Granite

Overview

Montana's silver queen

Granite sits at about 7,000 feet on Granite Mountain, four miles by road above Philipsburg in the Flint Creek Range. A prospector named Holland found the lode in 1872 and walked away from it. A few years later Charles McLure, who ran a mill in Philipsburg, found rich ruby silver in Holland's old shaft, raised money in St. Louis and formed the Granite Mountain Mining Company. In 1882 the miners hit the Bonanza Chute, and the company town was laid out two years later.

By 1889 Granite had about 3,000 people, a bank, a hospital, four churches, a newspaper, a three-story hotel and 18 saloons. A 100-stamp mill went up on Fred Burr Creek below the town, fed by an 8,900-foot tramway, and a railroad ran down to Philipsburg. The miners built themselves a three-story union hall in 1890.

Then in 1893 Congress repealed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, silver fell, and the mine closed. Within about a year only 140 people were left. Mining came back from 1898 and went on and off into the 1930s, but the town never refilled. A fire in 1958 took most of the mine buildings, and the last resident, caretaker Mae Werning, died in 1969. The state now keeps the site as Granite Ghost Town State Park, a summer-only park of 0.6 acres that drew 6,878 visitors in 2023, by Wikipedia's count.

Timeline

From the Bonanza Chute to the 1893 crash

1. 1865Hector Horton makes the first silver find in the district, by the state park's account.
2. 1872A prospector named Holland (Eli Holland, to Wikipedia) finds the Granite lode in the autumn and sinks a shallow shaft, then gives it up. Legends of America dates his find to 1875; the park says the claim was relocated that year.
3. 1877–1880Charles D. McLure, superintendent of the Hope Mill in Philipsburg, finds rich ruby silver in the old shaft and goes to St. Louis for capital. Wikipedia dates the find to 1877, Legends of America to 1880, with ore assaying 2,000 ounces a ton. The Granite Mountain Mining Company is formed.
4. 1882Miners strike the "Bonanza Chute," a lode assaying 1,700 ounces a ton. It returns about $274,000 in silver by 1883.
5. 1884The company town is laid out. Miners rent lots for $2.50 a month.
6. 1885The first dividend is paid and a 20-stamp mill is built.
7. 1889The 100-stamp Rumsey Mill on Fred Burr Creek starts work in March, tied to the mine by an 8,900-foot tramway and to Philipsburg by a 7.7-mile railroad. Granite has four churches, a newspaper, a school, a hospital, a fire station, a bank, the three-story Moore House hotel and 18 saloons.
8. 1890The three-story Miners Union Hall is built for $23,000, with a hall, union offices, a library and a lodge room.
9. 1893Congress repeals the Sherman Silver Purchase Act and the price of silver collapses. The mine shuts. Within about a year the town falls from about 3,000 people (3,200 to Legends of America) to 140, and the park says the camp lay deserted for three years.
10. 1898–1901Mining resumes and produces about $1 million in bullion a year until 1901, then goes on and off through the 1930s.
11. 1958New investors explore the mine, and a fire destroys most of the surface buildings.
12. 1969Mae Werning, the last resident, who stayed on as caretaker, dies at 75.
13. 2026Granite Ghost Town State Park, run by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, is open from Memorial Day to September 30, daylight hours only.

What's left

Union hall, superintendent's house and cabins

The park preserves two buildings by name. The Miners Union Hall is a shell now: a stone ground floor with brick walls standing above it, open to the sky, and recorded by the Historic American Buildings Survey. The stone house of the mine superintendent stood at the head of Magnolia Avenue, the street Legends of America says was called Silk Stocking Row, and it is the only home left on that block. Around them are the old bank vault, the tumbled-down hospital, a scatter of log and frame cabins, mine dumps and buildings on the hillside, and pieces of the tramway.

Nobody lives in Granite. The park page lists one amenity, pack-in, pack-out: bring what you need and carry your trash home.

The historic maps below show the town at the end of its run. The 1908 Philipsburg sheet draws a tight block of buildings labelled Granite on the slope above Fred Burr Creek, with Hasmark and Tower nearer Philipsburg and Rumsey, the mill site, down on the creek to the southwest. By the 1971 Fred Burr Lake sheet Granite is a handful of squares among "Mines" labels, at the end of the road from Philipsburg, 3.8 miles off.

