The frontier spirit lives on in quaint Montana town

RED LODGE, Mont. — A stroll down Broadway is a good way to stretch your legs, particularly after spending three hours driving the hairpin curves of the Beartooth Highway. The mountainous route carries travelers to and from the ever-popular Yellowstone National Park.

This small town has many reasons of its own to draw in tourists. Every landmark tells a story. Every story is an episode in a history that reads like an epic novel.

For the Crow Indians, Red Lodge was a place of worship and hunting. They painted their council tepee with red clay. Folklore indicates this tradition gave the place its name. Pioneers encroached on the native people's land and built homesteads. The town was founded in 1884, a short time after the Rocky Fork Coal Co. established mining operations. The enterprise quickly attracted thousands of European immigrants and then brought in the railroad.

The high-spirited frontier town, fueled by 20 saloons and mining wealth, had its share of fistfights and gunfights. The Sundance Kid (Harry Longbaugh) and the Wild Bunch attempted to rob the bank in Red Lodge in 1897. The Pollard, a hotel built in 1893, hosted many celebrity guests, including Buffalo Bill and Calamity Jane.

Respectability did come, though roughhewn edges are in place. The Victorian-era neighborhood, once home to the bank president and superintendent of the mine, portrays a gentle life of wide porches and manicured gardens.

"At one time there was Finn Town and Little Italy. We still refer to the neighborhoods as that, even though other people have moved in. Red Lodge maintains a very strong Italian and Finn community," says Art Maxwell of the Red Lodge Chamber of Commerce.

It pays to keep your head up as your walk in the historic business district. Otherwise, you will miss exquisite architectural details on the two-story brick-and-sandstone buildings. Merchants prospered during the years of the coal-mining boom. The economy slacked off after 1910, but Broadway retains much of the glory of the past.

A walking tour and a visit to the Carbon County Historical Society Museum and Mercantile are ways to learn about the town's colorful story. The museum has an interactive coal-mine exhibit, vintage gun collection and rodeo memorabilia. The Carbon County Arts Guild's gallery, housed in a rail depot built in 1889 in the classic Craftsman style, showcases original artwork by local and other Western artists.