On the front page of “The Mountaineer” there is a story about overlooked Montana towns. I think I know one that is so overlooked it is not even thought about by those who are picking the overlooked towns.
I love Zortman. The Little Rocky town is a straight shot back to the time when outlaws and the Kid Curry Gang roamed the mountains and fortunes were being made in gold by Pop Whitcomb and Ben Phillips.
Zortman is at the bottom of the Ruby Gulch and is a tiny town surrounded by high limestone cliffs that are filled with fossils and Lodgepole forests. A tiny church sits atop a small hill like a jewel suspended above the rest of Zortman.
Zortman is southeast of Harlem and southwest of Malta.
There are very nice places to stay and some very old cabins that are filled with history and probably ghosts too.
There is a bar where you can actually get a martini if you choose and a very good restaurant that is open most of the year.
A general store serves as a grocery store and post office.
The whole town is like it is out of another world. Never would most people dream that it is in a mountain range in the middle of the prairie and very close to the Missouri River.
When visiting Zortman, don’t miss seeing the woodland cemetery. In the spring it is iris choked and amazing to see graves of hard rock miners right along side of the huge monuments of the Whitcomb family.
While exploring the area find Rocky Point and get even more history right on the banks of the river. Not to be forgotten are Landusky and the famous Mission Canyon as well.
I have never gotten enough of Zortman in all my life. I probably should have lived there at some point.
Don’t you make that mistake. Don’t overlook Zortman and you just might be calling it home one of these days!