• Miners Union Hall (1890), walls
• Mine superintendent's house (stone)
• Bank vault
• Hospital ruins
• Log and frame cabins
• Mine dumps and hillside mine buildings
• Tramway remnants

Historic maps

Granite on USGS maps, 1908–1971

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

19081:125,00019711:24,000

Day trip

Plan a day trip to Granite from Philipsburg

Take it with you

Day trip itinerary

The essentials, the sample day with boxes to tick, what to photograph and the coordinates, on two printable pages. Handy where there's no signal.

Download the PDF (566 KB)

Granite is a half-day trip from Philipsburg in summer: about 34 minutes each way by the route, an hour or two among the ruins, and back to town for lunch. Montana FWP opens the park from Memorial Day to September 30, in daylight only, and says the road needs a high-clearance vehicle. There are no services on the mountain.

A sample day

1. MorningLeave Philipsburg on Granite Road and climb about four miles to the park.
2. Late morningWalk to the Miners Union Hall, the superintendent's house and the bank vault, then the cabins and mine dumps above them.
3. Early afternoonDrive back down slowly and have lunch in Philipsburg.

What to photograph and film

• The Miners Union Hall. Its stone base and brick walls stand open to the sky; shoot up through the window openings.
• The dirt street and cabins. The street runs between weathered cabins with the mountains behind.
• The view. The town sits close to the top of the mountain, with the Philipsburg valley below.

Map & directions

Getting there

Philipsburg is the place to start. Granite Road climbs about four miles and 1,280 feet east from town to the park. Montana FWP calls it narrow, steep and winding, says to be ready to pull over for oncoming traffic, and says a high-clearance vehicle is necessary. From Missoula the drive follows I-90 east and MT 1 south to Philipsburg.

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

Photos

Granite in photos

Granite about 1895, its houses filling the slope below the mountainA dirt street between weathered cabins, June 2009A sagging log cabin with a tin roof and fallen porch, June 2009The stone and brick walls of the Miners Union Hall, September 2007Plastered brick walls and an arch inside the Miners Union Hall, September 2014

Visitor reports

Been to Granite?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

Thanks. Your report reached us, and we'll read it before it goes on the page.

Silver mining

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Nearby

Other sites near Granite

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Montana index.

• Southern Cross7.4 mi S · Deer Lodge
• Pioneer18.9 mi NE · Powell
• Gold Creek24.4 mi NE · Powell
• Bearmouth27.5 mi N · Granite
• Nimrod28.7 mi NW · Granite
• Silver Bow35.1 mi SE · Silver Bow
• Garnet35.4 mi N · Granite
• Coloma36.9 mi N · Missoula

Sources

Sources and credits

1. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, "Granite Ghost Town State Park", read October 29, 2026: season, daylight hours, snow into late May, the road and high-clearance requirement, no RVs or buses, fees, pack-in pack-out, the superintendent's house and Union Hall, Horton's 1865 find, Holland's 1872 find and the 1875 relocation, the 1893 shutdown and three deserted years, about 3,000 miners, phone.
2. Wikipedia, "Granite, Montana", retrieved October 2026: coordinates and elevation, Eli Holland in 1872, McLure in 1877, more than 3,000 people and 140 a year after 1893, the park's 0.6 acres and 6,878 visitors in 2023.
3. Legends of America, "Granite, Montana", updated November 2024: the 1875 and 1880 dates, assays, the Bonanza Chute, lot rents, the mills, tramway and railroad, the 1889 town and Union Hall, the 3,200-to-140 fall, 1898–1901 output, the 1958 fire, Mae Werning, Silk Stocking Row and what remains.
4. ghosttowns.com, "Granite": county, the bank vault, the mountaintop setting. (Its history credits gems to the town; every other source here calls Granite a silver camp, and we follow them.)
5. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, credited below. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Not field-checked.

Photo and map credits

• Granite about 1895, its houses filling the slope below the mountain: Unknown author, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• A dirt street between weathered cabins, June 2009: JOHN LLOYD from ABERDEEN, WASHINGTON, United States, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
• A sagging log cabin with a tin roof and fallen porch, June 2009: JOHN LLOYD from ABERDEEN, WASHINGTON, United States, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
• The stone and brick walls of the Miners Union Hall, September 2007: Geologyguy, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• Plastered brick walls and an arch inside the Miners Union Hall, September 2014: Newbootgoofin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
• Area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Philipsburg 1908, 1:125,000; Fred Burr Lake 1971, 1:24,000.