Bannack Road

Bannack Road is a short trail leading to the old ghost town of Bannack, the home of Montana's first territorial capital and Montana's first major gold discovery in 1862. Many of the old buildings are well preserved and welcome for visitors to walk through and tour. Many old artifacts such as ore cars are on display along the main street, along with buckets from some of the many bucket line dredges that operated on Grasshopper Creek. Interesting places to walk through include Skinners Saloon, where its believed Cyrus Skinner fed information to Henry Plummer and the Innocents Gang. The stories on the wall of drunken shootouts will have you looking for bullet holes in old log walls. The first brick Montana Territorial Courthouse is in excellent condition for its age. The craftsmanship of these buildings has endured over a century of weather and shenanigans. A hike up to the old gallows above the town and the old cemetery certainly paint a picture of a different way of life, swift justice, and all too often hardship and loss.