Taft, Montana

Taft is a ghost town in Mineral County, Montana, United States. Located in the Bitterroot Range near the Idaho border. It was a thriving railroad town circa 1908, named after William H. Taft (before he became president of the US in 1908) after he visited the nameless town in 1907.

The town was founded when the Chicago, Milwaukee & Pacific Railroad built its Pacific Coast expansion and had to bore an 8,300-foot (2,500 m) tunnel through the mountains near its site. After the St. Paul Pass tunnel was finished the town died out and was finally burned down in the winter of 1909–1910.^[1]

Taft burned to the ground on August 20, 1910, during "The Big Burn" - a wildfire fed by Palouser winds (see "The Big Burn" by Timothy Egan. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing, 2009.)

Today on Interstate 90 the site is noted by an exit marked Taft Area.

References

1. ↑ Description of Taft in 1939 from MTlinks.com

Municipalities and communities of Mineral County, Montana, United States County seat: Superior Towns Alberton Superior CDPs De Borgia Riverbend St. Regis Unincorporated communities East Portal Foraker Haugan Saltese Taft Tarkio

Coordinates: 47°25′09″N 115°35′54″W / 47.41917°N 115.59833°W / 47.41917; -115.59833