Yellowstone Adventure - Day 42

   Today was my last day off before the fourth of July deluge of tourists. From what I hear it is going to be unreal busy. I decided not to go hiking today but I got up early to head to the old mining towns of Virginia City and Nevada City. I ate breakfast and headed toward West Yellowstone and then onto Virginia City. The drive was estimated on my GPS to take about two and a half hours. The drive took me through the town of Ennis Montana and I decided to stop and walk around the town for awhile. The town was rather touristy but still had some small town charm. I visited several stores and a couple of antique stores. Leaving one store I looked down and there were two credit cards and an ID card. I shouted out the name to the tourists around me but no one answered. So I went back into the store and gave them to the owner, who said she would call the police and give them to them. At least I tried.
  I left Ennis and headed toward my destination. The drive was great as it took me through the Madison Rivet valley. The valley was surrounded by mountains on each side with the Madison River running through the middle. The views all around me were great and the amount of fly fishermen I saw on the river indicated that this area was a big recreational area. I would not mind living in the valley for sure as a house would have mountain views on both sides.
  Going through a pass I arrived at Virginia City. This city was once the territorial capital and when gold was found the area held 30,000 mining men. The numbers of woman and children and Chinese that made up the population were not counted.  Gold was what drove the town and also what almost killed it too. When gold could not be owned during world war two the town about died completely. There were several notable people that bought buildings and such to preserve the town because during hard times people were using abandoned buildings for fuel to burn to keep warm. During the gold boom the town had a very colorful, if not violent, past. There were several places where hangings took place and boot hill cemetery has a lot of people buried there after vigilantes got a hold of them. One building in town still has the rope burn marks on the rafters where some were hung. If you want to know more about the town or the area just Google Virginia City or Nevada City Montana and you will be amazed at what went on there. I also will tell you that the money was not in the gold but in selling goods and food to miners. I could not believe how many shops were in the town that sold everyday and special items to miners with a lot of cash. The town and the surrounding towns were full of good men, bad men, rich men and women, and some very mad individuals. Such as the guy who was a serial killer and during the winter decided that his victims were good eating too as the snows made it tough to get any food in.
  I walked to the end of the town where the old train depot was because they still had a train operating that would take tourist from Virginia City to Nevada City. I paid for a round trip ticket and an entry fee to Nevada City walking town/museum. The train turned out to be a three horse diesel engine that pulled four cars for the tourists to ride on. The train may not have been authentic, but the tracks were the original narrow gauge rails that connected several of the mining towns in the area and to other towns in other states. The train left the station right on time and there was a woman who narrated stories for the tourists about Virginia City and it's neighbor towns. She also had the job of stepping off the train to set the rail switches so we could get on the right tracks to our destination.  She had some great stories about the area, the population during its heyday and the gold in the area. Gold was still being mined by big companies and individuals working claims around the area. 
  We arrived at Nevada City and it's rather neatly restored train depot. The narrator told us where the museum of the town started and also if we wanted to pan for gold there was a place a few yards from the depot that we could try our luck. I was not here for gold but to look at the history, so I walked to the museum. The way the historic town is setup is it is surrounded by a fence with the museum being the starting point. Once you enter the museum entrance then you go through a back door into the old town. Each building is numbered and you are given a guide book to read about the history of each building. Some buildings are open for you to explore and others are not. The history of the town is pretty neat and the way they are preserving the past and filling the buildings with antiques is great also. There is also a working historic hotel in Nevada City that you can stay in. The hotel also has an unusual thing. It is a two story hotel and out the back is a two story outhouse. Pretty neat.
  On a side note mostly all the workers, including our train narrator, thinks the old buildings are haunted. With all the killings and such, I would not bet against it.
  I took the train back to Virginia City and the narrator had more stories about the area. The interesting thing was the number of Chinese who lived in the area. They were prohibited from filling claims but that did not stop then from digging tunnels. They also had a section of town that was very dangerous to enter unless you were well armed.
  Once back at Virginia City I explored more of the town and found that the town is restoring each building as fast as they can afford. When the building is restored it is loaded with antiques of the town matching what the building was used for. So walking down the sidewalk you will see about half the buildings are museum type structure for you to explore and the other half are working businesses. The exception to this is a unique business. The business was a dress shop and cloth supplier. It was a business since the late 1800s until 1945. When the gold issue pretty much shut down the town. The lady that owned the shop walked out of the shop and put an out to lunch sign on the door and then locked up and left town. Today it looks exactly as it did when she left town. Same dresses on display and same cloth filling the shelves. A most interesting story.
  I left the town and I am sure I will go back there before I leave as I want to talk to more locals who live there. I uploaded a bunch of pictures to Facebook of my trip also.  I decided to head back to the dorm at old faithful through Idaho this time. Just to see some different scenery.
  Thanks for reading and tomorrow I begin a day shift and I will keep you posted on the tourist traffic as we approach the fourth of July.  Take care and stay well all.