So cool! That creek was very scenic and beautiful. We stayed in one of the campgrounds in the park and it was only a short distance to the creek from our tent.
It's so cool to find places like that. When I was in New River Gorge NP early this year, I felt the same way about some of the old coal mining infrastructure. Just super neat to see these places frozen in time and be able to reflect on all that they've seen. Thanks for watching!
So cool! We didn't make it to Virginia City on this trip, but it was another place I heard a lot about. I'm glad we stopped in Bannack though - worth it for sure!
@@NationalParkDiaries Honestly Virginia City is more a touristy draw if not just a trap. I haven't been back in a long time but I'd wager it's worse now. If you want a legit ghost town experience Bannack is a much better choice. It's kinda cool...I'm now remembering all the crazy stories our history teacher told us back in the day. Montana history is wild!
I was just here yesterday! How fun to see this pop up in my video feed from one my new favorite channels! Bannack is a really spectacular place. It’s amazing how you can walk in all the buildings and experience everything without any layers of commercialization. It’s just Bannack and presents itself as it is. My friend who I brought was shocked that it was so stripped down, simple and authentic. But I really want to know about the upstairs of that school house…
Oh how funny! Yeah, super cool place and I'm glad you got to go and experience it. I also am very interested in the upper floor of that schoolhouse, especially since that's where the Masonic Lodge was...
@PhillipCarterPearson. Yes, I've lived in many towns in Montana, even very small ones. And the Masonic lodge was a FIXTURE. KIND OF A POINT OF PRIDE. A NECESSITY.
Thank you for this video. I went on a ghost hunt here, which I am editing now. This video gave me the direction and perspective I needed to make sure I do this place justice. So thank you.
The first governor of Bannack was my 4th cousin 6x removed, Sidney Edgerton. We're related through my 9th great grandfather Richard Edgerton from Norwich, CT. I am probably also related to John White. I just can't make the connection. I have a 3rd great grandma, Margaret Ellen White, who at age 13 in 1862 traveled the Oregon Trail from Independence, MO., to Walla Walla, WA., then to Drummond Montana. Her story is fascinating! Thank you for this video. It means a lot to me!❤
My grandparents homesteaded a few miles from Bannack. They would move into town in the winter so my dad and his siblings could attend school. My father went through the third grade there before moving to Twin Bridges.
Dillon was like the one place we didn't go through lol. We were all over SW Montana, but never ended up in Dillon! Spent 2 nights in Deer Lodge (to see the Grant Kohrs Ranch), which I enjoyed though. Loved SW Montana overall.
Thanks there's alot of others places somewhat in that area i been going to Ennis Montana for many years. GRASSHOPPER creek. Is full of fish. Thanks for information
We had a great time exploring SW Montana! Would have loved to visit Buffalo Jump SP and Lewis and Clark Caverns as well. Really special area and I hope to be back!
I think that the Antiquities Act probably would extend to old west ghost towns since they showcase our history. I would love to see more ghost towns preserved as parks, maybe that's just because it's my favorite subject(Old West History), but I think it would be great to see some ghost towns be preserved as national monuments like Bodie, Animas Forks, etc.
You visited Big Hole? I'll be looking forward to your video on that park. I've visited there a number of times during my life. I'll be very interested in learning what you have to tell about it. Sadly, I never got over to Bannock. Most of my time was spent in the Bitterroot Valley, from Lost Trail Pass to Glacier Nat'l Park.
I don't have plans for a Big Hole video at the moment, at least not from this most recent trip. I was focusing on my story about the Grant-Kohrs Ranch, but did manage to get some decent footage at Big Hole and learn about its story. Needless to say, I do want to cover it at some point, because I honestly had no idea of that place's history. It's fascinating and it needs to be told. Will put it on the backburner for now, but definitely on my list!
Good video, it's the more known and protected ghost town in Montana, (atleast known to people in Montana). Others that are still able to visit and explore are, garnett ghost town (I think that one is state or blm) granite ghost town which is a little patch of state land surrounded by private (still a small mine operation there) Virginia city/confederate city as well. Lots of sources out there telling of the wild vigilante days, including the Idaho territorial governor who saw what was going on in the winter of 1863. Pile on the stories and visit Butte, (which is 1/4 the size it was in 1917). I would suggest a visit to the speculator north Butte mine disaster, just north of the Berkley pit. That event wasn't just an isolated mine accident, but sparked a sanctioned council that had more power than the branches of the state government. The federal sedition acts of 1918, took big chunks of the anti sedition acts Montana adopted after that disaster. I would recommend "fire and brimstone" as a read up on that history.
