Montana cities & scenery (Billings, Butte, Helena, Great Falls)

[mustang84]

I was in Montana last summer for a family reunion in Belt. We spent much of our time around Great Falls, but the rest of the time was spent driving a big loop through the state. Cities included in this thread are Billings, Great Falls, Helena, and Butte, with other pictures of the countryside, smaller towns, and even a ghost town. Enjoy!

Hardin, MT - historical village & museum



Nearing Billings


Billings, Montana's largest city





I think this was Judith Gap


Railroad along US 191, central Montana


Heading into a storm, south of Eddie's Corner


C.M. Russell studio, Great Falls




Great Falls skyline



Where Great Falls gets its name


The northern plains


Sweetgrass Hills..."the hills of home" as my grandma likes to say


US border crossing at Sweetgrass


Lil' Trucker


The run-down border town of Sweetgrass


Glocca Morra Bar & Grille in Sweetgrass


A shy little fellow named Peanut that lives at the Glocca Morra


Jerusalem Rocks, SW of Sweetgrass


Montanans with a sense of humor


I-15 overlook between Great Falls and Helena


Helena, Montana's capital city







Reeder's Alley historic mining district, Helena



A Catholic church in Helena


On to Butte!


Butte is probably my favorite city in Montana. Many areas feel like you are stepping back into the 1920's.












Butte pit mines, largest in the world


Robber's Roost, old fugitive hideout near Sheridan


Nevada City ghost town, southeast Montana


Historic Virginia City, right down the road from Nevada City


An old Tin Lizzie in Virginia City


Somewhere near Bozeman


Back in SW Montana, flatlands near the border...headed for Wyoming


Thanks for viewing!

[ue]

Thanks for this thread. It's nice to see Montana sometimes, it's got some wicked beauty. It's too bad parts of it are run-down. I've been to most of the cities you've been to, but I didn't visit them as extensively as you have. In fact, I think the only downtown's of the cities I've visited are Great Falls and Billings. I also like the quality of hte photos, they are very sharp .

[Paulyt23]

I love Montana!

[ChiSoxRox]

Wow, such a beautiful state and such haunting isolation. This thread is a perfect contrast to all the city threads, and two for a job well done.

[stepper77]

Wow, what a great thread! I don't think I've ever seen Helena before. Montana has some nice cities. Thanks for sharing!

[xzmattzx]

Great thread! These Montana towns and cities look like they would be cool to explore. These places look so much different than the Northeast or Midwest or Southeast or Western places that usually get shown on here. I don't know how to describe it; it's not run-down, it's kind of forgotten but not really, it's not completely different from places like Colorado or Utah, but it's all unique.

Does the road just end at Sweetgrass, like it appears to do in your picture?

That Reeder's Alley area looks interesting, as well as Nevada City.

[mustang84]

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

Great thread! These Montana towns and cities look like they would be cool to explore. These places look so much different than the Northeast or Midwest or Southeast or Western places that usually get shown on here. I don't know how to describe it; it's not run-down, it's kind of forgotten but not really, it's not completely different from places like Colorado or Utah, but it's all unique.

Does the road just end at Sweetgrass, like it appears to do in your picture?

That Reeder's Alley area looks interesting, as well as Nevada City.

Well, I-15 continues into Canada, but the other picture of Sweetgrass on Main Street was the old highway at one time. Interestingly, much of the original downtown area of Sweetgrass was torn out in 2004 to enlarge the border station and build a series of retaining walls with fences. My grandma's mother used to own a shop on Main Street that was a victim of the border station expansion. My grandma likes to talk about how she could walk right across the border as a girl and play with her friends over in neighboring Coutts. Today, there is a chainlink fence with barbed wire separating the two towns, and US border patrol regularly sits in town watching for people walking near the fence.

Really, there isn't too much of Sweetgrass left...it is a dying town with a few ramshackle houses and the Glocca Morra. Ironically, Coutts, Alberta is fairly well kept and seemed to be a healthy small town.

I have quite a few more pictures of Nevada City that I may post later when I have more time to upload. It's a really interesting town/museum with original period artifacts in most of the buildings. Some of the buildings are original to the town, but many others were moved there from other areas around the state, and nearly every building has been untouched except to stabilize them.

[OhioGuy]

Great thread! My father loves Montana and I'm sure he'd relocate there if my mother ever agreed to it.

[ColDayMan]

Ya done good!

[skyline]

Very nice! Love the western US. Looks quite hazy, perhaps from distant fires?

[Thundertubs]

This tour made my evening. Love those wide-open roads and big skies. Very well done.

[TonyAnderson]

Incredible thread. Montana seems to do a good job of thwarting sprawl. All the cities look fairly dense for their size. For instance, the largest of the cities there was Billings, at around 100,000 and a metro of only 150,000ish.

[diskojoe]

great pictures. you make montana look good. nice little tour and good mix of urban and scenic nature shots.

[Evo5Boise]

Excellent thread!!! I have made my way around a few parts of Montana. You captured it well.

[espalorius]

montana is amazing. everytime i drive through it, i'm amazed!

[Dan Denson]

Beautiful state. I've spent a lot of time there (well, it's been 25 years). Do you have some pics of the beautiful mountainous areas of western Montana; e.g., Glacier National Park?

[mustang84]

A few more

Billings



Rolling hills near Geyser


Great Falls




Storm approaching near Belt, MT


Mobile home near Cascade


A Helena subdivision


Looking north over Helena


Butte's Berkeley Mine Pit


Vacant Butte warehouse


Nevada City






This Nevada City "mansion" is actually a Frankenstein creation of three separate houses (two were moved in). The owner is a metal crafter that also oversees maintenance of Nevada City.


Virginia City


Madison County Courthouse, Virginia City


Yellowtail Dam


Little Bighorn Canyon National Monument


Madison Range

[mustang84]

Originally Posted by Dan Denson

Beautiful state. I've spent a lot of time there (well, it's been 25 years). Do you have some pics of the beautiful mountainous areas of western Montana; e.g., Glacier National Park?

I was in Glacier in 1997, but we didn't stop there this time around. It's a gorgeous park though!

[alphawolf]

Originally Posted by mustang84

US border crossing at Sweetgrass

I got accused of smuggling drugs into Canada at that border crossing back in 2002 because I had a lighter in my pocket that I was using for camping. The border guard looked like Farva from Super Troopers.

[SouthByMidwest]

Excellent photo work, first of all, and quite a contrast between the cities and the countryside. The cities (Billings and Great Falls particularly) have quite an urban look about them, at least Montana-style urban you might say, that I wouldn't have expected. Haven't been there, but this thread makes me want to visit.