Window View – Skinner’s Saloon

Skinner’s Saloon through a window in a building across the street, Bannack, Montana, July 30, 2010

Skinner’s Saloon through a window in a building across the street,
Bannack, Montana, July 30, 2010.

Skinner’s Saloon – Originally built on Yankee Flats, Cyrus Skinner moved this building to Bannack’s main street in the spring of 1863.  It became the popular gathering place for Sherriff Henry Plummer’s gang of road agents.  Skinner had left Bannack before the hanging of Plummer, but he was tracked down to a mining camp near present day Missoula and hanged for his purported role as a spy for the Plummer gang.  The building was later used for many years as a store.


Bannack, Montana was founded in 1862 after a major gold discovery.  It served as the capital of Montana Territory briefly during the civil war.  The last residents left in the 1970s.

american history, desert, montana, parks, photography, places, towns

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Holly Jahangiri Jan 3, 2016 Link

    How interesting! I love old buildings (not because they’re old, but because of the craftsmanship that keeps them standing to this day). So what is it now? Empty? A tourist trap? A store, still? A home for wayward prairie dogs?

    And what of Plummer and his gang? I know, I know – I can (and probably will) Google the name. But remember, not all of us are from Montana – it’s not kind to drop tantalizing tidbits without details or breadcrumbs!
    Holly Jahangiri recently posted…Genre RebellionMy Profile

    • Mike Jan 3, 2016 Link

      It is very interesting. The whole town of Bannack is a state park — and a ghost town. The only building in regular use is the visitor center, which is in an old house just inside the entrance.

      So far as details or breadcrumbs, that’s why I left the links.

      I’m not from Montana, either, though we love to visit there. We’ve visited Bannack at least 4 times, the fist time in the late 70s. Our last visit to Montana was 2014.

      Originally from Nebraska, which I left in 1967, I ended up in Arkansas, by way of Houston (Tx) followed by the US Navy. I took Karen away from Wisconsin after meeting her there in 1972.
      Mike recently posted…PorchMy Profile

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