The Stone with Seven Eyes

“I’m in the Montana State Prison” I told Leslie during our three minute phone call. “What? What are you in for?” was her shocked response. “Ten dollars. It’s a museum they have here in Deer Lodge.” She then began to chastise me for my sick sense of humor, eventually laughing. Some readers may know, others not, that Leslie has received many a call from me when in tight spots. I've never been to jail, but only because some of those past behaviors were mere misdemeanors and borderline felonies the authorities simply didn't want to deal with, leaving any correction to her.

Today’s ride from Helena was just over 50 miles, but again the wind made it challenging. The first fifteen miles were a 2000 foot climb, where at MacDonald Pass (elevation 6,312') we were buffeted by 30+ mile and hour winds. Try going up a 6% grade with that in your face and 6 mph is considered good speed- we rarely reached that. Another rider and I were performing sweep duty, so had to stay behind the last cyclist. It was a calamitous day for us, and that’s all I’ll say about it for now. Some stories are better left untold until the scabs fall off.

The remainder of the ride was downhill, but with the wind picking up all day wasn't easy. Another rider recently put it well, “it’s not a downhill if you have to pedal it.” The wind was such that if I tried to coast I’d just come to a stop. Then we changed course, getting on I-90 (bicycles are allowed on interstates in Montana) where we had a good stretch of speed in the high 20’s for the tail wind and downhill, and such a relief.

We arrived at St. Mary’s school around 1 pm. This is an expansive building we can spread out in. I’m in a basement room, maybe 10’ x 10’, a single light bulb in the center of the ceiling lighting green walls that are barren, except a crucifix and “Hail Mary” hand-written tacked on the wall, paper so yellowed it probably would crumble to the touch. To get here there are a couple winding pathways and one can only be reminded of catacombs. It is summer and the place has been cleared for renovation in preparation for future students. It sparks the imagination, for it is dead silent, except for a distant banging pipes. Spooky.

The prison was spooky, too. This local territory originated from gold

"Galloping Gallows" used throughout the state until 1939

mining, which attracted all sorts, good and bad. It got to the point they couldn't lynch everyone, for not all crimes were so severe to warrant that, but they did need to warehouse those not good enough to hang. It started as a simple building with a wooden stockade, but that kept rotting and falling down and they decided to build a stone wall. There has never been adequate funding, so from that point onward the building of the prison was left to inmate labor, and the stonework is quite impressive given they made even the quicklime for the mortar between stone and bricks they fashioned. There were notable inmates through the years, one of which painted a bird’s-eye view of the facility, titling is work after the Bible passage  Zechariah 3:9, interpreting the "stone" of that passage to mean the prison and the "eyes" the towers, of which there are seven.

Though the old prison was shut down in 1979 there is a new one five miles east of there, so they still consider themselves a "prison town". Over dinner provided by the Assembly of God I spoke with Jim and his family. Jim has been in corrections for some time so was able to answer some questions we had about so many anti-meth signs seen everywhere. He informed us that Montana has one-million acres of land per citizen of the state, so meth labs can be hidden anywhere quite easily. Furthermore, Canada has not regulated the ingredients used so they are easily brought across the border into the state. There has been an extensive, somewhat successful initiative taken in the by government and social agencies to curb usage, but manufacturing remains first in the nation. 

Tomorrow is downhill to Missoula, 85 miles west. There we take a day off.