One of the Newer Remodeled Rooms, Olive Hotel, Miles City MT
Judging from the style of the fixtures in the adjoining private bathroom, this room had probably been remodeled in the early 1990's. The Olive Hotel seems also to have undergone major guest room renovations in the 1950's and 1970's. According to local legends, the third floor has remained off limits since the days of prohibition; because it retains evidence of secret meetings and has a special back stairways to extensive underground tunnels to all the neighboring "speak eazys". Needless to say, I was not able to look into this …. literally and figuratively!
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(Photo = 105-0529 ......ZMM Page = 084 …… WayPt = 097w)

After "Freshening-Up" Hotel Guests Naturally Want To Go Downstairs To See What Can Be Seen
From the Narrator's short-simple-but-adequate, one sentence descriptions on page 083, we deduce that, John, Sylvia, Chris, and the Narrator go downstairs for a tour of the town. Typical tourist behavior! This caption awaits more inspiration and photos. Please send your ideas!
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(Photo = 105-0509......ZMM Page = 083 …… WayPt = 097w)

Going Out the Front Door To Main Street, To See What Can Be Seen, Olive Hotel, Miles City MT
Just out side to the right, is a major city park with lakes and the Tongue River. This is where the narrator (probably) "slept overnight on a park bench". I wish I had a photo of it to show you. A Google Internet search for [Olive Hotel + Miles City] found the following private airplane owner's "poetic/picturesque" travel log & tourist testimonial concerning their “landing” in Miles City: "[We] took off and flew over the top of the overcast over the Cascades and Rockies. We landed at our favorite overnite, the Olive Hotel in Miles City, Montana."
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(Photo = 105-0520......ZMM Page = 084 …… WayPt = 097w)

Dusk View of Site of Former Miles Howard Hotel, Now Veterans Park, 604 Main Street, Miles City MT
This park was not here in 1968. This is the site of the former Miles Howard Hotel, since burned down. The Howard was one of the 8 operating hotels when our ZMM Travelers came through so they could have stayed here. However Amorette Alyson** believes neither the Howard nor a hotel under same owner ship, the Milligan Hotel, had "old-timey" cast iron bath tubs in 1968, because they had more modern fixtures. (**See 4th photo this album)
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(Photo = 105-0519......ZMM Page =NA …… WayPt = 098k

In All Western Towns, Bars Are Integral Part of the Social Fabric, Montana Bar, 612 West Main Street, Miles City MT
The Stone Hotel, located above the Montana Bar, is one of the 8 Miles City Hotels the Narrator and fellow travelers may have stayed in. This is a curious association of two venerable institutions! It might spark your imagination. The Narrator had traveled regularly through Miles City, and probably would not choose this lodging because of Chris.
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(Photo = 105-0521......ZMM Page = NA …… WayPt = 098w)

All Was Quiet and Mysterious With-In This Entrance Doorway! Montana Bar, West Main Street, Miles City, MT.
As is clear from this photo, the Montana Bar is very old, very historical, very ornate and very Victorian! The whole scene is just like the "Old Timey Movies", except it is still there for you to experience! Since it was late evening, I decided not to enter and photo-flash disturb the "Happy Hour" behind this quite intricate entranceway wall. But Antrony McWatt very kindly supplied two great shots seen 8 photo next. Google, internet search engine, fails to be of any assistance with relevant photos. Can you help me with exterior and interior photos of any Miles City bar or restaurant?
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(Photo = 105-0520......ZMM Page = NA …… WayPt = 098w)

It Is Well After Dark When Our ZMM Travelers Return To Their Hotel, West Main Street, Miles City MT
You have now completed my 25 photos corresponding to the Narrator's "flashback" of the previous day's activities. Having now completed his early morning curb-side motorcycle maintenance session (and six page discourse on mechanics and systems, pages 083 - 090) he rides his cycle to check his valve tappet adjustment and move to a motorcycle shop to find needed parts. My pictures now follow the ZMM book story in real time.
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(Photo = 105-0532......ZMM Page = NA …… WayPt = 100w)

