Hecla was a town in

Beaverhead County Beaverhead County is the largest county by area in the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,371. Its county seat is Dillon. The county was founded in 1865. Much of the perimeter of the county is the Continental Di ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

, United States. It has been designated as a

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...

, with only a few ruined buildings remaining. It was notable at one time as the home of Blanche Lamont, who taught at Hecla's one-room schoolhouse. Lamont would become the first of two murder victims of

Theodore Durrant William Henry Theodore Durrant (1871 – January 7, 1898), known as "The Demon of the Belfry", was hanged for two murders committed at San Francisco's Emmanuel Baptist Church, where he was assistant superintendent of the Sunday School. He maint ...

Margaret Brown Margaret Brown (née Tobin; July 18, 1867 – October 26, 1932), posthumously known as "The Unsinkable Molly Brown", was an American socialite and philanthropist. She unsuccessfully encouraged the crew in Lifeboat No. 6 to return to the debris ...

also lived there for a time. The Hecla Mining District was "on the side of Lion Mountain, and was also referred to as the Glendale and/or Bryant Mining District, which was strung out along ten miles of gulches, the four towns included Trapper City, Lion City, Glendale, and Hecla."

In 1881, the Hecla Company reorganized and came under the direction of Henry Knippenberg. Shortly after he assumed control, Knippenberg had the town of Hecla built a mile away from Lion City ... Transportation from the mine was improved with the construction of a four mile-long, narrow-gauge tramway from Hecla to the mill. The town of Hecla grew to some 1,500 to 1,800 persons, with a water works system, fire protection, a church, a school for 200 pupils, and other businesses typical of a small mining camp.

The General Merchandise operations in Hecla, run by H.W. Kappes, were "absorbed by the Hecla Mercantile & Banking Company in 1886. The Hecla Mercantile was a subsidiary of the Hecla Consolidated Mining Company based out of Glendale, Montana." The area "was hard hit when the

Sherman Silver Purchase Act The Sherman Silver Purchase Act was a United States federal law enacted on July 14, 1890.Charles Ramsdell Lingley, ''Since the Civil War'', first edition: New York, The Century Co., 1920, ix–635 p., . Re-issued: Plain Label Books, unknown date, ...

was repealed in 1893." "The district can be reached from I-15 near Melrose at Exit 93 on Trapper Creek Road. Glendale is about five miles and Lion City and Hecla, another 7 miles or so. A four wheel drive or ATV is recommended."

Notes

External links

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Photo showing the three communities of Trapper City, Lion City, and Hecla
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* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20131203033052/http://costonphotography.photoshelter.com/image/I0000madixyXp1Ow Smelter in ghost town of Hecla, Montana* Geography of Beaverhead County, Montana Ghost towns in Montana Mining communities in Montana {{BeaverheadCountyMT-geo-stub