the artifacts.
There are several old ghost towns near me that I still want to visit. I visited Bodie WA and plan on visits to Molsen and Nighthawk when the warmer weather returns.
Thank you for the tour. I have been to many of the old ghost towns in New Mexico and Colorado...now I have one to go see in Montana. Thanks again.
Nice video! Spent my youth, combing through this place and others like it. Appreciate the memories! 💙🌿
The old history of Montana is actually really intriguing. It’s almost eerie in a way, almost like the souls that were here before us are watching us as we try to piece together their existence. I remember there was really a weird vibe at robbers roost over near Virginia city. Not a bad vibe but eerie for sure.
My girlfriend and I took a detour off the big hiway and found an old town. The hotel was owned by a retired couple who rented us a room that was authentic. I took a bath in the old claw foot tub. The next morning we took ride up a hill and found and old mine with buildings still standing. I found a newspaper dated 1951 (my BD) laying on a kitchen table. The Montana trip was one of the best trips I ever took.
@@Jeff-jg7jh Glad you enjoyed it!
Love these videos, so interesting, sad and relaxing at the same time.
Love US history, I love most history but the US history is something quite unique. Great video.
Very Nice, Thank You
In Australia we have lots mines, many are closed and some just aren't worked any more. In and around the opal mines the have huge heaps of the 'other stuff' that was not worth going through. People are allowed to go through the heaps by hand. Sometimes a lucky find can net a piece worth a few dollars. In light of that I wondered if you looked through any of the spoils from the mines if you're allowed.
Such a wonderful video. I searched and nothing is for sale there. I think it would be great to restore in a place like that.
Beautiful little town, hopefully it can be preserved and I wish I could visit.
Really enjoyed this program. I would love too live there. What a history!! Thank you!!
It’s easy to forget just how recently America came onto being, what a new nation it is, and how the first buildings there were so fragile and easily lost. I’m English and I live in a village in the South-West of the country - my house was built a hundred Years before Elkhorn was founded but is not the oldest house in the area by a long way - the big Manor House is still occupied by a Lord and his family gave been there for over 500 years, and the oldest buildings including the Church are around 750 years old. Going further back, there is an ancient disused ironworks on a site that has been worked since the Roman invasion (before Christ was born) and on twin hills overlooking the area are the remains of a neolithic hill fort where bronze-age tribesmen lived perhaps 4000 years ago, or possibly earlier. Nearby are the famous caves of Cheddar Gorge where human remains dated to 9000 years have been found, bones that scientists have found to bear a close genetic relationship to some modern residents showing that the area has been continually occupied since the end of the ice age. By those timescales, the Pilgrim Fathers setting off from Plymouth happened very recently, and the speed at which America has been built from nothing is amazing.
I am in aww of this 🥹 thank you for sharing
@@TheeMrsRice Thank you for your reply, that was kind of you. Maybe one day you will come and visit us in the Old World! I love visiting the US and seeing the modern wonders you have there.
A professional presentation , with personality and a feel and sentiment for that time and place .
What an incredible place! Adding this to the bucket list!
17:37 the wind on the video here, perfect also
Thank you for the quality AV and voice overs instead of a windblown selfie stick.
Thanks for the tour. Great video!👍
You should definitely check out Garnet, Montana. It's about an hour outside Missoula on highway 200, about fifteen miles up a gravel road. It's in amazing condition and my girlfriend and I love going there.