Deer Lodge

Well, on Sunday morning in Buffalo, we got up early to get everything closed up in time to go to Bible class & church services. There was a great place to park the rig just across the road. It was a good class and sermon. It was nice to have the chance to thank Ella Mae for getting the scooter fixed and to say bye to everyone.

We got into Hardin, MT about 4p and left early the next morning for Deer Lodge, didn't even disconnect the truck..

Deer Lodge is definitely a small town, but much history. The old Montana State Prison is there and is now an historical site. It was built entirely with convict labor, even the parts build after the mid 20th century. The prison opened in the late 19th century and closed in 1960's. Once you get inside, it is much larger than it appears from the road. At least one of the buildings was dismantled and taken to the site of the new prison. We toured the cell blocks, the dining hall, the "hole" and the maximum security cells. The "hole" is very dark. TM offered to close the door for me so I would know how dark. But I had done that at Alcatraz and remember it well. Just for fun, count the number of steps the condemned man had to take to get up to the gallows. And these are real!

The maximum security cells were originally the women's cells, but were converted after the 1959 riot. During the 1959 riot, the National Guard used a bazooka to end the whole thing and the damage to the tower is still there. All in all, an interesting place.

Next to the prison is the auto museum, which definitely did not look like very much. But once you got in - it just kept going and going and going. Many are on loan and some have not yet been restored; still an amazing array of cars. We liked seeing the really old cars (like from before we were born), but TM was happiest as we came to the cars that he knows. The ones he worked on and drove in the 50's and 60's. I had to walk behind him with a mop - I don't think my babies drooled that much! This camper was NOT a homeade rig, but "store bought."

We also went to the Toys of the Past museum and I like the way they have the dolls displayed and TM liked the trains.

The Frontier Museum was pretty nice. There were a lot of firearms and memorabilia from the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show and a large case of items donated by Gen. Custer's family.

Other than the cars, I guess we really enjoyed the Grant-Kohrs Ranch the most. This is a working ranch, but is part of the National Park Service as well. The tour of the house was most interesting. The house was originally 2000 sq. ft., which is huge for 150 years ago. Then it was enlarged to 5000 sq. ft. It is well decorated, as nearly everything there is original and they have many more things in storage. Of course it is the heavy, ornate furnishings from that era. Also some horsehair furniture. The Kohrs were German, so all the labels, etc. in the kitchen were in German. Over the time they lived in the house, they continued making improvements. It was built with indoor plumbing, using a gravity system. Later was added electricity, but the lamps were dual purpose. They could also be used with gas since electricity was not reliable. They actually had two that would work with electricity, gas or oil (Kerosene). We really enjoyed talking with our tour guide. She is a volunteer who comes here in the summer from Pensacola.

Outside there was a lot of farm machinery, even two item TM had never seen. They are haying this time of year, so there was much activity in the fields. Also there was a gentleman on a horse showing how they were trained to work cattle and do roundups. He was really interesting.

So ends our days in Deer Lodge. Now we are on the Glacier.

God Bless