World Art Utopia

Garnet — Garnet Ghost Town, Montana

A tall weathered wooden building with a false front and a smaller log cabin behind it among pine trees at Garnet Ghost Town in Montana
Artwork FileGarnet, Montana

Garnet

SeenJul 2026

Garnet Ghost Town (Bureau of Land Management), Garnet Range, Granite County, Montana

Photo: Carol M. Highsmith / Library of Congress (public domain), as published on Street Art Utopia.

Garnet is a gold-mining ghost town high in the Garnet Range east of Missoula, Montana. It grew up around a stamp mill in 1895, had about a thousand residents by 1898 and was largely abandoned when the gold ran out; the Bureau of Land Management now preserves the surviving buildings with the nonprofit Garnet Preservation Association. Source Source Source Source Checked

Seen Jul 2026: a Wikimedia Commons photo taken on 15 July 2026 shows Garnet’s log cabins standing in a summer meadow, and Visit Montana listed the BLM’s Garnet Day at the town for 13 June 2026. Source Source Reported

More photos

Two weathered wooden false-front store buildings with a raised plank boardwalk on a dirt street in Garnet, with a larger dark wooden building and pines behind
2007 Store fronts in the town centerPhoto: Seamus Murray / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Low log cabins and a small wooden house in a meadow of purple and yellow wildflowers at Garnet, with pine forest behind
2026 Log cabins in a summer meadowPhoto: Rhododendrites / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

💡 5 things to know

  1. Born around a stamp millIn 1895 a stamp mill was built at the head of First Chance Gulch and a town grew up beside it. It was first called Mitchell and was renamed Garnet in 1897 for the brown garnet found in the area. Source Source Source Checked
  2. A thousand people, then a fireBy 1898 about a thousand people lived in Garnet. The boom did not last, and a fire in 1912 destroyed much of the town. Source Source Source Source Checked
  3. Saved by the BLMThe Bureau of Land Management stepped in in 1971 and works with the nonprofit Garnet Preservation Association; E&E News reported that the BLM keeps the town in a state of “arrested decay.” Source Source Checked
  4. How many buildings?Counts differ: E&E News reported about two dozen wooden structures in 2019, Visit Montana says more than 30 buildings have been preserved, and the 2010 National Register listing counted 82 contributing buildings across a wider mining district. Source Source Source Conflicting
  5. Winter is for skisFrom January through April, Garnet Range Road is closed to wheeled motor vehicles; visitors come by snowmobile, cross-country skis or snowshoes, and winter cabins can be rented. Source Source Checked

📍 Where it is

Garnet sits at roughly 6,000 feet in the Garnet Range, about 40 miles east of Missoula. The BLM’s route turns south off Montana Highway 200 between mile markers 22 and 23 onto Garnet Range Road; the first 4 miles are paved, then gravel. Source Source Checked

Open in Maps

Coordinates from the BLM visitor page. From January through April the road is closed to wheeled vehicles.

🗓️ Sightings

  1. 1895

    Stamp mill built and a town is born · University of Montana

  2. 1912

    A fire destroys much of the town · Wikipedia

  3. 200727 May

    Store fronts in the town center · camera date

  4. 201931 Oct

    About two dozen wooden structures on the hillside · E&E News

  5. 202127 Jul

    Reopens after the Anderson Hill Fire; no historic buildings damaged · KXLF

  6. 202228 Aug

    Carol M. Highsmith photographs two buildings · camera date

  7. 202613 Jun

    Garnet Day at the ghost town, hosted by the BLM · Visit Montana

  8. 202615 Jul

    Log cabins in a summer meadow · camera date

Amber stamps mark records or reports; green stamps are dated photos. Publication dates are not camera dates.

🗞️ In the sources

Bureau of Land ManagementVisitor page, undated

Garnet Ghost Town

“Once home to about a thousand residents during the 1890s gold boom, the town was largely abandoned when the gold ran out, leaving behind remarkably intact historic buildings for visitors to explore.”

Read the source →

E&E News31 October 2019

Spooky BLM town lives in state of ‘arrested decay’

“About two dozen wooden structures dot the hillside, the remnants of a boomtown built during a turn-of-the-20th-century gold rush.”

Read the source →

University of Montana (Rick Graetz)Undated column

Garnet Offers Montana’s Best Preserved Ghost Town

“A 1912 fire destroyed many of the buildings, further adding to the decline.”

Read the source →

✅ The facts

Founded
1895, around a stamp mill at First Chance Gulch Source Source Source Source Checked
Mill builder
Dr. Armistead Mitchell, according to the University of Montana Source Reported
Name
Mitchell at first; Garnet from 1897, for the local brown garnet Source Source Checked
Peak
About 1,000 residents (1898); E&E News gives 850 to 1,000 Source Source Source Source Checked
Fire
1912; destroyed much of the town Source Source Source Checked
Buildings
About two dozen (E&E News, 2019) vs more than 30 preserved (Visit Montana) Source Source Conflicting
Managed by
Bureau of Land Management, Missoula Field Office, with the Garnet Preservation Association Source Source Source Checked
National Register
Garnet Historic District, listed 2010 Source Reported
Visitors
About 24,000 a year (E&E News, 2019) vs 16,000 a year (Wikipedia) Source Source Conflicting
Elevation
About 6,000 feet Source Source Checked
County
Granite County, Montana Source Source Checked
Status
Buildings standing, photographed 15 July 2026 Source Reported

🔗 Related

All sources & image credits

Last checked: 8 November 2026 · How we verify art