The Accidental Capital: Helena, Montana
After leaving Wallace, Idaho, the road quickly climbs up and over the first major pass across the Rockies, Lookout Pass. Lookout figures prominently in my memories of driving to and from Oregon over the last 42 years as my life almost ended on the Montana side in 1980. Single at the time, I was driving to Billings for Christmas in my new Ford ranger pickup, confident that I could handle anything since it had 4-wheel drive. Just out of Coeur D’Alene a snowstorm hit and I was travelling through driving snow and wind as I headed up the pass. It had clearly snowed the night before as there was over 3’ of snow beside the road. This was before I-90 was built and the road was a narrow 2-lane highway that hugged the curves of the mountain in switchbacks up and down. At the base of the Montana side of the pass the road picks up the St. Regis River, a small stream that carves a narrow, curving canyon as you head deeper into Montana. The river and road hugged the side of the mountain. As I was taking one of those curves, I lost control of the pickup and made a couple of 360 degree spins. Fortunately for me there was no traffic coming towards me and, perhaps more importantly, the road had been plowed with large snow banks on the river side of the road. I wound up about 4’ from the edge of the river. Even after the 4-lane I-90 was built I can see farther down in the canyon the remnants of that old highway where I almost went swimming in a snow storm!
As I noted at the end of Chapter 3 I decided to leave I-90 just out of Missoula and take back roads to Helena. It was a beautiful, clear day with little traffic and I crossed the second major pass of the trip, MacDonald Pass, just west of Helena. This was actually my first visit to Helena, only have driven past it on I-15 heading north to Glacier Park in the past.
A little history to set the stage because Helena is all about the history. The western gold rushes were well underway when 4 men from Georgia, desperate from chasing gold rushes and striking out, decided to turn back from the Klondike gold fields and head home. Looking for the Missouri River, they stumbled into a narrow canyon on the east slopes of a mountain about 20 miles west of the river, and decided to pan for gold. Of course, they found it, and christened the area “Last Chance Gulch”. The resulting town that grew up, first in the narrow canyon and then spilling out onto the slopes on either side and more recently down onto the flats at the base of the canyon, was Helena. The gold quickly ran out but after the furious politicking of the time (with lots of graft and corruption amongst the rich) Helena was selected as the capital city of Montana. Thus began the evolution of a rather sedate, small town where the presence of the government has provided a stable base for the local economy (which is good, because after the gold ran out there wasn’t much else in the area!). Also because of the stable economic environment, there has been minimal change in the downtown area with many preserved buildings from the glory years of 1880 – 1910.
Montana is a huge state, the 4th largest in the union after Alaska, Texas and California, yet it ranks only 44th in population, just breaking the 1 million mark in 2012. Helena’s population is just under 30,000. The geographic location has it sitting roughly left of center in the state, spreading across mountain slopes looking down towards the Missouri River about 20 miles to the east at the base of the Big Belt Mountains. There are really three sections to the town: the flats, where most recent building has been done along the I-15 interchanges as it passes north/south between Butte to the south and Great Falls to the north; the old downtown area, which is deep in Last Chance Gulch and narrows to about the width of one street at the south end as it climbs up the mountain. You will note in some of the pictures the steep streets – I actually got a cramp in my calves from walking up and down the streets (yes, I know I’m not in Olympic condition, but even so…); and finally the residential areas that were built on the slopes on both sides of Last Chance Gulch. The capital building and government offices were not built in the downtown area due to a lack of useable, flat space but was constructed in 1899 on the slopes about 1 mile east of the downtown area.
I know this is a lot of reading for you, but it sets the stage for some spectacular pictures with minimal dialogue. Enjoy!
Remembering that Montana is not a large state in terms of population and has had a rather strong minimalist approach to government from the beginning, the Montana Constitution limits the legislature to meeting only 90 days in odd-numbered years. One of the results of this limited form of government is that there isn’t much of it! The few state office buildings cluster on the streets immediately to the west and south of the main building.
The Montana State Capitol Building looking south and up from the street.
The view from the front door of the capitol building looking northeast down the mountainside and off to the Missouri River at the base of the Big Belt Mountains.
Downtown Helena sits down in Last Chance Gulch with the skyline dominated by two large structures crowning the hills on each side. On the east side sits the Cathedral of St. Helena, and on the west side one sees the Moorish architecture of the Helena Civic Center. Both of these, along with every other building that you are going to see, are on the National Register of Historic Places.
At its’ upper (south) end, Last Chance Gulch has become a pedestrian mall, lined with historic buildings intermixed with modern structures. There are lots of bars, restaurants and specialty stores lining the street and mall. Another feature of downtown Helena is that it is very hard for a visitor to get around because there really is no logic behind the street layout. Streets followed the boundaries of mining claims and thus there is no “straight line” main street in this area. The first major street that runs the length of the town and valley from south to north, Montana Avenue, lies a mile east of downtown. In the picture below, taken looking south up last Chance Gulch, the original creekbed lies under the greenery in the middle of the mall.
Other pictures from the downtown area seen walking north/south along Last Chance Street and at the south end, the pedestrian mall.
At one time in the late 1800’s Helena had more millionaires per capita than any other city in the United States. The competition to build the most extravagant mansion was intense and is remarkably well preserved in the historic Mansion District on the slopes of Mt. Helena to the west of Last Change Gulch. I’m including nine pictures of mansions I saw in walking an area that was two blocks wide and three blocks long, there could have been more!
Helena was a fascinating place to visit and worthy of another look on my part. I skimmed the surface of the sights and didn’t visit the world-renowned state history museum due to it being closed (it was Memorial Day). After leaving Helena, I decided to continue heading west on US 12 across the remote spaces of central Montana before cutting south on Hwy 3 to Billings from the north. Chapter 5 promises a very different view of Montana than that seen from I-90, which follows the Yellowstone River Valley up to Billings.
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