Lampert Ranch - Anaconda, MT

 

Once again Google maps sent us in the wrong direction, but Angel Lampert was able to locate us on the road and guide us into her ranch. We have a FULL hook-up ( sewer, water, and electric) and the horses have a large pasture to hang out.

The pasture is full of shrubbery which is supposedly tasty for horses. They don't seem to mind the shrubbery. 

There are two crab apple trees next to the pasture. I have been picking apples and throwing them around the pasture, so every day we stay here the horses have an Easter egg hunt for apples hidden in the pasture. It keeps the horses entertained.

There are no trails here to speak of. Our first day we rode through the acreage, down by the Clark Fork

River, and by a field of strawberries. No cows or bulls to worry about, but there were holes here and there and it made me nervous that Mercy was going to step into a hole and lose his footing.

After our ride, we went into Butte. Butte is the fifth largest city in Montana, about the same population as Los Gatos. However, there is no charming downtown. It looked pretty depressing with a lot of shuttered buildings and not much going on. 

This bar was probably one of the nicer places in the downtown area. I was enchanted by the leprechaun they placed on their roof.

We took a 90 minute historical tour of downtown Butte, which included a visit to the city jail and a speakeasy from the 1930s. Apparently, Butte was a big place for bootlegging during Prohibition.

Evel Knievel was arrested in Butte when he was 17 for reckless driving. Apparently, the guard on duty had a habit of rhyming the last names of arrestees. When Knievel's family came to bail him out, the guard called out "Knievel, Evil Knievel? You made bail." And, the name stuck.

 

The bar at the speakeasy. The speakeasy is underground and the wall that hid the speakeasy was boarded up by the feds. It was uncovered during a remodel in 2004. All the furniture, glasware, etc. was still there as it had been in the 1930s when it was boarded up.

This is the small band stage.

There is a small window that the bouncer could look through to see who was at the door. It was called a speakeasy because when you came to the door, you were expected to "speak easy" (softly) to gain entrance.

Carrie Nation apparently visited Butte, MT and was escorted out of town by the local sheriff because they weren't interested in her lectures. Carrie Nation led the temperance movement which brought about Prohibition. Her major concern was that the men would drink their wages and abuse their wives and children when they got drunk. She felt that if the men couldn't drink, then the families would do better. 

The ride on our second day was on the dirt road around the ranch. No shade, but I felt safer.