Garnet dates back to
the turn to the 20th century. It was named for the semi-precious
garnet rock first mined there before gold was found. Like most mining
towns, Garnet wasn’t built to last, yet over a century later,
buildings lacking foundations still stand.
Placer mining was practiced around the area later to be established as
Garnet in the 1860s, and gold was found at the First Chance Gulch in
1865. Miners worked about 50 mines in the vicinity. Garnet dates back
to 1895, but it wasn’t until an abundant strike at the Nancy Hanks
Mine that the town began to boom. In 1896, the Nancy Hanks Mine
produced $690,000, and the boom continued throughout the 1890s as
mining companies rolled into Garnet.
Based on the wealth it was producing, you can get a good idea of what
life there must have been like when Garnet was thriving. Garnet had
four hotels, four stores, two barbershops, a butcher shop, a doctor’s
office, laundry facilities and thirteen saloons.
Despite its remote location, there was a school and unlike other
mining towns, many families resided in Garnet. Stagecoach
transportation ran daily between Bearmouth and Coloma and supplies
were available in Missoula and Deer Lodge, just a three-day’s journey
from Garnet. The population of Garnet grew and it was much more of a
community than typical mining towns. The population swelled to as many
as 1,200 in its prime.
Residents of Garnet
did more than just mine for garnets and gold and support the efforts
of miners. There were dances and parties, picnics and fishing trips
and a genuine social life for its residents. Saloons and the drinking,
gambling and prostitution that typified many mining camp towns were
present, but controlled to a great degree. The jail was available as
an incentive to keep rowdy drunkenness at a minimum, or at least a
Twenty years after it was established, the gold in Garnet ran out. AS few
as 150 people remained in Garnet and most of the mines were abandoned by
1905. A fire raged through the town in 1912, destroying many commercial
establishments. Garnet was never rebuilt, and employment opportunities
presented by World War I lured remaining residents away.
Garnet did experience a
revival of sorts in 1934 following the rise in gold prices instituted by
President Roosevelt. When gold skyrocketed from $16 to $32, miners moved
back into Garnet’s abandoned buildings and once again, mines were worked.
Just as World War I had stripped Garnet of the remnants of its first
population, World War II did the town in once again. Mining became more
challenging as dynamite use was restricted and Garnet was abandoned once
and for all by 1940.