Bannack Bound: Rougher Side of Town
- Ian
- May 16
- 7 min read
Updated: Jun 11
As I rolled down the highway, I was pointed towards "the door through which the world rushed into Montana," according to Lora Anderson-Gale. I'm talking about Bannack, the Montana ghost town that started it all. After resupplying in Dillon for the better part of the day, I booked it over Badger Pass through the white-dusted sagebrush that smattered the rolling hills surrounding me in early November. Bannack is one of the best-preserved ghost towns in the state of Montana. Each summer, during "Bannack Days," the town is revived as park officials, locals, and visitors alike attempt to re-enact the everyday lives of the nearly 10,000 or so miners and residents who once called Montana's first territorial capital home in the early 1860s.
As I entered a sheltered gulch, towering cottonwoods loomed into view, their broad canopies framing rocky slopes and jagged cliffs. Patches of snow dusted the landscape, not yet a solid blanket. I arrived at the Bannack Visitor Center, delighted to find it open late in the season. A knowledgeable ranger greeted me, arranging admission and a nearby campsite just before closing. The campsite’s proximity to the historic town was too tempting to resist, so I paid for a spot—a first on my border-to-border journey. With most of my exploration set for the next day, I relished the convenience, knowing Bannack’s sprawling, well-preserved authenticity made it worth every penny.
Wasting no time, I settled into my campsite and strolled into town as the sun dipped below the horizon. Bannack felt like a storybook frozen in time: a single main street lined with weathered houses fanning east and west, giving way to sturdy commercial buildings at the heart. Among them stood the imposing Hotel Meade, a grand two-story brick structure with rows of windows and a rear wing. Originally built in 1865 as Beaverhead County’s courthouse, it became a hotel after the county seat shifted to Dillon in 1881, its faded elegance a testament to the town’s storied past.
Ascending the porch steps, I winced as each board let out a sharp crack, the sound piercing the crisp, cold air. To my surprise, the hotel’s front doors stood open, welcoming visitors despite the late hour. Crossing the threshold, I was struck by the fresh, light-yellow paint coating the interior—a modern touch, its pristine condition betraying the building’s long-abandoned past.
Inside the front parlors, I pictured the vibrant characters who once filled these rooms with life. Soaring ceilings crowned each space, with transom windows hinged above doorways to coax breezes through in an era before air conditioning or central heat. Tall, six-foot windows flanked the walls, their generous panes—a frontier luxury—flooding the rooms with soft light. Sliding doors nestled within the walls could divide the spaces, while a central hallway stretched the building’s length, guiding me toward the kitchen and a small, shadowed room likely once the cook’s. Staged with untouched precision, it felt as though its last occupant had slipped away only hours before, leaving a ghostly stillness in their wake.
A narrow stairway led up the back of the hotel, and I climbed it cautiously. The upper rooms were in rough condition, with large patches of missing plaster revealing the thin wooden boards beneath. In one room, the ceiling was almost entirely bare, stripped of plaster. I lingered for a few minutes, half-expecting a ghost to appear, before descending the main staircase. There, I noticed a windowsill ingeniously built into the stairs, its miniature "steps" forming shelves for displaying wares—perhaps vases or bottles of liquor—to passersby. The quirky feature sparked my curiosity about what this hotel once showcased.
Stepping outside, I circled the hotel to examine its addition, which was locked and inaccessible from within. Next, I peered into Skinner's Saloon, a shadow of its former glory. Only the long, carved wooden bar remained, its unexpectedly light stain suggesting it might be newer than the saloon’s storied past. The walls, a patchwork of mismatched boards, bore traces of faded wallpaper, hinting at the saloon’s bygone frontier elegance.
According to Mike Goad’s account, Skinner's Saloon was built in 1862 in Yankee Flats by Cyrus Skinner before being relocated to Bannack in 1863. One of four saloons in town, it was the rowdiest, a haven for road agents and outlaws who gathered to carouse over liquor and cards.
Legend has it that road agent George Carhart met his end after a heated dispute in Skinner's Saloon. When George Banfield was caught cheating at cards, the two men drew their revolvers and fired wildly, emptying their cylinders without apparent hits. At first, the only casualty seemed to be a small local dog named Toodles, struck by a stray bullet. But soon, Carhart’s agony revealed a fatal truth: a slug had pierced his belly, causing immense suffering before he succumbed shortly after.
