Elkhorn, Montana: A Silver Ghost Town and Snow in June

Off-Road & Trails
Written by Aaron Thies

Montana • Elkhorn • June 2019

Elkhorn:Silver Town, June Snow

Montana’s smallest state park, an old silver town in the Elkhorn Mountains and a camp that woke up to snow on the first weekend of summer.

Tan Toyota FJ Cruiser with red wheels parked in front of two weathered wooden halls in the Elkhorn ghost town near Boulder, Montana
Fraternity Hall — Silver Town — Snow in June — Elkhorn Mountains — Never Lift — Fraternity Hall — Silver Town — Snow in June —

A Silver Town in the Elkhorns

Up a gravel road south of Boulder, the old silver town of Elkhorn still has two of the best old buildings in Montana: Fraternity Hall and Gillian Hall. Together they make up Elkhorn State Park, the smallest state park in Montana. The town around them is privately owned, and a few people still live there.

We went the first weekend of summer in 2019. We got the ghost town, the high country above it and, of course, snow.

Row of weathered wooden houses with false fronts and porches in a green meadow in Elkhorn, Montana
Elkhorn today.

The History

Elkhorn started in 1868 around silver mining, after a Swiss miner named Peter Wys found the veins. According to the Montana State Parks Foundation, the town peaked in the 1880s and 1890s with about 2,500 people, and the Elkhorn Mine produced about $14 million in silver.

Then the Silver Crash of 1893 hit, and the population dropped 75 percent in two months. Even before that, the town had a hard run. Legends of America notes that dozens of children died in a harsh winter and a diphtheria epidemic in 1888 and 1889. Their graves are in the cemetery up the road.

Work on Fraternity Hall started in 1893, in a modified Greek Revival style. It hosted dances, shows and lodge meetings upstairs. The 2020 census counted 12 residents in Elkhorn.

Tall weathered Fraternity Hall with a balcony beside another wooden building, a tan FJ Cruiser parked in front in the Elkhorn ghost town near Boulder, Montana
Fraternity Hall, started in 1893.
Tall weathered wooden false-front building on a stone foundation under a cloudy sky in the Elkhorn ghost town near Boulder, Montana
Still standing.
Single bright window in a dark wooden room inside an old Elkhorn building in the Elkhorn ghost town near Boulder, Montana
Inside.
View through an old wooden window frame of a tan FJ Cruiser parked on the grass outside in the Elkhorn ghost town near Boulder, Montana
Looking out.

The High Country Above Town

Above Elkhorn, old mining roads climb into the Elkhorn Mountains to rocky ridges with views across half of Montana, and to the leftovers of the mines that built the town: shaft timbers, a cabin with its stove still inside and rusted iron in the rocks.

Tan FJ Cruiser parked at the edge of a rocky overlook above valleys and distant mountains under storm clouds in the Elkhorn Mountains near Boulder, Montana
The view from the top.
FJ Cruiser and a white SUV on a rocky ridge with a snowy peak behind in the Elkhorn Mountains near Boulder, Montana
On the ridge.
Tan FJ Cruiser on a dirt trail seen past lichen-covered rocks in the Elkhorn Mountains near Boulder, Montana
Rocks with lichen and an FJ.
Interior of an old mining cabin with wooden framing, a stove and a picnic table in the Elkhorn Mountains near Boulder, Montana
Inside an old cabin.
Old timber-lined mine shaft entrance with weathered boards in the Elkhorn Mountains near Boulder, Montana
Don’t go in.
Old iron stove inside a weathered wooden cabin in the Elkhorn Mountains near Boulder, Montana
The stove is still there.
Rusted iron mining equipment sitting on a concrete base in the grass in the Elkhorn Mountains near Boulder, Montana
Mining leftovers.
Wirehaired puppy standing on mine tailings and old boards in the Elkhorn Mountains near Boulder, Montana
Boone, inspecting the tailings.
Wirehaired puppy with an orange collar sitting on a rocky ridge with mountains behind in the Elkhorn Mountains near Boulder, Montana
Puppy Boone at the top.
White Mitsubishi Montero climbing over rocks on a high ridge in the Elkhorn Mountains near Boulder, Montana
A Montero on the rocks.

Snow on the First Weekend of Summer

Camp was at a mountain lake. We went to bed in June and woke up in winter, with fresh snow on the trees, the trucks and the rooftop tents.

Tan FJ Cruiser with a rooftop tent parked beside a mountain lake after fresh snow in the Elkhorn Mountains near Boulder, Montana
Good morning, June.
Snowy pine forest and camp reflected in a still lake in the Elkhorn Mountains near Boulder, Montana
Mirror lake.
Single rock in a calm lake reflecting snowy pines in the Elkhorn Mountains near Boulder, Montana
Quiet.
Wirehaired puppy with an orange collar sitting on a rock in the snow in the Elkhorn Mountains near Boulder, Montana
Boone’s first snow camp.
Tan FJ Cruiser with a hard-shell rooftop tent at a snowy lakeside camp in the pines in the Elkhorn Mountains near Boulder, Montana
Packing up in the snow.

Know Before You Go

Getting there. According to Legends of America, Elkhorn is about 18 miles by road from Boulder. Take Highway 69 south about seven miles, turn onto the county gravel road, cross the Boulder River and follow it about 11 miles, keeping left at the junctions.

Respect the town. The two halls are the state park. The rest of Elkhorn is private property, and people live there. Stay on the road, and don’t wander into yards or buildings.

Visit the cemetery. It’s about three-quarters of a mile up the main road, outside the park.

Weather. It can snow up here in June. Pack like it will.

More Montana history: the Wickes Tunnel, not far north, and the road to Independence.

Tan FJ Cruiser with red wheels parked on gravel in front of a tall weathered wooden hall with a balcony in the Elkhorn ghost town near Boulder, Montana
One more for the road.
Silver crashed in 1893. Fraternity Hall is still standing.

More From the Weekend

White Montero on a rocky trail in the timber in the Elkhorn Mountains near Boulder, Montana
White Montero on a rocky slope under dark storm clouds in the Elkhorn Mountains near Boulder, Montana
View through a windshield of a red Jeep on a grassy ridge in the Elkhorn Mountains near Boulder, Montana

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Aaron Thies
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