WARREN PARK
Picnic and Play Among the Pines

If you followed a forest trail from Garnet for 1.5 miles, you'd arrive at a turn-of-the-century outdoor playground. Children once hopped on the wooden swings visitors can still see suspended from tree limbs. Women in long dresses unpacked picnic dinners on tables shaded by fresh cut pine boughs. It's easy to imagine the park's founder, Edward Warren, taking in the festivities with an appreciative grin. The park proved more successful than his solitary mine a mile from Garnet. He missed company, but loved the natural beauty surrounding his cabin. His answer? He spent many months constructing the gentle trail and forest playground near his home as a gift to the community and an end to his loneliness.

Edward Brook Warren
1840 to post-1917
Warren served in the Civil War, but little else is known of his past before he took up mining here. He was kind to children, played Santa Claus in the 1917 school play and carried dried figs and wheat in his pockets-"a pioneer health addict," according to Garnet resident Helen Ritchey Smith (who died in 1986). Warren eventually retired to Long Beach, California.
Four On A Swing
Warren built a double swing from barrel staves and suspended it from a tree. Two people sat on a side, facing each other, with their feet on a platform. You can see the remains of swings with poles instead of side ropes. The poles pivoted on hand-forged, iron links.

Other Stories
Gold In The Garnets
Chinese Presence
Town of Garnet Named in 1897
Family Living in a Gold Mining Town?
Riches Fade
Saving Garnet Ghost Town
Kelly's Saloon
J. K. Wells Hotel
Davey's General Store
Ole's Tavern
Dahl Cabin
Blacksmith Shop
Garnet School
Jail
Miners Union Hall
Adams House
Honeymoon Cabin
Highlights from interview with Mary Jane Morin, June 11, 1999
Letter from Hills Bros. Coffee to Mrs. Adams

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Copyright © 2000, Garnet Preservation Association and Bureau of Land Management of Montana