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lations was solitary confinement in a subterranean
cellblock known as the “hole.” Predictably, inmates
staged many escape attempts. None succeeded, and
a few attempts ended with their deaths. Inmates
seized control of the prison for 36 hours in an April
1959 riot that caused three deaths. Still, the over-
crowding and substandard conditions largely con-
tinued until the prison closed its cell doors for good
in 1979—three years after it had been added to the
National Register of Historic Places and the new
Montana State Prison had opened a few miles out-
side Deer Lodge.
Visitors to the venerable old prison can stroll
freely around the enclosed courtyard where con-
victs took their exercise, peer into the grim hole used
for solitary confinement and roam the cellblocks.
Rumor has it the place is haunted, some visitors
having glimpsed shadowy figures and caught dis-
tinctive smells, thus paranormal groups host events
at the complex. While you may not have a ghostly
encounter, tours of the prison remain grimly enter-
taining, while the broader complex offers a variety
of attractions.
For those looking to add something less dark to
the mix, the prison’s onetime mule barn houses
the Frontier Montana Museum, filled with West-
ern memorabilia, mostly from the impressive col-
lection of Don Cappa. Exhibits shed light on the
life of ranchers, farmers and cowboys, and the
array of firearms is substantial, with more than
300 handguns and rifles on display. Interpretive
signs relate that between 1829 and 1900 more than
10,000 gun dealers and manufacturers operated
in the United States, including the arguable “father
of interchangeable parts,” Eli Whitney. The mu-
seum boasts “the largest collection of handguns,
spurs, chaps and all the cowboy collectibles be-
tween Cody and Calgary,” as well as American
Indian clothing, beadwork, weapons, tools and
ceremonial objects.
As Deer Lodge was divisional headquarters for
the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Rail-
road, the Powell County Museum showcases the
storied engine Little Joe, an electric engine and a
caboose visitors can enter. Auto enthusiasts, mean-
while, can gaze longingly at some 160 vehicles,
dating back to the 1880s, in the Montana Auto
Museum. It would be a crime to miss Yesterday’s
Playthings, crammed with the dolls, model trains
and other toys of our youth, and be sure to stop
by the Prison Cow Ice Cream Shop for a scoop
of Wilcoxson’s ice cream, made in Montana since- For more information on the Old Montana
Prison Complex, at 1106 Main St. in Deer Lodge,
call the Powell County Museum & Arts Foundation
at 406-846-3111 or visit pcmaf.org.
Opposite: The Old
Montana Prison served
the territory and then
the state until 1979.
Top: The courtyard
offered inmates needed
fresh air and exercise.
Middle: This crenellated
tower looks downright
medieval. Bottom: A
visitor tries out for size
one of the small cells
—far less grim than
the dank hole used for
solitary confinement.In 1885
there
were 120
inmates
but only
28 cells,
so some
inmates
camped
on the
prison
groundsCOLLECTIONSJUNE 2019 WILD WEST 77