Silver Star: The Road To Yellowstone IV

 

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.

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.

Philipsburg: The Road To Yellowstone III

Hwy 1 is taking us southwards from the Ohrmann Museum in Drummond to a much larger city of Anaconda.

All we are expecting again is a nice day and the amazing Montana scenery in the heart of the wild West. The main goal of our day is to reach Virginia City and that is still many miles away.

We were not thinking of taking detours but the sign on our left is too tempting to ignore.
Philipsburg?

"We sure need coffee, ..." is a plausible excuse and before we know it our silver steed named Honda is left at the curb of Broadway street, the main drag of this century old, well preserved  mining town. 

It feels like we've stepped back in time; surrounded by some of the oldest buildings in the West we are ready to walk straight in and along the way, shoot without a tripod, straight from the hip, or better yet from the eye level. 

Cameras loaded with fresh memory cards we are on a lookout for a coffee bar and a bank or ATM!

Cunningly we manage to climb to the higher vantage points from where we are able to survey the entire town. It's too bad that we cannot make it all the way to the roof.

Across from us is The Broadway Hotel. Old as is, it is still functional and we are making mental notes: how about settling here for the night next time? 

Next to the hotel is a brewery and further up are more old building with some unique businesses inside. Oh, it will be a great walkabout today. Our cameras are already purring but nobody in town seems to notice.

It is high noon when,the shootout breaks at its earnest. 

Missing the lens hood I am paying dearly for the mistake! The deadly sun glare cannot be avoided and makes an unwanted and lasting impact on the memory to be. 

Deciding to change the strategy I look down and commence to shoot low.

There they are! Firing at their earnest! I can easily get them now!

Ahhh, loser me! Failed to notice that my wide lens betrayed my feet! 

Too late ..... they are already speeding away!

Opportunity missed - no more shots from here!

Deed done they are heading straight for the bar! Some local characters (under a pretense of having a drink) already sit there in waiting.

"Say, gardeners have the best dirt, huh ? 

Wonderin'if them strangers understand that."

Oh no, thank you, we are photographers, eh? We are sorry, but no dirt please, those lenses are very touchy. 

But we would love to share a cup of Java here with you, if you don't mind. 

Greenhorns! Sure, jus' settle and have your drink.

No harm done; 
on the contrary - sharing the coffee shop with the garden girls we are having the best times of our lives.

With the last powerful drop gone, we check our equipment, 
spring to our feet and 
hit the town!

First the the micro brewery. Called Philipsburg Brewing Co, it is hidden inside a handsome corner building dated as 1888.

And, again: in the whirlpool of action I forgot to ask the name of their of beer ... what a shame!
Could it be Philipsburg? Aha, everything can be found on Internet: click here

Then the Sapphire Gallery!. If you love real stones just click.

We are discovering that this area is rich with sapphires (ahh yes), and we are going in to check it out.

Looking at the price of this gorgeous set a thought occurred to us: What of the following would we prefer to attach to our bodies? 

This on your left,
or 
a couple of pro-camera bodies and a superbag with a couple of professional lenses both in a 10K range, maybe a tripod and an off camera flash or two plus other trimmings, and still have money left for lunch? Or two.

It is an amazing set of local blue sapphires and sparkling diamonds in a price range that, just like those cameras and lenses, are beyond our reach. 

Still, beautiful things are always nice to look at.

So - we fire a couple of shot from and walk away.

This sparkling bracelet sells only at a fraction of the price but it would still equip one with some prestigious photo gear. It would also look great on the wrist while gardening ...  but no, seriously - it is a piece of art!

(Oh, forgot ... everyone's an artist! No, no no - put that credit card away!)

In the dark corner of the jewellery store rest some heavy duty safes. We admire the pride and passion that those, long before us, used to put into making of things. Right here - at home!

All blue we leave the sparkling stones of the Sapphire Gallery  wondering to the next door in hope to sweeten up..

The Sweet Palace, world famous candy factory with its thousand sweet selections, pink, white and smelling ... oohhhh-sooo-gooooddddd .... is welcoming us with:

Oh yes, this place is also worth a raid!

And that is IT. The end of explorations.
Our goal for the day was to reach Virginia City so we must leave Philipsburg for now.

It was certainly worth the detour!

