Helena, Montana retains small-town atmosphere

HELENA, Mont. The most revealing view of Montana's capital city is from the general admission seats at Kendrick Legion Field on a Thursday evening in summer, say about the fourth inning. You may think you have slipped into the pages of the Saturday Evening Post, about the late 1950s. Over the right-field fence a clutch of kids watches the game from atop the monkey bars in Memorial Park, where the Capital City Band is performing its weekly free concert for picnickers on the grass. Sousa marches, waltzes, pops. Beyond the center-field fence is the sheer rise of Mount Helena, towering over the city's downtown district. Over the left-field fence are the twin gold crosses of the 230-foot spires on the Cathedral of St. Helena, a scaled-down clone of European cathedrals donated by a gold-rush millionaire. And out beyond third base foul territory rises the Capitol dome.

Helena (pronounced HEL'-in-nah) came to life overnight as a gold-rush boomtown in 1864 and still retains an Old West flavor that is now mixed with the politics, commerce, arts, culture and sports of any modern city. But the city wears its mining history proudly.

Main Street in the downtown business district takes its name, Last Chance Gulch, from the four prospectors who discovered gold there in 1864. The "Four Georgians" supposedly decided the valley was their last chance; if they didn't hit gold here, they would go home, their grubstake exhausted. Instead, they hit big, and started one of the West's big gold rushes.

"Color" reportedly still washes up on Last Chance Gulch after a hard rain, and Norwest Bank on the Gulch has a spectacular display of gold: nuggets, dust, wire, leaf and coins.

Panning for gold in area streams is still a popular pastime, and several active gold mines are in the area. The Montana Tunnels Mine south of Helena provides tours for those wanting to see a big, modern gold operation. Gold miners also discovered sapphires, but didn't recognize their value for some time. Now half the world's sapphires come from Montana, and several sapphire mines in the Helena area will show visitors, for a fee, how to search buckets of gravel for the gems.

A now-fragile mining-era fire watch tower on the east crest of the Gulch is the city's official symbol, the Guardian of the Gulch. Fires swept through the close-packed miners' shacks several times during the early days, leading city fathers to begin a 24-hour watch.

The city rests against the north and east slopes of 5,460-foot Mount Helena and looks out over the Helena Valley, which now accounts for much of its "suburban" population. Helena proper, about nine square miles, has a population of about 28,000, while the surrounding county totals about 52,000.

The top 628 acres of Mount Helena are a city park criss-crossed with hiking and biking trails. Deer and other wildlife are common.

Helena became the territorial capital in 1875 and the state capital in 1894. For 90 days in odd-numbered years the 150 members of the Montana Legislature create a housing shortage, and politics is thick in the city year-round. The capital lies midway between Yellowstone and Glacier national parks, at the junction of Interstate 15 and U.S. 12 and 278, on the east face of the Rocky Mountains.

At 4,090 feet elevation, the city is just 15 miles east of the Continental Divide, and the climate is semiarid high desert, with an average of only 12 inches of rainfall a year.

Winters are long but less severe than their reputation, and summers are generally mild. Summer visitors will appreciate a sweater or light jacket after sundown. Snowfall averages 46 inches a year, and about 20 days a year drop to zero or colder.

It's a four-season climate for year-round outdoor activities, and the outdoors dominates local life, hunting in the fall and spring, skiing and snowmobiling in winters, fishing in spring and summer, and hiking year-round; the 1.5 million-acre Bob Marshall wilderness complex, with 1,800 miles of hiking trails, begins a few miles north of town and stretches all the way to Glacier.

Hunting and fishing are nearby in all directions from Helena. Holter and Hauser dams form major lakes on the Missouri River near the city, and the river itself is trophy trout water here, near its headwaters. Wild game thrives in the Helena National Forest.

The forest lies against the edge of the city, so wild animals are common sights in town. They include an occasional moose or black bear, but most common are deer, which maraud gardens and sometimes complicate traffic or airport landings.

It's a city of neighborhoods that demand strolling, from the stately mansion district on the west, where the gold-rush millionaires built their homes, to the funky Fifth Ward on the northeast, and the upscale downtown walking mall on Last Chance Gulch.

