Moving Day

Moving day was the 19th. It took a lot of work to jack up the cabin so we could get a trailer under it. I decided to hire a crane to lift it off. Much easier!

Technically we are not on Beaver Creek any more but I will keep the blog the same. 

Emily C

There are a lot of mining claims in Montana and especially in this area. In the old days, people could claim 20 acres of government land, mine it and even get full ownership of the property. 

There are always some of these for sale. Some you can drive to others are remote and are hike in only. I had a chance to buy one of the hike in only type at very good price. The claim was patented in 1924 and the name is the Emily C. We will probably keep it for a year or two and possibly sell it.

You can drive a car to within about 1.2 miles from the claim. You can ride an ATV to within about 400 yards of it.

Here is a view from the property.

Lots of trees and boulders.

Lots of wild flowers!

I didn't know it had a stream on it when I bought it. That is real bonus!

Here is the mine entrance (collapsed).

There are some old relics around. I found this ore bucket nearby.

 And this anvil. It is heavy! There was no road to this claim, everything was brought in by pack animals.

 

Here is some of the ore that was laying near the adit. I am sure there is no potential to find any gold nuggets since the mines in this area required chemical processing of the ore.

Near another claim, my friend ran across this old ore cart.

 I took this picture this morning while driving in. There is a moose.

Part 2

So to start our Montana Vacation 2014, we flew into Bozeman. After getting on the Interstate to head to Helena, we had a big buck run out in front of us and total the Ford Escape. Thankfully, no one was hurt. We had to call a cab to take us back to the airport so we could get a rental car to get us home. We finally made it at 2:00AM.

The day after: I am a little tired.

One day we rented kayaks and went to Park Lake.

On another day we went 4-wheeling

We ran into a sheep drive instead of a cattle drive

Friday night we went to the Last Chance Stampede and Rodeo

A couple of sapphires we found.

Unloading firewood at the new land.

The way we roll around a campfire: reading a magazine and a book on an iPad

Brandon directing traffic

A real cowboy

Some family pictures