By 1870, Skinner's Saloon in Bannack had been converted into a mercantile store, a role it filled for nearly six decades into the mid-twentieth century. Such was the fleeting nature of boomtowns, where proprietors and prospectors alike chased gold rushes across the West, to the Pacific and beyond, leaving transient marks on towns like Bannack.
Behind the saloon, Hangman's Gulch carved a path north of Bannack, its name likely derived from the roughly two dozen lynchings carried out by the self-appointed Montana Vigilance Committee from late 1863 into early 1864. The committee had been formed in nearby Virginia City, because in the prior six months, outlaw gangs had killed nearly 100 people, targeting stagecoaches, freight shipments, and ore wagons. Among those lynched was Bannack’s young sheriff, Henry Plummer, suspected by the committee of leading a local gang called The Innocents and orchestrating the spate of robberies and murders.
A solitary gallows stood a few hundred yards behind the saloon in Hangman's Gulch, a grim monument where executions took place from late 1863 to February 1864. Several Bannack deputies, deemed allies of Sheriff Henry Plummer and members of his alleged gang, The Innocents, were hanged there. On January 10, 1864, Plummer himself, at age 27, met his end on the very gallows he had ordered built. The truth remains elusive, as some historians suggest the Montana Vigilance Committee, responsible for the lynchings, may have been complicit in the robberies and murders they condemned. With many records and primary sources lost to time, the full story of these events may never be known.
As I approached the gallows, I imagined the chaos that gripped Bannack in late 1863. With scores of killings, the town’s thousands of residents must have been paralyzed with fear, avoiding the streets after dark and curtailing social gatherings. Children may have walked to school under armed guard, though I hoped the outlaws retained enough humanity to spare them. The rampant violence likely drove the townsfolk to act if Sheriff Plummer seemed complicit or ineffective. Yet, as history often favors the victors, the true motives behind those turbulent times remain shrouded in doubt.
Ascending the hill to Bannack’s old cemetery, I sought a deeper connection with the town’s former residents. The graveyard revealed a cross-section of lives: ornate marble obelisks marked the graves of those who prospered supplying miners, while weathered sandstone and limestone slabs honored those who lost everything in the gulch. Many headstones bore the names of children, some not yet teens, a stark reminder of the harsh realities of life in Bannack.
Descending the hill, I took in a sweeping view of the town below. It was hard to fathom that buildings like the school and Masonic lodge stood active as recently as the 1950s. Bannack’s boom was fleeting, losing its status as Montana’s first territorial capital in 1864, just a year after earning it, when the title shifted to nearby Virginia City—a mining town even better preserved than Bannack. Learn more about Virginia City here:
The final major commercial building to explore in Bannack was the Masonic Lodge, which doubled as the town’s school. Outside, a weathered merry-go-round rusted into the earth, a relic of livelier days. Inside, a small foyer led to three doors opening into the classroom, where blackboards lined the east and rear walls. Surprisingly, these boards displayed strict rules for teachers, mostly women, who faced rigid expectations: no bright clothing, no dyed hair, no travel beyond city limits without the school board chairman’s approval, and a requirement to marry by the end of their contract. The dedication of these women to teaching and uplifting children, despite such constraints, spoke to their passion for education, much like teachers today.
Large windows bathed the classroom in natural light, ideal for learning. While fresh boards beneath the chalkboards suggested some restoration, water stains on other walls hinted at the room’s original state. A high vent at the back likely channeled heat from a central stove to the second floor, where the Masons held their meetings. That upper level, however, was locked and inaccessible, with no visible staircase—perhaps an outdoor one had long since decayed.
Beyond Bannack’s core, numerous homes dotted the outskirts, many open for exploration and showcasing unique features and craftsmanship rarely seen today. I’ll delve into these in greater detail next month, so if you enjoyed this post, stay tuned for the next installment of Bannack Bound to continue uncovering the rich, well-preserved history of this once-thriving Montana boomtown.
Sources:
Alexander, K. (n.d.-a). Henry Plummer - Sheriff Meets Noose. Legends of America. https://www.legendsofamerica.com/mt-henryplummer/
Alexander, K. (n.d.). Innocents Gang of Montana . Legends of America. https://www.legendsofamerica.com/innocents-gang/
Goad, Mike. “Skinner’s Saloon.” Haw Creek, 16 Aug. 2018, haw-creek.com/skinners-saloon/. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
Schoettner, E. C. (n.d.). Plummer’s Grave and Hangman’s Gulch, Bannack, Montana . photograph.
Walton, A. (n.d.). Bannack Montana. Western Mining History. https://westernmininghistory.com/towns/montana/bannack/
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