I actually read about Virginia City before our trip, but had never heard of Bannack. We ended up making a detour to Bannack though just because it sounded like such a unique preservation situation. Really glad we did. Also, just looked up the book you recommended and it looks fascinating! Gonna have to check that out, for sure.
I haven’t been to Bannack, but I have spent a lot of time in the Island Park, Idaho area, and there’s a couple ghost towns similar to Bannack around there (not nearly as large or well preserved though). Also, I was born in a county in Idaho with the same name, but a different spelling: Bannock County.
This visit really opened my eyes to the amount of abandoned mining infrastructure in the West. Of course, I'd heard and read about it before, but being there and seeing it up close really drove home how big of a deal these places are to Western history.
Based upon this interesting, informative visit to Bannack, you'd probably also enjoy visiting and videoing South Pass City, Wyoming, another very interesting gold rush ghost town, administered by Wyoming State Parks.
Reminds me of Bodie State Park in California, but Bannack seems like it's in a much nicer setting. Many state parks are spectacular and are often overshadowed by the National Parks and many are almost completely unknown except by locals. Most states don't do a very good job of publicizing their state parks. My favorite is San Juan Bautista State Historic Park. It not only has preserved the old Mission San Juan Bautista and the surrounding plaza and buildings, but it has an awesome view of the San Andreas Fault which is directly behind the mission.
I love these types of places. There were next to no visitors at Bannack when we arrived, and having come from Yellowstone that same day, it was a really nice experience! Having done this video now, I hope to be able to incorporate more lesser known State Parks on this channel as well. So many stories to tell, so little time lol!
I am from Montana and went to Bannack and the closest town of Virginia City in which were tourist towns to visit and enjoy do you have a story of Virginia City and do they keep Virginia City still going!!??
I do not have a video on Virginia City, although I just found out that the National Park Service actually looked into preserving it! From what I can tell, it's a bit different from Bannack in that they actually do some active preservation/restoration there, whereas in Bannack, it's more in a state of "managed decay."
That's what's left of it lol. The original structure burned down in the early 1900s, but they salvaged some logs to build that in its place. You can see a picture of the original here: www.distinctlymontana.com/history/governor
A ghost town abandoned by humans would be invaded by nature: starting with the plants and their insects, and then the animals. As a state park it is a reminder of the Jekyll/Hyde aspect of our human selves: all creative and skillful and also greedy and fickle. And always trying to subdue nature. It might be better to leave Bannack protected but not preserved, allowing nature to slowly reclaim what was hers from the beginning. Minus the gold, of course.
You could tell certain aspects of that were already happening. I think they do mow/maintain certain areas around the houses, but the sagebrush has definitely infiltrated into a lot of these places. Some, like the jail, had "green roofs" as well with vegetation growing on them.
Several years ago, I caught the largest trout of my life in Grasshopper Creek in Bannack.
So cool! That creek was very scenic and beautiful. We stayed in one of the campgrounds in the park and it was only a short distance to the creek from our tent.
An idyllic Ghost town for sure; need to visit it myself!
Very cool to have it preserved like that. Eerie in a way, but still very cool. Camping was great there also!
Thank you for all the awesome content and great videos!!!!
Thanks for watching!
Such an awesome hidden gem
I never would’ve known about!
I hadn't heard of it either! Super easy stop if you're ever in the area!
Good video. Glad it's being preserved. After wandering remote northern Nevada this summer, I've tripped upon several old stagecoach stops and ranches.
It's so cool to find places like that. When I was in New River Gorge NP early this year, I felt the same way about some of the old coal mining infrastructure. Just super neat to see these places frozen in time and be able to reflect on all that they've seen. Thanks for watching!
Very cool how they chose preservation instead of exploitation. Great video as always!
I agree and thank you!
This is a well done presentation, and I enjoyed it very much. Thank you!
Glad to hear it, thanks for watching!
Great video! Just added it to my list of places to adventure.
Thank you! It's a great visit, well worth the trip!
Man once again as I'm leaving MT to go back home you drop a new MT video. Just another place me and my gf will have to go. Love the videos!
Highly recommend! If you're in the area, I don't think you'll regret stopping. Thanks for watching!
Nice!! Growing up we used to take class trips to Bannack and Virginia City all the time lol.
So cool! We didn't make it to Virginia City on this trip, but it was another place I heard a lot about. I'm glad we stopped in Bannack though - worth it for sure!
@@NationalParkDiaries Honestly Virginia City is more a touristy draw if not just a trap. I haven't been back in a long time but I'd wager it's worse now. If you want a legit ghost town experience Bannack is a much better choice.
It's kinda cool...I'm now remembering all the crazy stories our history teacher told us back in the day. Montana history is wild!