The 1968 Site of Bill's Cycle Shop

"Under some shady trees I find Bill's Cycle Shop but no Bill.
A passerby says he has "maybe gone fishing somewhere," leaving his shop wide open. We really are in the West. No one would leave a shop like this open in Chicago or New York. .. Inside I see that Bill is a mechanic of the "photographic mind" school. Everything lying around everywhere. Wrenches, screwdrivers, old parts, old motorcycles, new parts, new motorcycles, sales literature, inner tubes, all scattered so thickly and clutteredly you can't even see the workbenches under them. I couldn't work in conditions like this but that's just because I'm not a photographic-mind mechanic. Bill can probably turn around and put his hand on any tool in this mess without having to think about where it is. I've seen mechanics like that. Drive you crazy to watch them, but they get the job done just as well and sometimes faster. Move one tool three inches to the left though, and he'll have to spend days looking for it."
215 South 6th Street, Miles City MT Yes this is it! Still there! Continued next photo.
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(Photo = 105-0526......ZMM Page = 089 …… WayPt = 101w)

Nextdoor, Mr. Allen Schock Helps Confirm the Location of the 1968 Bill's Cycle Shop.
"Bill arrives with a grin about something. ... He's got to close a deal out in back on some Harley parts. I go with him out in a shed in back and see he is selling a whole Harley machine in used parts, except for the frame, which the customer already has. He is selling them all for $125. Not a bad price at all. .. Coming back I comment, "He'll know something about motorcycles before he gets those together." .. Bill laughs. "And that's the best way to learn, too."
200 South 6th Street, Miles City, MT. The previous photo shows William (Bill) Bergerson's old 1969 motorcycle repair shop as pretty well unused. As Mr. Schock explained, his is because Bill's business grew the point he could move to a newer and better location! Now probably run by his sons and daughters, his new operation is Riverside Marine & Cycle LLC, at 2323 S Haynes Avenue, MILES CITY, MT 59301 - 2919 Phone (406) 232-3300.
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(Photo = 105-0525......ZMM Page = 089 …… WayPt = 100w)

After a Nights Rest And a Morning Of activities, Our ZMM Travelers Are Ready to Depart Their Hotel.
"Sylvia and John and Chris are just coming down the stairs with their stuff as I arrive. Their faces indicate they're in the same good mood I'm in."
Olive Hotel, Main Street, Miles City, MT.
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(Photo = 104-0499 ...... ZMM Page = 090 ...... WayPt = 103`|h|' 2358ft)

After Mornings Shopping, Our ZMM Travelers Are Ready for a Noon Meal
"We head down the main street, "
Main Street, Miles City MT
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(Photo = Miles City Chamber of Commerce ...... ZMM Page = 090…… WayPt = 103w)

Our ZMM Travelers Are Ready for a Noon Meal.
"[We head down the main street,] find a restaurant and order steaks for lunch."
Main Street, Miles City, MT. This is the only photograph I have of a Miles City restaurant or cafe' Can any one help? I need a photo that shows a restaurant the serves steaks for linch. The older the better.
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(Photo = Summer2006 0283 ...... ZMM Page = 090…… WayPt = 103k)

Shopping In a Western Town. Al Furstnow Saddlery Shown In This Old Photo Became What Is Now the Miles City Saddlery.
"This is a great town," John says, "really great. Surprised there were any like this left. I was looking all over this morning. They've got stockmen's bars, high-top boots, silver-dollar belt buckles, Levis, Stetsons, the whole thing-and it's real. It isn't just Chamber of Commerce stuff."
Miles City, MT. click here for history of Miles City Saddlery Store and neat photos of early days in Miles City.
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(Photo = WebSite Miles City Saddlery ...... ZMM Page = 090 ...... WayPt = 103`|i2|' 2358ft)

Interior View Montanna Bar.
“In the bar down the block this morning they just started talking to me like I’d lived here all my life." .. We order a round of beers. I see by a horseshoe sign on the wall we’re into Olympia beer territory now, and order that. .. "They must have thought I was off a ranch or something," John continues. "And this one old guy was talking away about how he wasn’t going to give a thing to the goddam boys, and I really enjoyed that. The ranch was going to go to the girls, cause the goddam boys spend every cent they got down at Suzie’s." John breaks up with laughter. "Sorry he ever raised ‘em, and so on. I thought all that stuff disappeared thirty years ago, but it’s still here."“
Main St Miles City, MT.
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(Photo = Summer2006 AnthonyMcWatt 0078 ...... ZMM Page = ...... WayPt = 103`|i3|' 2358ft)

