VIRGINIA CITY

 From Butte, we drove south along the Ruby River to Virginia City and Nevada City.  The air quality south of Whitefish, all the way down, has been super bad due to huge fires in Idaho that are still burning out of control.
Anyway, we camped here for 2 nights, and took the day to stroll up and down main street.  Virginia City is usually bustling in the summer, with all the shops and stores open, train rides, and dance hall performances. We hit the end of the season, so things were winding down....but it was nice, and they had neat museums. 
Virginia and Nevada Cities sprang up in the 1860's when gold was discovered, and the boom was on.
A Montana couple began buying the buildings and keeping them from destruction, and now the Montana Heritage Commission oversees the sites.