A few miles west of the Boulder Train Tunnel (see this thread https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/jk-trails-tales-71/inside-abandoned-train-tunnel-25852/) up a steep narrow mountain road is the abandoned mine and ghost town of Comet, Montana. There is one house occupied that we noticed. I estimate there are about 30 structures still standing in various stages of disrepair. Most buildings are dangerous to enter due to rotting timbers and floors.

Here is a picture of the Rubi in front of a few homes.



Looking south at the mine across the small valley.



Here is a closer view of the abandoned mine. It was fun to go inside and explore. It is still in pretty good shape.



We hiked up to the top of the mine and looked back at Comet. "Teton Jim", my DH is viewing the landscape. This is one of the largest ghost towns we have visited.



This was the last trip we managed to take before winter set in and closed the back roads until Spring. It was a great fun to explore this area and I can hardly wait for Spring to return as the snow is getting too deep to go of road now.

 

Wow ,nice find.That is beautiful.

 

GG, Thanks for the pictures and explanations here and in the other thread. Being as your Rubi is basically stock and you guys seem to go anywhere your hearts desire, are you fairly satisfied with your rigs? Do you tow the Jeep when motoring or drive it everywhere?

I'm more than a bit jealous of your lifestyle and hope my wife and I can do pretty much the same when I retire.

 

When you retire???? Why wait? The mountains beckon! People live and work here too you know. As for the rig, we love it! More than we expected and is a fine machine for sure. The lifted ZJ is my son's baby and is now his project vehicle plus daily driver. No, we never tow the Jeep. It is very comfortable and we drive it everywhere we go, locally or cross country. We plan to put it to the ultimate test in Moab this Spring. What we do to it, if anything, will be determined by what it shows us that it can or can't do there. We go to Moab almost every Spring and have been doing it with our 2000 WJ and our '95 ZJ before that. It will be interesting to compare vehicles.

 

That's gorgeous. Thanks for sharing. I would love to go visit that place... too bad I live tousands of km's away lol

 

Wow sweet pictures! I swear Gravel Gertie I am always jealous of your pictures. When I see you post in the trails and tales it is always the first link I click on because I know there will be great pics!

 

Amazing place. Thank you for the pictures. If you have more, please post. About the ghost town: what's the history? When was it abandoned? What was being mined? Etc...

 

I wish they had cool places like that out east. I enjoyed exploring the mining stuff in Colorado when I lived there.

 

you can have the same thrills in downtown atlanta... there is a special place we call the "ghetto"... its a fun adventure... run down house... bullets wizzing across the street... the occassional (or not) drive by... and you can find lots of pretty use syringes!

We should go sometime Tgrt!! I'll bring the kevlar and AK

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Comet, Montana is a ghost town located about twenty miles SSW of Helena. It is reached by following High Ore Road north from Interstate 15. The remains of the town cover about thirty-five acres and consist of an ore hopper, a large ore processing building, several other company buildings, and numerous houses and other private structures. High Ore Creek runs through the center of the property and separates the mine buildings from the town proper. The town is abandoned except for a single active residence; although it sits on private grazing land, it is open to public access.

History

The town is named for the Comet Mine, which was developed in 1883 by the Helena and Livingston Smelting and Reduction Company, based on a discovery made in 1874. Ore was transported to another mine in Wickes for processing. This operation shut down in 1897. Operations were revived in 1900 under the Montana Consolidated Copper Company; in 1927 the Basin Montana Tunnel Company took over the property and built a processing plant on the site for both this mine and the nearby Gray Eagle mine. These operations continued until 1941 when the mine was exhausted and operations were permanently halted.

The Comet mine produced some $20 million in ore and was the richest mine in the district; the Gray Eagle mine produced over $2 million on top of this. Ores produced included lead, zinc, copper, silver, and gold.