Cathedral of St. Helena and Helena Buildings

Thursday, August 4, 2016

Helena is a beautiful city with so much history and so many old and historic buildings and homes.  One of the most beautiful buildings that stands out in the city is the Cathedral of St. Helena which was patterned after the renowned Votive Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Vienna, Austria with two 230 foot spires topped by two six foot wide and twelve feet tall gold crosses that dominate the skyline.  It was completed in 1914. 

Front doors 

The impressive interior features 59 Munich-style stained glass panels that were crafted in Germany by a renowned artist.  Thirty-seven of the windows tell the story from the fall of Adam and Eve to the church in the early years of the 20th century.

The space is dominated by beautiful Carrara marble columns with gold trim and the altar is flanked on either side by huge organ pipes with gold iron gratings behind the altar.  Each of the Stations of the Cross is in what appears to also be marble and are lit from behind.  The ceilings too are magnificent.  

A View Down Center Aisle

Center Altar Area 

right Side Altar= Notice Ceiling

Left Side Altar

Note Organ Pipes
Other half is on other side of center aisle.

Station of the Cross

As we leave the Cathedral for Last Chance Gulch, we suddenly spy this cute little deer wondering down the street.

Before taking the Last Chance Tour Train, we take a walk down Last Chance Gulch Street where prospectors took "one last chance" that paid off in 1864.  The city grew along this gulch and today this historic mile is filled with Victorian era buildings now filled with shops, offices art galleries and restaurants. Several blocks have been closed to traffic though the Last Chance Tour Train does drive up the middle of the street here. 

Fountain showing prospectors panning for gold.

This restored traolley used to be pulled by horses.

We also saw these two murals.

Our last sightseeing for the day was spent on the Last Chance Tour Train for an hour around the city with narration by the engineer of the train about the various buildings and areas of town.

I picked up this guy on the Train

We pass both the current Governor's residence in a modest neighborhood and the old Governor's Mansion which we toured yesterday.  Note what looks like the bow of a ship on the one side of the new residence.

Though we had already taken a drive around a good part of the historic part of the city, it was interesting the learn more of the history of what we had seen.  

Capitol Building and Mansion

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Up until now, Ron and I have not toured but one other capitol building and that was in Austin, TX. Our RVillage friend Marie said such glowing things and showed us some beautiful pictures in her blog about the Capitol here in Helena that we thought we should take the tour.  She is so right about the beauty of the building. 

The building is in the neoclassical style which reflects the American Renaissance of the late 19th century.  Construction was begun in 1899 and completed in 1902 on 14.1 acres with Montana sandstone exterior and a dome faced with Montana copper rising 165 feet.  From 1909 – 1912 the east and west wings were added.  In the 1960’s Urban renewal, in an effort to modernize the building, destroyed the looks of the interior by removing chandeliers and wood trim and installing false ceilings and florescent lights.  From 1999-2000 historic restoration and technical upgrades were made restoring the Capitol building to its original glory.  See what you think of the building.

Inside the Capitol are numerous statues.

There are also some recent murals called the Montana Women’s Murals called “Women Build Montana” which were completed by a Missoula mural artist named Hadley Ferguson.  Each mural is surrounded by four corner vignettes.  Recognition for the part we women played in Montana and throughout the country.

The Senate and House Chambers contain some beautiful murals on the ceilings as do the central hallways of the building.  Above the rostrum in the House of Representatives is a very large Charles Russell masterpiece commissioned in 1911 for $5,000.  It is called “Lewis and Clark Meeting Indians at Ross’ Hole and today is worth millions of dollars.”  This is the largest painting ever painted by Russell.   We were able to take the tour so learned other interesting facts about the building and some of the people associated with it. 

Our second tour of the day was at the Original Governor’s Mansion which served as the residence for 9 governors and three private families.  It was the Governor’s Mansion from 1913 until 1959 and represented Montana’s elite who were supported by household staff.  Entrepreneur William A. Chessman built the home in 1888 for his wife and two children.  The home was restored in 1969 with the support of the city.

 A lovely home with a few unique features.  The entry hall has a fireplace which helped to keep visitors warm while they waited in the foyer to see the Governor.

Most of the furnishings are not period pieces but a few items did belong to one of the Governor’s families.  The original chandelier in the Office in the house (today’s man cave) was found at a Spokane auction and was purchased and reinstalled in the room.  

Another interesting item was a little book called GOOPS which is a book on manners. 

Below are a couple of pictures from rooms in the house.