It's All Pure Victorian! And What a Grand Cast-Brass Cash Register and Curious Brass Handrails. “
"Something else that ought to interest you," John says. "They were talking in the bar about Bozeman, where we’re going. They said the governor of Montana had a list of fifty radical college professors at the college in Bozeman he was going to fire. Then he got killed in a plane crash." .. "That was a long time ago," I answer. These steaks really are good. .. "I didn’t know they had a lot of radicals in this state." .. "They’ve got all kinds of people in this state," I say. "But that was just right-wing politics." .. John helps himself to some more salt. He says, "A Washington newspaper columnist came through and put it in his column yesterday, and that’s why they were all talking about it. The president of the college confirmed it." .. "Did they print the list?" .. "I don’t know. Did you know any of them?" .. "If they had fifty names," I say, "mine must have been one.""
Main St Miles City, MT. Must have been made at National Cash Register Co, Dayton Ohio, 150 years ago! Pure Victorian! It is curious how there was even a Queen Victoria influenced here in USA. Also notice polished brass guard rails over the bar counter. Most unusual. Must have been to hold clear space at cash register counter for collecting money in earlier crowded, rowdy, drunken times!

,.
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(Photo = Summer2006 AnthonyMcWatt 0079 ...... ZMM Page = 091 ...... WayPt = 103`|i4|' 2358ft)

On An Old Post Card, A Painting Shows the Miles City Downtown Park. Note That This Is the Same City Park Band Stand As Shown In My 2006 Photo Next.
"On the way out [of Miles City] we pass a city park which I noticed last night, and which produced a memory concurrence. Just a vision of looking up into some trees. "
This city park, is on the main route west out of downtown, Miles City MT
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(Photo = Courtesy www.rootsweb.com …… ZMM Page - 092 ...... WayPt = 103`|i4|' 2358ft)

In Pioneer Days This Very Large City Park Was Part of the Original Fort Miles.
"He had slept on that park bench one night on his way through to Bozeman. That's why I didn't recognize that forest yesterday. He'd come through at night, on his way to the college at Bozeman."
This City Park, on the Main Route West Out of Downtown, Miles City MT is the only city park "on the way out of town". This meant my going West on Main Street, which promptly and unavoidably lead to "bad quality" on I-94. From my 1964 Rand-McNally I deduce that this section of I-94 had (prior to 1964) replaced plus totally removes all evidence of the older two-lane Rt12 West out of town. However this free-way was probably (and also just as unavoidably) the route the Narrator traveled. Low quality. Is why there are no descriptions of it in ZMM? Had I read my map more closely, I might have considered Rt59 Northwest, over the Yellowstone River, and turn West along the north side of the river. (Continued next) click here to view many more postcard photos of Miles City.
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(Photo = Summer2006 0277 …… ZMM Page - 092 ...... WayPt = 103`|i4|' 2358ft)

In This View, and Later Photos of the Yellowstone River Valley, We See That the Valley Itself Is In Relatively Flat Teraine, So the River Has Almost No Downward Slope. Thus It Is That the Yellowstone River Is a Wide and Calm Body of Water. This Is Great For River Transport Such As Lewis & Clark, Pioneers, Trappers and the Early US military.
"Now we follow the Yellowstone Valley right across Montana. "
I-94 Rest Area ~6 Mi West of Miles City, MT. In Summer 02, as I traveled this stretch of I-94, I kept thinking about the road that travels along the North-side of the Yellowstone River. These are reached by a secondary road that fits the Narrator's description of high-value travel. I was able to do this in Summer 06, as described in the next pnoto. The Narrator's descriptions in next photo says you. should travel the North side of the Yellowstone River from Miles City to Custer MT! View, at this location, a 360 deg full circle panorama in new browser window. (Alternate: If you have already viewed a panorama in a second (new) browser window, simply switch to it and advance to the next Gallery Picture. (For panorama viewing instructions , click here.
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(Photo = 105-0537 ...... ZMM Page = 092 ...... WayPt = 104`|x|' 2680ft)