Yet, a century after Garnet emerged, remnants of the town stand, hidden high in the Garnet Mountain Range east of Missoula. It was named for the semi-precious ruby-colored stone found in the area.

Garnet was a good place to live. The surrounding mountains were rich in gold-bearing quartz. There was a school. The crime rate was low. Liquor flowed freely in the town's many saloons. The bawdy houses did brisk business. Missoula and Deer Lodge were close enough for necessary supplies.

Placer mining of gold or other minerals is done by washing the sand, gravel, etc. with running water, but by 1870 most area placer mining was no longer profitable. Although miners had located gold-bearing quartz veins, the lack of decent roads and refined extracting and smelting techniques made further development unfeasible at that time. Silver mines elsewhere drew the miners out of the Garnets.

In 1893, the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act set off a panic throughout the region. Silver mines closed, and within weeks thousands of unemployed miners were on the move. This event, combined with improved technology, led to a renewed interest in gold mining in the Garnets. Miners began to trickle back.

At the head of First Chance Gulch in 1895, Dr. Armistead Mitchell erected a stamp mill to crush local ore. Around it grew the town of Garnet. The town was originally named Mitchell, but in 1897 became known as Garnet.

Soon after Mitchell erected his mill, Sam Ritchey hit a rich vein of ore in his Nancy Hanks mine just west of the town. The "boom" began. By January 1898 nearly 1,000 people resided in Garnet. The school had 41 students. Four stores, four hotels, three livery stables, two barber shops, a union hall, a school , a butcher shop, a candy shop, a doctor's office, an assay office, and thirteen saloons comprised the town. Eager miners and entrepreneurs built quickly and without planning. A haphazard community resulted. Most of the buildings stood on existing or future mining claims. About twenty mines operated.

After 1900 many mine owners leased their mines out, the gold having become scarcer and harder to mine. The Nancy Hanks yielded about $300,000 worth of gold. An estimated $950,000 was extracted from all the mines in Garnet by 1917.

By 1905, many of the mines were abandoned and the town's population had shrunk to about 150. A fire in the town's business district in 1912 destroyed may commercial buildings and dealt a death blow to the remnants of Garnet. The coming of World War I drew most remaining residents away to defense-related jobs. By the 1940's, Garnet was a ghost town. Cabins were abandoned, furnishings included, as though residents were merely vacationing. F.A. Davey still ran the store however, and the hotel stood intact.

In 1934 when President Roosevelt raised gold prices from $16 to $32 an ounce, Garnet revived. A new wave of miners moved into abandoned cabins and began re-working the mines and dumps.

World War II drew the population away again. The use of dynamite for domestic purposes was curtailed, making mining difficult. Garnet again became a ghost town. Once again F. A. Davey and a few others remained.

Several new cabins were constructed following the war, and in 1948 an auction was held with items from the Davey store. Much remained however, and souvenir hunters soon stripped the town not only of loose items, but of doors, woodwork, wallpaper, and even the hotel stairway.

The future of this historic town now depends on the work of volunteers and contributions from the public.