Our Lady Of The Rockies and Silver Star
This is far from being the last last stretch of our way from Creston, BC to West Yellowstone, MT.
We are now traveling the legendary Old Wild West that we, born a long while ago in Europe, used to read about in novels written by authors who actually never traveled past the boundaries of the "Old World".
In any case we are now here, right in the middle of the country dotted with the names of our romanticising fathers' novels so gracefully passed onto us. Flathead, Shoshone, Blackfoot ... to name a few. Then the ghost towns and forgotten cities, places of dreams and struggles, now being all but overtaken by silvery sage brush underneath the blue Montana sky.
In any case we are now here, right in the middle of the country dotted with the names of our romanticising fathers' novels so gracefully passed onto us. Flathead, Shoshone, Blackfoot ... to name a few. Then the ghost towns and forgotten cities, places of dreams and struggles, now being all but overtaken by silvery sage brush underneath the blue Montana sky.
Today we need to get from Missoula to Virginia City and then to West Yellowstone. Whatever happens otherwise will be an unplanned surprise.
After our deviation from Hwy 90 to Hwy 1 we've already discovered the first two of the unexpected: The Ohrmann Museum and Philipsburg.
We re-entered Hwy 90 and after passing the city of Anaconda we are speeding towards Butte. Just as we near Butte there is another a surprise numero 3; stepping over the high ridge that surveys the highway we are traveling on is ..... what ? ....
...a very large statue of ..... what ? It emerges on the ridge of the Continental Divide, clear, white as if stepping straight out and down from the spotless blue sky.
It is Our Lady of the Rockies, after the Statue of Liberty the 2nd tallest statue in the US.
I am not that smart but Wikipedia is - check it for yourself.
It bears a witness to a story of a desperate husband whose wife became seriously ill; the touching story of hope and compassion.
The statue stands 27m tall, was built by volunteers and it is dedicated to women and especially mothers everywhere. What a beautiful, beautiful idea. Please make sure to read more.
(The famous statue of Jesus in Rio de Janeiro is 38m tall).
After Butte we, again, turn to the roads less traveled taking Hwy 41 to Virginia City.
In our rush to get to the famous touristy destination we find ourselves dashing (well ... at the speed limit of course) through Jefferson River Valley. The valley is generously open and flat, graced by the silver sage and low cacti. It is rimmed by Tobacco Root Mountains to the east and the foothills of the Rockies to the West. The sparkling Jefferson River, rich in trout, happily winds its way in south-western direction. No big cities and pollution here.
It is a peaceful, spirit liberating drive.
.....
Has it not been for some humongous wheels and machinery displayed by Hwy 41 we would have driven missed our educational opportunity number 4 and driven right through a small place whose tiny "downtown" did not really catch our immediate attention..
Only after my:
"STOP! Stop! I must take photos of these wheels for my cousin! He will go nuts!"
we screech to an "ok .... but ten minutes only" stop by the side of the road.
And that's how we learn about a neat piece of history - about the gold and silver rush of the 1860's and more.
Silver Star is believed to be the third oldest town in Montana. and the first place of a gold claim in Montana. Of course that the discovery of GOLD sparked a gold fever and soon there were people pouring in. 1869 saw a creation of the post office for the fast growing population and a school was built in 1874.
The town had been named after one of the mining claims - why silver and not gold star is probably easy to explain for those who read more about this amazing place. Who would tell that so much history dwells in this seemingly abandoned valley.
The miners dwindled but the ranchers and farmers took up other opportunities and we assume that having more time would teach us a whole lot about the brave new life in the quiet Jefferson River Valley.
Railway and mining enthusiasts would surely enjoy spending time in Silver Star.But not only those, the history is rich though one could hardly tell by simply passing through.
The locals have not exactly lined up the streets to acknowledge such as international arrival as ours (we were not exactly the royalty that at one point century and a half past visited this place).
Perhaps they were too busy ranching or working in an organic tomato hothouse built upon the hot springs in the area. This is actually a fascinating story told told by Ms. McGarvey of The Montana Standard daily newspaper. Make sure to have a look at the following pages; http://www.grannysstore.com/Silver_Star_About and scroll a bit down.
While the world lost another Hot Spring Pool and Spa it gained a whole lot more ... a lesson in entrepreneurship, stamina and common sense. Here - in Silver Star that we almost missed to acknowledge.
Only one man emerged out of this shop, rearranged a few display items in front of his shop, and upon a brief glance at the three of us (crawling amongst the cacti, pointing at the surroundings and clearly unrehearsed in local anything), he re-entered the place to resume his day.
We failed to go inside and we also missed an opportunity to visit what, we had learned later, is a famous Granny's Store. Next time perhaps.
Silent for a while we drive and think about the past and human dreams.
They are like people, they live and they die; some we never forget, some vanish into the air the minute they were born ... dreams are the essence of our being and they linger about a long, long time after the people who gave them rise have gone.
