A detailed history of Garnet ghost town and -for the very adventurous brief descriptions of 87 other ghost towns and historic mines you can explore - make this an exciting read. The discovery of gold in California in 1848 and the ensuing rush by Americans from across the country to a distant and unknown place, established a pattern of thought that gave new imagined worth to any unexplored area, including the northern reaches of the Rocky Mountains that would eventually become Montana. Riches could be had by anyone with a pan, a shovel and a mule -- at least until one became hungry and needed shelter and clothing and perhaps, even entertainment. Stories of "easy pickings'" along the streams of the Sierra Nevada's made their way back east to the rest of the country, where factory workers, shop keepers and laborers of all ilk, including farmers outside of the urban confines, began to dream of escape to a life of adventure and wealth. Placer mining provided the means to that end for a small number and the hope for hundreds of thousands. Using simple tools, easily transported or made on the site, an individual could move up from "prospector" to "miner" to "well-set" businessman --in less time than it took to plant and harvest a crop that brought barely enough to pay for the next season's seeds. Water had broken the hold of quartz and granite and delivered the gold down the streams; the flakes and nuggets begging to be picked. And picked they were, with quick fortunes made during those first few years of the California gold rush, an event that served as a training ground for neophyte prospectors and for those who provided the necessities and not so essential services to the mining camps. The California model would be followed in all subsequent "rushes" during the second half of the 19th Century, including the rush to the Garnet Mountain Range of Montana Territory.