The mansion district is thick with old trees and history. Last Chance Creek runs beneath the walking mall but surfaces at the miner sculpture, and the city's history still shows through modernized buildings. One of the city's more popular watering holes and restaurants, the Windbag Saloon, operates in a converted brothel known as Big Dorothy's that wasn't shut down until 1973.

At the south end of the Gulch is Reeder's Alley, a restored miner's village now housing specialty shops, a restaurant and a restored and furnished miner's cabin.

Famous residents include historian and author Stephen Ambrose and designer-clothing magnate Liz Claiborne, who has a ranch north of town. Helena has also been home to actors Myrna Loy and Gary Cooper, and Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.

Fort Harrison, on the edge of town, was the World War II birthplace of the U.S.-Canadian Special Services Force, immortalized in the war movie "The Devil's Brigade." Flags from both countries fly at Memorial Park over the engraved names of the nearly 500 who died in its celebrated battles. Helenans relish and tout the small-town flavor of the city. "It's a nice place to live, but I wouldn't want to visit there," one resident quipped.

No place in town, no place, requires a coat and tie. Or bans them. Blue jeans and backpacks mingle with suits and gowns at the Helena Symphony and Grand Street Theater.

Nevertheless, Helena boasts a limousine service, which has two limousines and can't handle all the graduation-season business. The most common customers are big-city celebrities. The Old Trapper Taxi has only six cars, but offers 24-hour service.

IF YOU GO ....
Getting there: By car, Helena is at the junction of Interstate 15 and U.S. 12 and 278. Yellowstone National Park is 175 miles south, Glacier National Park is 217 miles north. It's 595 miles to Seattle, 474 to Salt Lake City, 812 to Denver, 1,027 to Minneapolis-St. Paul, 1,212 to Los Angeles, and 595 to Edmonton, Alberta.

Weather: Helena's altitude, 4,090 feet, gives it a dry, high-desert climate, with only 12 inches of precipitation a year. Winters can be bitterly cold with spells of subzero temperatures, but January averages range from lows of about 10 degrees to highs around 30 degrees. Snowfall is seldom heavy enough to cause traffic problems, and streets and major highways are usually cleared quickly. Summers are usually mild, with temperatures in July averaging 85 degrees.

Lodging: Seventeen hotels and motels with 1,074 rooms; six bed-and-breakfasts.

Dining: Plenty of fine food, but little fine dining, and few restaurants are free of annoying video gambling machines. Bars in Montana are often family oriented, and many include restaurants.

Outdoors: Sporting goods stores can provide information on guided group hikes and field trips offered by organizations such as the Montana Wilderness Association and the Audubon Society.
Gates of the Mountains Boat Tours, 19 miles north on I-15, provides several boat trips a day during summers to picnic sites on the Missouri River, including a closeup look at the cliff formations described by explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.
Spring Meadow Park, 20 acres on the west edge of town, offers fishing, swimming beaches and playgrounds. Park Lake, about 10 miles south of town, also is family-oriented, with camping, walking trails, picnic areas and nonmotorized boating.
Golfers have their choice of three 18-hole courses: Bill Roberts Municipal and Green Meadow Country Club, both in town, and Fox Ridge, east of town in the valley.
Great Divide ski area at Marysville, 22 miles north, is the nearest downhill ski resort. Cross-country ski trails abound; sporting goods stores or the Helena National Forest can provide details.
The 1.5 million-acre Bob Marshall wilderness complex, with 1,800 miles of hiking trails, begins north of town and stretches all the way to Glacier. The smaller Gates of the Mountains Wilderness is visible from downtown. The Rattlesnake, Bitterroot-Selway, Anaconda-Pintlar, Welcome Creek, Spanish Peaks and Absaroka-Beartooth wilderness areas all begin within 150 miles of Helena.

Nightlife: Touring musical and stage productions are frequent at the Myrna Loy center and the civic center, and Grand Street Theater presents seven live plays a year. Some bars have live bands. Many bars style themselves as casinos, meaning numerous and noisy video gambling machines.

Information: Helena Area Chamber of Commerce, 1-800-743-5362 or (406) 442-4120. The state tourism office, Travel Montana, can be contacted at (800) 548-3390 or on the Web at www.visitmt.com.