Missoula MT - Bozeman MT
6/24/24
Miles Traveled 196
Trip Total 6026
Travel Time 3:30
States visited: FL, GA, AL, MS, LA, TX, NM, AZ, UT, NV, CA, OR, WA, ID, Montana
As much as we do not like leaving early, we departed Missoula at 8:00am. While planning our route, and looking for somewhere to stop for fuel, I saw the World Museum of Mining in Butte, MT. It was a little over halfway between Missoula and Bozeman and right where we would need to get fuel. When Mark looked at the website, he found the offer a tour in the mine. The only problem was the only time slot that room for 4 people was 10:00am. 
Once we were on the road we realized to make it to the Museum by 10:00 we were going to have to drive faster than we normally do. Once again I90 did not disappoint us, the road was smooth, flat and perfect views which allowed us to keep our speed around 66MPH. Normally we try to keep our speed around 62MPH, even though the speed limit was 80MPH. Once we got off the Interstate the GPS did take us the wrong way down two one way streets, but we made it on time.
The Museum was on 22 acres which includes two mines The Orphan Girls Mine and The Orphan Boys Mine. When the property was taken over my the Museum they open a 65 foot deep tunnel leading to the original Orphan Girl Mine. After walking down the 17% slope we arrived at the 65' Level from there we followed mine shafts that were dug over 100 years ago to the 100' level. There are no lights in the mine, the only light was from the headlamps on our helmets. At one point our tour guide lit a candle like the early miners used and had us shut off our headlamps. One candle does not provide much light when you are 100' underground!!!
The mine was opened in 1875 and active until the 1950's, the mine is over 3000 feet deep, with tunnels leading off the shaft at different levels. The levels are designated by how many feet they are from the surface. The miners would travel down the shaft in a man cage elevator, the cage looks like it would hold two or three people, yet the would put six to eight miners in it on the way down, and thirteen to sixteen on the way up.
Another interesting fact about the mines in Butte is they are interconnected. In the two mile by four mile mining district there are over 10,000 miles of tunnels and shafts. Once the miners entered the shaft the were there for the duration of their shift. Until the miners were unionized the shifts were sixteen hours. In addition to the carts for the ore, they had two other carts with them. One cart was for fresh water, and one cart for a toilet. Depending on how big the crews were in the mine some of the toilet carts had six seats on them, GROSS!
Overall I think the tour was more interesting for Mark & I than Angel & Karen.
On a sad note, Boseman marks then end of the trip for Angel & I. Angel's dad has been admitted to the hospital and we are heading home first thing Tuesday morning. It is approximately a 2200 mile trip home. Normally we travel about 4 hours or 300 miles which ever come first. Our plan is to drive about 10 hours a day. If all goes well we plan to be home Friday or Saturday. We spent the afternoon canceling our reservation and planning our route home.
We did go out for one last dinner with Mark & Karen, after checking out 3 VERY expensive restaurants, we found a reasonable priced bar and grill. When we asked for our check, the waitress told us our bill had been paid. On our way to our table another patron told Mark how much he liked his Trump 2024 hat. Apparently he liked it so much he paid for our dinner.
Tuesday we will be leaving at 6:00am for our trip home.