Ohrmann Museum: The Road To Yellowstone II

On our Day 2 we break our rule and take # 90 from Missoula towards Butte but as soon as we come up to the intersection with Hwy # 1 we take a sharp turn to SW. We are on our way to Butte via Anaconda expecting ...  not much - just enjoying the spectacular scenery under the proverbially blue and wide Montana sky.
It is a beautiful day indeed.

Not wanting to stop at every corner we are shooting photos from the car - a camera on a tripod set at F 5.6 or a just a tiny bit higher, ISO 400 and a cable release usually work OK. One must shoot straight ahead and hope for the best. I must say that the Montana roads are well built and maintained so the bumps are not a big issue.
Clean windows work too although after the first thousand kilometers "clean" takes on a slightly different meaning. 
In any case - we are having fun.




Some 4 km down Hwy # 1,  in vicinity of Drummond, a community of about 300 with a motto: "We have two gas stations!" Judy exclaims:

What was that?"

"What?" in a stereo from Nel and I.

"That! Back there! A bird!"


"Where? Where?"


We are determined to turn back to check out another wildlife photo opportunity.





"No .... no ... it is a museum" Judy is the one occupying the back seat, the only one able to check out anything that we could have missed.

By that time we are approaching a tempting sign:

Nel is already steering the car to her left - one swift turn and we are just about to discover a very neat place, something that will be really hard to forget in years to come.

Ohrmann Museum and Gallery

There, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, sits spacious low building with inviting entrance and  an assuring, handwritten sign: 

We love the humor and the practicality of it.
Explained and done.



We also love the fact that the sign and the door are guarded by a neat owl welded out by 
someone we are now hoping to meet.

We try the door and it yields
but there is 
no-one inside.

Timidly, we tiptoe out and, obeying the sign, we start snapping away. 

There is so much to be photographed! 

And it seems that everything had been scaled to a proper size. Who is the artist, we wonder, but so far, the yard is quiet, as if it belonged only to the three of us.

It is close to noon and the light is harsh so we decide to put all the photo-club discussions and all the readings we have done to a test of truth.  
We are going to try an HDR technique again! If we can figure out how to set our cameras to take sequences of photos with different exposures, that is. 

Hmmm. Isn't life one extreme challenge!

Finally, out of the house directly opposite to the gallery comes Mrs. Ohrmann. 
"Just come right in," she says, "feel free to check out Bill's work. He used to do his wood-carved and welded sculptures while he was able to handle the media. Now he works with John, our son, on big projects like that." 
She nods at the large statues outside the door.
"He was always artistic, but later on, at maybe 78 he picked up the painting. Much easier to handle," she smiles. "That was a long time ago, maybe fifteen or almost twenty years."
Wow! That would put Mr. Ohrmann somewhere in the 95 year range. REALLY?

We stand inside in awe:

There are so many! Each is loaded with a message - many weighing heavily on the very soul. Many grasping the human heart .....are we really like that? The humanity? Unfortunately, we are.

The artist is the defender of the Earth and in the wisdom of his long years, sees things clearly; much more clearly than many of us ever will. He takes no prisoners to his ideas and his art - now I fully understand the handwritten sign at the entrance door.
For those who want to really know what I am trying to talk about go to his website  and check things out for yourself. Careful though, you might come out with many thoughts and a heavy heart. 

Back outside, Nel and Judy are already chatting with Mr. Ohrmann. The statue of a Kodiak bear is carefully observing the trio. "Yes," he says, "my son is now welding all those ideas. That one took us several months to finish." 
He looks at us with the kindest, brightest eyes I have ever seen.

We are leaving (much too soon) with a copy of a DVD done by Sean O'Brien "Be Thou Always As A Guest" featured on PBS television. It is a month later that we can finally watch the film. (You can watch it on YouTube - it is time well spent. Just click here.)
It is mind provoking and touching at the same time. So proud that we stumbled upon the place and met Mr. and Mrs. Ohrmann.
Thanks Judy .... it is all your doing. Thanks for your eagle (heron?) eye!

Oh, and I almost forgot: 
There was a heart on the mammoth - the red of it caught my eye and I did take a snapshot. Then walked away! 
I never checked the message - never opened the little door - never will know what it meant!
Unless ... we go back one day.