Montana Sapphires and Phillipsburg

We left Colstrip and headed (with some extra stops) to Phillipsburg, Montana.

We had read you could "sift" for

Montana Sapphires there.

While in Phillipsburg we went to Granite, Montana.

It is now a ghost town. At one time it had over 3,000 residents.

It was a silver mining town.

The drive up there was beautifully scary!

I sure was glad I wasn't driving.

The view from Granite

One of the buildings at Granite.
I don't remember what it used to be.

Laurence and his little brother Glenn in front of the bank.
It had amazingly thick walls.

The Granite Silver Mine

Laurence and I

Aisling

Union Hall

Laurence in front of Union Hall

 And We're Off to Search for Sapphires!

The streams and rivers in Montana can't be beat!

They give (sell) you a bucket of gravel, you take small amounts
and wash it in the water trough.
Aisling is on the left.

Glenn and Glenda sifting through the gravel in search of sapphires.
We found many, but most were too small to be able to do anything with them. But it was still a ton of fun!!!

Glenda, Aisling, Laurence and Glenn
Sifting through the gravel for sapphires.

This is really a huge enterprise

This was quite a surprise to me.
An LDS (Mormon) Chapel right outside our trailer door.