As some of you might already know, I moved out to Montana back in December, though I'll only be out here until spring before moving on to places yet unknown. Montana may be incredibly sparsely populated, but that doesn't mean there's not some cool places to explore out here- provided, of course, you're willing to drive several hours into some of the most remote sections of the contiguous United States. Chief among these places are ghost towns.
The ore concentrator building and worker's barracks There's just one problem with exploring Montana in the winter. The western half of Montana is covered by the Rocky Mountains, and the brutal mountain snowstorms render most roads outside of towns and highways impassable for most vehicles until the spring melt clears the way. Even with the extreme drought Montana is currently experiencing, there's still more than enough snow to block the roads in the Rockies. That brings us to last week.
Several collapsed storefronts along the main street During the beginning half of February, Montana experienced a two week long stretch of unseasonably warm weather, with daytime temperatures ranging from the mid 30s to as high in 60 degrees Fahrenheit in some areas. I gambled that the warm weather would melt enough snow to render the normally- blocked rural roads passable, and drove several hours in search of a particular ghost town. Getting there required driving 15 miles up a mountain along an unplowed, winding dirt road- a daunting task in winter.
The ore concentrator building, worker's barracks, and a house Unfortunately I jumped the gun in my eagerness to explore and found that though roads at lower elevations were clear, once I was up in the mountains the combination of thick snow and mud was too much for my two wheel drive sedan to handle. Fortunately I came prepared with tire chains, and once my car couldn't go uphill any further I threw those chains on and floored the gas. Even with the tire chains I barely made it up the mountain as I fought my steering wheel for enough traction to stay on the road, but I still reached my target in the end- the ghost town of Comet, MT.
The interior of the house pictured above Located about an hour north of Butte, the earliest records of mining in the area date back to 1869 when a prospector named John W. Russell arrived in the area. After a few years he sold his claim to the Alta-Montana Company in 1874, which laid the groundwork for the township's founding in 1876.
Interior of the worker's barracks, first floor. 
Interior of the worker's barracks, second floor The Alta-Montana Company invested $500,000 (over $14 million, adjusted for inflation) but were unable to get a return on that investment due to the high cost of transportation. In 1883 the Helena Mining and Reduction Company bought the assets of the Alta-Montana Company and continued to invest in Comet- a move that paid off when the Northern-Pacific Railway built a line between the nearby towns of Wickes and Helena, allowing for cheap transportation of goods and materials. One of the major investments was a large scale ore concentrator, which ground down raw ore to separate it from the waste rock before it was to be shipped via tram to Wickes for refinement.
Dailey Hotel (left) and several collapsed outbuildings 
Worker's barracks (left) and Dailey Hotel (right) In the 1890s Comet reached its peak with 300 residents, a school, and 22 saloons. This prosperity was not destined to last, as the mine ran dry by 1900 and the town was completely abandoned by 1913.
The skybridge section of the ore concentrator building 
Interior of the ore concentrator building After about 15 years of abandonment, Comet was bought by the Basin Montana Tunnel Company in 1927. New technology allowed more ore to be extracted from the mine, and the Comet Mine grew to become the second largest mining operation in Montana. The average miner made about $5/day ($102/day, adjusted for inflation) during the Great Depression.
Interior of the ore concentrator building 
One of the only pieces of equipment left in the ore concentrator building This lasted until 1941 when the mine ran dry for good. All equipment was sold off and the town fell back into abandonment, and only one residence remains occupied today. There were articles in local newspapers in the 1960s that mentioned possibly reopening the mine, but nothing ever came of it.
Headframe of the Comet Mine, just down the road from the town 
Winch building for the headframe elevator By the time Comet was finally abandoned for good, roughly $20 million in profits had been extracted from the mine, leaving behind large piles of toxic mine tailings that were seeping into the nearby High Ore Creek. In 1967 a group of volunteers diverted the mine wastes away from the waterway, and in 1997 a formal environmental reclamation project was undertaken by the Mine Waste Cleanup Bureau of the Montana Department of Environmental Quality- an effort which netted them an award from the U.S. Office of Surface Mining in 2006.
Ore hopper section of the Comet Mine headframe The nearby Comet Mine just down the road was actually open, but unfortunately I didn't come prepared for mine exploration. Since I was lacking essentials such as climbing gear, a gas meter, a partner, and knowledge regarding the warning signs of collapse and other hazards, I decided not to attempt to climb the broken ladder down into the mine. It doesn't look too difficult with the right preparation, but unfortunately I simply was not equipped to safely explore the mine and thus decided to not even try.
Vertical drop shaft leading into the Comet Mine There were also some... oddities I noticed around the town. For example, there were several references to some kind of creature known as the "Babooncoon" scrawled on various surfaces around the town. Presumably it's some sort of local cryptid, but Googling the term found no relevant results.
A graffiti warning about the Babooncoon written on a storage tank 
A reference to the Babooncoon written on a box in the worker's barracks Additionally, I found a boulder that had crashed through the side of the worker's barracks, leaving a trail of destruction in it's wake. The strange part was that the path of the boulder ran perpendicular to the slope of the nearby hill, not along it- meaning that the boulder would have had to roll across the hillside, not down it. Looking at the surrounding geography I couldn't find any physically possible way for the boulder to have taken the path it clearly took. Furthermore, despite smashing through the wall, it left the fence on the other side of the wall untouched- as though it had somehow been launched over the fence and into the side of the building.
The boulder and the trail of destruction in its wake Unanswered questions aside, this location was an incredibly interesting place to explore, and I finished my visit with enough time to get back down the mountain and reach the main highway just before sundown. Thanks for sticking with me this far for those of you who are still with me, and stay tuned for more ghost towns in future posts!