Two interesting tours with lots to absorb. 

Arriving in Helena, MT

Monday, August 1, 2016

We have been on the road for two months today and have seen so much and so many different landscapes from arid lands to forests to lakes and mountains and historic cities and buildings.  Today we leave Kalispell for a week in Helena, MT, the state capital. 

Our drive is along the east side of Flathead Lake through numerous little resort towns and many different lakes and rivers with raging rapids for kayaks and rafters to serene waters for boaters and water skiers.

We had no idea Montana had so many lakes and rivers.  The roads are all quite smooth but some narrower than others.  The road seems to be windy as we follow the shorelines of the various lakes. 

Stop for a lunch break along this lake.

We drive through forested areas for a while and cross the Continental Divide as we near Helena where we find the mountains with less trees and very dry grasses.  This area seems to be more cattle grazing. 

There is a fire danger alert on our weather station for the area and I can see why.  Hopefully, we will see no fires though several are raging to the west and south of this area.  

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

In 1864 four weary and discouraged southern prospectors stumbled upon a gulch and dubbed it “Last Chance Gulch” (the original name of the city) only to find gold.  This touched off the establishment of Helena as the “Queen City of the Rockies” which became the state capital in 1889.  The gold rush faded out quickly and Helena became a trade center for the surrounding goldfields.    

Drive through downtown today to get some literature  from the Visitor Center on sights to see for the next week.  The state capital is definitely on our list of things to see as well as taking a tour of the city on the Last Chance Train tour to see what there is to see and learn some history, etc. of the city itself. 

We take off on I-15 north to see the Gates of the Mountain which is located on Holter Lake created by the damming of the Missouri River which empties into this area.  It is at this Dam site (see picture below) that Meriwether Lewis camped (now under water) in July of 1805.  Boat rides are available to take you to see the limestone cliffs punctuated with small holes, caves and natural bridges.  The mouth of this area is just visible in the  second photo below. 

Leaving the Lake, we backtrack a bit to take the road to the town of Canyon Ferry and drive south along Canyon Ferry Lake (more than 30 miles long and up to 5 miles wide) though quite a distance above and away from it. 

This lake too was created by damming the Missouri River as well but farther south from the Holter Dam.    The lake is stocked with rainbow trout which grow quickly because of the lakes fertility.  The road takes us through a largely farming area with campgrounds located along the way.   Off and on we get views of the lake as along this largely deserted roadway.  Arrive in the community of Townsend at the far end of the Lake where we turn back north to Helena.  

A Tour of Glacier National Park

Saturday, July 30, 2016

Happy 13th Birthday, Garrett.  You’re now a teenager.  Where have the years gone?  Hope you had a great day. 

An early morning for us today as our Going to the Sun Road Tour of Glacier National Park on the Red Jammer Bus begins at 8:30 a.m. and we have a ¾ hour drive to our starting point.  There are 17 persons plus the driver on our tour which begins at the Apgar Visitors Center inside the west gate of Glacier National Park.  Our round trip tour will be about 100 miles, 8-9 hours long, driving 45 miles an hour (sometimes less at very narrow curves) with numerous picture stops and lunch at the Many Glacier Lodge at the East Entrance to the Park.

There are four passengers to a seat and we find seats in the very last row.  As it turns out the couple with us are also full time RVers so we have lots in common.   The driver has removed the canvas cover over the bus which is rolled up on top for storage.  It is a bit nippy so we are bundled in our jackets for the first part of our tour.  There are a couple of blankets available which we place across the four of us.  Our guide/driver is Red Don, a gentleman I would guess to be in his 60’s.

A view from the back row to the front.

It is hard to describe the trip itself except to say that our guide imparted a great deal of information regarding sites along our way including information about animals, fauna and flora, specific sites on the drive, the beginnings of the Park, individuals important to the starting of the Park, Blackfeet Indian tales, etc.  The drive was beautiful with magnificent views around every curve of the very narrow road sometimes with sprinkles of water as we passed very near small waterfalls or water dripping from the mountainside.

Several times along the road, our driver would stop for us to do what he called “prairie dog pops” which means that we popped up through the top of the Bus to take pictures.  To another motorist this would look like what you see prairie dogs doing from their holes. 

It was a long day but worth the time for the beautiful scenery and camaraderie with our other fellow passengers and new RV friends.   Pictures below are from along our tour.

Waterfalls and Creeks

This picture taken through top of bus.

The green water here indicates it is glacial water.