"Where in North America is this?" Section VI

[Foy]

This photo makes me yearn for this country...

(Photo by Dan Sedenquist)

Where is this? Thousands of people stand at this spot every year and take a similar photo....

Mark

I'm going to say the picture was taken along Going-To-The-Sun Road in Glacier National Park, MT.

Foy

[CalOldBlue]

Somewhere along the Million Dollar Highway out of Ouray?

[Mark Sedenquist]

I'm going to say the picture was taken along Going-To-The-Sun Road in Glacier National Park, MT.

Foy! You got it, this photo was taken in early July, 2005 and that glacier at the top of the headwall is nearly gone. I love how you can trace the creek all the way to the edge of the glacier...

Mark

[Mark Sedenquist]

Calling all deductive reasoning puzzle masters... Where is this one?

(Photo by Dan Sedenquist)

[jayree]

This is Flat Top Mountain and Falls in Glacier NP. Been there, done that and made the picture.
Jerry

[Mark Sedenquist]

Flat top Mountain eh? That entirely appropriate, given the view and also knowing the the parent company of RoadTripAmerica.com is Flattop Productions, Inc.

Nice to see you registered here!

So have you seen or take photos of the current puzzle? If so, where is it?

Mark

[jayree]

I Think it is in Wyoming somewhere near Gillette.
Jerry

[Mark Sedenquist]

Gillette, Wyoming is known for coal. The mining town pictured above was founded much earlier and is principally known for it's immense copper, silver and other precious mineral mines.

Mark

[Foy]

The flag-bearing mining headframes are in Butte, MT.

There's a great mining museum there, pretty much rock throwing distance from those headframes.

Are we going to see something else from that vicinity soon?

Foy

[Mark Sedenquist]

Butte’s history is revealed in its skyline, the omnipresent black steel headframes, and the gaping hole in the earth known as Berkeley Pit. These are two of the more vivid reminders of a town that started as a mining camp and grew to a city of over 100,000 by 1917.

Before the gold rush of the 1860s brought prospectors and settlers to the area, Native Americans and fur traders frequented this semiarid valley. When the placer ran out in 1867, the population of about 500 dwindled to around 240. It wasn’t long though before the potential for mineral riches in the quartz deposits was recognized.

While the cost of smelting the complex copper-bearing ore was high, investors like William Andrews Clark and Andrew Jackson Davis began to develop Butte’s mines and erect mills to extract the silver and gold. The riches in the hills made Davis Montana’s first millionaire.

By 1876, Butte had become a prosperous silver camp with over 1,000 inhabitants. Marcus Daly arrived that year representing the Walker brothers, entrepreneurs from Salt Lake City. His mission was to inspect the Alice Mine for possible purchase by the brothers. Daly purchased the mine and successfully managed it for the Walkers. The town of Walkerville, which still overlooks the city of Butte, sprang up around the mine and other mines in the area.

You can read more in Michael & Heidi Pfeil Dougherty's truly excellent guide to Montana and Wyoming found here.

Excellent work -- I may have some more photos from around there -- I'll look!

Mark