Montana Meandering: Old Prison Museum in Deer Lodge is a daytrip worth the drive

  • Published
  • By John Turner
  • 341st Missile Wing Public Affairs
MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. --  Anyone asking for a unique travel experience should go directly to jail.

The old state prison in Deer Lodge, Montana was once an iron-clad citadel of justice. Now it is a museum for the public to tour.

Located in Deer Lodge's southeastern corner, the prison's towering sandstone walls and jutting guard cupolas loom over the town's picturesque Main Street. The barred windows on the complex's empty red-cell house peek over ramparts toward the unharried street life below.

The prison dates back to Montana's territorial days. In 1867, during the height of the gold rush at Bannack and Virginia City, the territorial legislature recognized that lawlessness and vigilante justice was on the rise and requested funds from Congress to build a prison. Construction began in 1870 and the first convicts were received the following year. The original board fence that enclosed the complex was replaced with the stone wall that still stands today, built employing convict labor in 1893. Additional buildings would be added through the prison's 110 years of operation, including new cell houses in 1896 and 1912, a theater in 1919 and an administrative building in 1931.

The vertical expansion allowed for an increase in the inmate population. The overcrowding that ensued, compounded by antiquated facilities, became volatile. On April 16, 1959, several inmates took advantage of a riot to seize rifles and take 23 hostages. Deputy Warden Ted Rothe was killed in the struggle. Two days later, soldiers from the Montana National Guard stormed the prison under the cover of a bazooka rocket that blasted away a chunk of one of the 1912 cell house's upper windows. The Guardsmen rescued the hostages and reclaimed the cell house, block by block, using tear gas. The riot's two ringleaders lay dead following an alleged suicide pact.

It became clear that a new state prison was needed. A modern facility was eventually built three miles outside of Deer Lodge. The state ceased using the old prison in 1979.

Today, the abandoned facilities are succumbing to the punishments of Mother Nature; there is no acquittal from the wind and the sun and the snow. Concrete is crumbling, faded paint is peeling, and in some rooms the green linoleum squares are chipped and broken. A patina of dust covers archaic furniture enshrined behind iron gates and dirty glass. Regardless, the self-guided tour offers a fascinating glimpse into the history and daily operations of Montana's penal system.

Visitors can step into windowless, vault-like cells that were used to confine the most troublesome inmates. They can ponder the vocational and recreational activities that occupied inmates' time. They can walk through austere concrete tunnels built so that guards could launch tear gas canisters through narrow slits at unruly inmates. And they can see an original gallows where seven men dropped to their deaths on the end of a rope.

There is a spooky charm to this eerie prison. Soft breezes are amplified then shattered in dark corridors and hint of moaning, anguished ghosts. It surely must be haunted.

The museum is open daily from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., March through December and shares the main entrance with the The Montana Auto Museum, which displays approximately 150 vehicles from the 1880s through the 1980s. The Yesterday's Playthings toy museum across the street is a gallery of antique dolls, model trains and a Raggedy Ann and Andy collection boasting more than 6,500 items. The Frontier Montana museum next door has a large collection of firearms, spurs, clothing and collectibles representing the cowboy era and the taming of the American West. The Powell County Museum, technically free to visit, spotlights homesteading life, folk art and the area's role in the mining industry. Cottonwood City, also free of charge, is an enclave of log cabins anchored by a one-room schoolhouse.

Deer Lodge is located approximately 40 miles northwest of Butte, Montana on I-90. The shortest distance from Great Falls is 150 miles if travelers take U.S. Highway 12 from Helena to Garrison, Montana and then drive eastbound on I-90 to exit 184.

More information can be found at http://www.pcmaf.org.