Warming Shelter

Warming Shelter

Welcome Sight for Weary Travelers

"A winter trip to Missoula was quite an adventure. We always gave notice to the store that we wanted the stage to pick us up. We had to get to Bearmouth before 9:30 a.m. to catch the train, so the stage came for us before it was daylight. Billy always wore a buffalo-hide coat in the winter time, and had an old buffalo robe for us to cover with. There were hot bricks for our feet."--Helen Ritchey Smith
--(Memories of Garnet life in the early 1900s)

The 1940s fire warden's cabin ahead of you and the 1890s stage stop cabin set back in the trees pay tribute to Montana tradition of offering shelter in an unpredictable climate. A group called the Blackfoot Protective Association employed a fire warden who lived in the newer cabin to keep a sharp lookout for wildfire outbreaks. Today, snowmobilers and cross-country skiers following the Garnet Winter Recreation Trail can stop in the fire warden's cabin for emergency shelter.

Stage Stop on Rugged Road
Consider how welcome this rest stop would feel after a bouncing ride along a rutted road in a spring wagon with two seats. The 12-mile trip from the mining town of Coloma to Garnet and on to Bearmouth took the better part of a day. the Silver State newspaper (Deer Lodge) hailed its completion in February, 1896, as the "cannon ball road from Coloma to Bearmouth."" The road proved both a requirement for hauling out ore and a constant adventure for travelers.