Exploring and camping in Montana – August 21, 2014
From Bozeman, we headed to the mountains west of Butte, planning to camp 3 nights at Lodgepole Campground, near Georgetown Lake. The name is appropriate as the forest the campground is in is mostly lodgepole pines.
The were only a couple of other campers in the campground when we got set up. A forest worker was attaching white flagging tape to selected trees in the campground. The tape identifies trees that a contract company is supposed to treat to prevent infestation by pine bark beetles, which has been a big problem in many areas of the west for several years.
After supper, we decided to take a drive to do a bit of exploring. A trip down a side road took us into the historic mining town of Phillipsburg.
There was a good probability for rain for the entire time we planned to stay in the area.
The historic mining town of Philipsburg, Montana was founded in 1867. Prospectors and placer miners were in the area from the mid 1860’s. The first claims were staked in 1865. Early in the summer of 1866, one of the locators, Hector Horton, interested James Stuart and the St. Louis and Montana Mining Company who were operating mines at Argenta, in a prospecting trip to the area. A silver “rush” followed, with numerous prospectors staking claims on the Hope, Algonquin, Speckled Trout, and other lodes in the district. Philipp Deidesheimer, who had become famous in the Comstock, arrived in 1866. He also evaluated the district for the St. Louis and Montana Mining Company and, in the next year, supervised the construction of the Hope Mill. The town of Philipsburg is named for him. (Mining History Association)
Next up: A ghost town.