I am new to your channel, and really love your content. I too am a lover of protected places.
Welcome, I'm so glad you're here!
I was just here yesterday! How fun to see this pop up in my video feed from one my new favorite channels!
Bannack is a really spectacular place. It’s amazing how you can walk in all the buildings and experience everything without any layers of commercialization. It’s just Bannack and presents itself as it is. My friend who I brought was shocked that it was so stripped down, simple and authentic. But I really want to know about the upstairs of that school house…
Oh how funny! Yeah, super cool place and I'm glad you got to go and experience it. I also am very interested in the upper floor of that schoolhouse, especially since that's where the Masonic Lodge was...
The upstairs of the school house is😮 the Masonic Lodge. There is one in every town in Montana. To this very day.
@@marjoriegarner5369 every town? That’s wild
@PhillipCarterPearson. Yes, I've lived in many towns in Montana, even very small ones. And the Masonic lodge was a FIXTURE. KIND OF A POINT OF PRIDE. A NECESSITY.
I want to go on these field trips..
I'm hoping to do more meetups on my travels, so be on the lookout for updates!
That is really cool
I agree!
Dead Horse State Park!!! Another great video, thanks!
I actually drove right below it last year when I did the Shafer Trail in Canyonlands lol
Reminds me of Bodie CA, except Bodie is in ruins compared to Bannack. Very nice video.
Thank you! One of my Patrons recently made me aware of Bodie, which sounds like another cool place to check out.
Thank you for this video. I went on a ghost hunt here, which I am editing now. This video gave me the direction and perspective I needed to make sure I do this place justice. So thank you.
Glad I could help, glad you (hopefully) enjoyed the park!
The first governor of Bannack was my 4th cousin 6x removed, Sidney Edgerton. We're related through my 9th great grandfather Richard Edgerton from Norwich, CT.
I am probably also related to John White. I just can't make the connection. I have a 3rd great grandma, Margaret Ellen White, who at age 13 in 1862 traveled the Oregon Trail from Independence, MO., to Walla Walla, WA., then to Drummond Montana.
Her story is fascinating!
Thank you for this video. It means a lot to me!❤
Such a cool connection! Glad me little internet video could help in some small way ❤
Well done!
Thank you!
My grandparents homesteaded a few miles from Bannack. They would move into town in the winter so my dad and his siblings could attend school. My father went through the third grade there before moving to Twin Bridges.
Wow, very cool story - thanks for sharing!
Glad you cover this state park. Many state parks could be national park or monuments and some national parks and monuments should only be state parks.
It was a really cool experience - glad I changed my plans around to go see it!
Thanks!🏫
Thanks for watching!
Honestly thought this was a Red Dead Redemption screenshot at first upon seeing the thumbnail. So cool!
Haha, same vibe tbh 😂
Drove past Bannack once, didnt stop. Been to Dillon several times tho.
Big fish. Big people. Small town.
What a place.
Dillon was like the one place we didn't go through lol. We were all over SW Montana, but never ended up in Dillon! Spent 2 nights in Deer Lodge (to see the Grant Kohrs Ranch), which I enjoyed though. Loved SW Montana overall.
Thanks there's alot of others places somewhat in that area i been going to Ennis Montana for many years. GRASSHOPPER creek. Is full of fish. Thanks for information
We had a great time exploring SW Montana! Would have loved to visit Buffalo Jump SP and Lewis and Clark Caverns as well. Really special area and I hope to be back!
I think that the Antiquities Act probably would extend to old west ghost towns since they showcase our history. I would love to see more ghost towns preserved as parks, maybe that's just because it's my favorite subject(Old West History), but I think it would be great to see some ghost towns be preserved as national monuments like Bodie, Animas Forks, etc.
Definitely a cool piece of Western History. I'm all for more preservation!
You visited Big Hole? I'll be looking forward to your video on that park. I've visited there a number of times during my life. I'll be very interested in learning what you have to tell about it.
Sadly, I never got over to Bannock. Most of my time was spent in the Bitterroot Valley, from Lost Trail Pass to Glacier Nat'l Park.
I don't have plans for a Big Hole video at the moment, at least not from this most recent trip. I was focusing on my story about the Grant-Kohrs Ranch, but did manage to get some decent footage at Big Hole and learn about its story. Needless to say, I do want to cover it at some point, because I honestly had no idea of that place's history. It's fascinating and it needs to be told. Will put it on the backburner for now, but definitely on my list!
