P a g e 8 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r It’s fitting that the name of the town “Pardee” can be taken from the French, pardieu meaning, “By god!” That’s likely what people were thinking when Pardee’s Iron Mountain Mine became one of the most profitable silver mines in Montana, reportedly yielding a half million dollars in profit in just a few years. James K. Pardee of Philipsburg discovered and organized the first operations at Iron Mountain. Ten miles north of Superior, the Montana mining camp was soon home to a saloon, boarding house, dance houses, a post office and various mining structures and cabins. The town was abandoned around 1930. Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz The old Montana Highway Department launched an ambitious program in 1936 to promote the state’s scenic, recreational and historic treasures for residents and tourists. The brainchild of department engineer Bob Fletcher, the program included roadside historical markers, landscaped picnic areas, roadside museums, highway maps, and a network of port-of-entry stations strategically located at each of the main highways at Montana’s border. The stations consisted of rustic-looking log cabins, like this one, manned during the summer months by well-mannered and courteous college students duded up in blue jeans, western-style shirts, cowboy boots and bandannas. The attendants distributed information and answered questions from visitors to Montana about its natural and historic resources, providing each out-of-state vehicle with a road map and tabloid history of the state. The highway department built this station in 1936 and it originally sat along old US Highway 91 at Monida. It was moved to Lima in the late 1940s. For two decades, thousands of visitors to Montana stopped at the cabin to learn about the state and receive a friendly welcome to Big Sky Country. The stations were an important part of Montana’s tourist industry until the highway department closed them in 1958 when the Interstate highways made them obsolete. SUBSCRIBE TO THE GHOST TOWNS AND HISTORY OF MONTANA NEWSLETTER! Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz My/Donor Information: Renewal? Y/N Send a Gift to: NAME____________________________________ NAME___________________________________ ADDRESS__________________________________ ADDRESS_________________________________ CITY______________________________________ CITY_____________________________________ STATE__________________ZIP________________STATE_________________ ZIP________________ Yearly subscriptions are $19.95 (published monthly). Please make checks payable to Ghost Towns & History of MT, LLC and send with this clipping to P.O. Box 932 Anaconda, MT 59711
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