I was up by 6:30 AM and apprehending what this day might bring. Mark Lisac, the owner of the tire shop told me to have the car there by 8:30. I had the car there before 8. I saw the courier arrive with the part in and mentioned it to Mark. Mark hustles and works hard.
He expects his employees to hustle and work hard as well. I was amazed when the work was finished by 11:30 AM! As it turns out not only was the axle bad, but the wheel bearing which I had replaced in Boise before we embarked on this trip was also bad. The tire shop in Boise agreed that I could bring back the part and that they would pay for the new bearing as well as the cost of its installation. (Maybe this won't hurt so bad?)
After picking up the car Linda and I drove to the Berkeley Pit, the old open pit copper mine. I had last seen the pit in the spring of 1974. It is one mile long, half mile wide and 3,900 feet deep.
The pit was opened in 1954. It closed in 1982. Although it has left a scar, it also provided decades of employment and prosperity for Butte. It's clear now that Butte lacks a stable base for employment. Mining it is not providing the same economic prosperity that it was during the last half of the 20th century.
In a lot of ways Butte reminds me of East Liverpool, Ohio that we toured during our trip East on the Lincoln Highway (SEE: Entry 36, June 27,1917 A Highway of History). Like Butte, East Liverpool has some spectacular commercial architecture. But things have fallen into disrepair. Of course, Butte was even more prosperous than East Liverpool. The mine supported a larger work force and the homes of the wealthy were even more spectacular in Butte than in East Liverpool.
We spent a little time driving through the commercial district of Butte. We did not tour, but we saw the Copper King Mansion. This was the home of W. A. Clarke, who like "Mr. Potter" was the richest man in town.
We left Butte and traveled towards Missoula.
Our first stop was the town of Deer Lodge, home of the territorial and state penitentiary.
On the way to Missoula we looked North from Interstate 90 and saw what we believed to be remnants of the old Yellowstone Trail.
The old roadbed with the telephone poles adjacent to it were enough to convince me that this is the old Yellowstone Trail. Unfortunately, I have not had time to read some of the material given to me in order to confirm this. If I'm wrong, I'm sure I'll be corrected.
Upon arriving in Missoula we first drove down University Avenue. Linda and I both lived on University Avenue. She lived in the Delta Gamma house, I lived in the Sigma Phi Epsilon house. The Delta Gamma house is still a going concern. I'm not sure what has happened to my old fraternity, but the physical house is now a private residence. I have to say, it looks much better than when I lived there. (Now, I would not like to live next to a college fraternity!) A porch has been added to the front which improves the house's appearance. Next door to the fraternity is the house where we bought our little tent trailer. (I could see the tent trailer was getting a bit nostalgic sitting in front of its old home. I thought I saw a tear come to its eye.)
We will spend two days in Missoula. Were going to spend two days because we want to see the University and some of our old haunts. In addition, it is now the weekend and it will be difficult to get a campsite. Sunday we will drive towards Spokane, but will probably camp somewhere in western Montana or in the Idaho Panhandle. In Spokane we will stay at Riverside State Park.