Good video, it's the more known and protected ghost town in Montana, (atleast known to people in Montana). Others that are still able to visit and explore are, garnett ghost town (I think that one is state or blm) granite ghost town which is a little patch of state land surrounded by private (still a small mine operation there) Virginia city/confederate city as well. Lots of sources out there telling of the wild vigilante days, including the Idaho territorial governor who saw what was going on in the winter of 1863. Pile on the stories and visit Butte, (which is 1/4 the size it was in 1917). I would suggest a visit to the speculator north Butte mine disaster, just north of the Berkley pit. That event wasn't just an isolated mine accident, but sparked a sanctioned council that had more power than the branches of the state government. The federal sedition acts of 1918, took big chunks of the anti sedition acts Montana adopted after that disaster. I would recommend "fire and brimstone" as a read up on that history.
I actually read about Virginia City before our trip, but had never heard of Bannack. We ended up making a detour to Bannack though just because it sounded like such a unique preservation situation. Really glad we did.
Also, just looked up the book you recommended and it looks fascinating! Gonna have to check that out, for sure.
Is that Gary O’slide I hear in the background?
I haven’t been to Bannack, but I have spent a lot of time in the Island Park, Idaho area, and there’s a couple ghost towns similar to Bannack around there (not nearly as large or well preserved though).
Also, I was born in a county in Idaho with the same name, but a different spelling: Bannock County.
This visit really opened my eyes to the amount of abandoned mining infrastructure in the West. Of course, I'd heard and read about it before, but being there and seeing it up close really drove home how big of a deal these places are to Western history.
I was in Bannack in the summer of 2011 on a motorcycle.
Very cool place!
Based upon this interesting, informative visit to Bannack, you'd probably also enjoy visiting and videoing South Pass City, Wyoming, another very interesting gold rush ghost town, administered by Wyoming State Parks.
One of my Patrons recently made me aware of South Pass City - I'll have to check it out if I'm ever in the area!
There's a lot more to the sheriff than what you were told. It involves millions of dollars worth of hidden gold that still hasn't been found.
Did you go over the hill to see the monument sign to the Road Agents? You can see where they waited for wagons.
Which hill? We did climb a hill to see the site of the old gallows and cemetery, but didn't see anything about Road Agents. Must have missed it!
Reminds me of Bodie State Park in California, but Bannack seems like it's in a much nicer setting. Many state parks are spectacular and are often overshadowed by the National Parks and many are almost completely unknown except by locals. Most states don't do a very good job of publicizing their state parks. My favorite is San Juan Bautista State Historic Park. It not only has preserved the old Mission San Juan Bautista and the surrounding plaza and buildings, but it has an awesome view of the San Andreas Fault which is directly behind the mission.
I love these types of places. There were next to no visitors at Bannack when we arrived, and having come from Yellowstone that same day, it was a really nice experience! Having done this video now, I hope to be able to incorporate more lesser known State Parks on this channel as well. So many stories to tell, so little time lol!
I am from Montana and went to Bannack and the closest town of Virginia City in which were tourist towns to visit and enjoy do you have a story of Virginia City and do they keep Virginia City still going!!??
I do not have a video on Virginia City, although I just found out that the National Park Service actually looked into preserving it! From what I can tell, it's a bit different from Bannack in that they actually do some active preservation/restoration there, whereas in Bannack, it's more in a state of "managed decay."
Since your doing state parks now
Suggestion: copper falls state park.
I'll look into it!
If you like Ghost Towns as State Parks you should make a visit to Fayette State Historic Park in Michigan
I've gotten so many good comments for future ghost towns to visit lol! I love checking these places out
3:09 Is... uh... is that the "mansion"...?
It smol
That's what's left of it lol. The original structure burned down in the early 1900s, but they salvaged some logs to build that in its place. You can see a picture of the original here: www.distinctlymontana.com/history/governor
A ghost town abandoned by humans would be invaded by nature: starting with the plants and their insects, and then the animals. As a state park it is a reminder of the Jekyll/Hyde aspect of our human selves: all creative and skillful and also greedy and fickle. And always trying to subdue nature. It might be better to leave Bannack protected but not preserved, allowing nature to slowly reclaim what was hers from the beginning. Minus the gold, of course.
wholeheartedly agree, but nature overtaking it would look very different in that particular environment.
You could tell certain aspects of that were already happening. I think they do mow/maintain certain areas around the houses, but the sagebrush has definitely infiltrated into a lot of these places. Some, like the jail, had "green roofs" as well with vegetation growing on them.
Baxter state park!
Really interesting management dynamics there! Will definitely be covering it at some point for sure.
Standing time capsules
Great description!
There is another one in California
We don't have ghost towns SC
Nope, totally foreign experience to us Easterners 😂
Wikipedia article could use some good writing, copy editing