The World Museum of Mining is a must-do when visiting Butte. The museum itself is interesting and…read morethere was a lot to see and learn about. However, the tour of the Orphan Girl mine in the property was by far the best part of the trip. Our tour guide, Ken, was excellent and the mine itself was fun to see.

We stopped in to Butte on our cross country drive and visited the mining museum after lunch in…read moretown. They offer military and other discounts on their entrance fee The gift shop area includes information on local, current mining operations as well as merch. This is an outdoor museum so dress for the weather. If you want to take the under ground tour be sure you are wearing closed toed shoes. (Crocs not included, I don't know why) They also have above ground tours. Part of the property is set up like a western town. Something that would grow up around a mine. Post office, apothecary, carpenter, blacksmith, etc, etc. All these buildings are set up with window displays but most are not open to the public. You just peer thru the windows. There is a memorial garden to miners. A mine yard with pieces of heavy equipment. The motorized lift, miners locker room, light room, information and equipment used in dry and wet boring, 3D representations of mines and more with information posted on the displays. You can walk up into the mine head if you are so inclined to see how the ore chutes operated. We spent about two hours here without realizing it. Very interesting museum. Staff are very personable, answered questions and suggested reading material for more on the subject. Very good, family friendly stop.

This museum is really cool because they have actual working instruments inside, most of them are…read more100+ years old, and it's crazy to think of the technology that it took at the time to make a piano, or a band play "electronically" Cost about a dollar to play multiple different instruments and player pianos, it gets quite noisy in there, out back are some of the old town homes and buildings. They do have some museum workers, who are very informative and will teach visitors the history of the buildings end of the city. It's a great place to take families.

While vacationing in Montana, Fall 2020, we traveled the "Ghost Town" route as described in the MT…read morestate tour guide. If you must travel to Virginia City MT area; DON'T STOPP, KEEP GOING. DON'T LOOK BACK, KEEP GOING. If you think that you want to be ripped off just through your money out of your window as you pass Julie and her Gems and KEEP GOING. She will be happy to take it! Wave at the shady looking characters literally hanging out the door at the local saloon across the street from Julie's Gems because they will be staring at you as you drive by. Take my advice; the whole state of MT especially this area is not for tourist. You are not safe or welcome. Just stay on the interstate and KEEP GOING. We made the mistake of stopping into Julie's Gems in Virginia City. Bought a Yogo Sapphire ring for $550, a strand of turquoise beads for $12, and Julie insisted we take a free book which we didn't want. Julie overcharged us for the beads and then lied about it when confronted after we got home. I took the ring to my jeweler to be sized and the jeweler looked at it (Microscope) and handed it back to me stating the sapphire had a chip. I confronted Julie and she said sure send it back. I sent it back to her and she gave the runaround on what was happening with it. I requested a refund. Then all of a sudden she stated that it had been repaired and she mailed it back to me. WHAT? Just how did you repair or replace the stone? With what? This is just wrong! I had no say in what was done with the ring. It is my money! I never received the ring so I started to find ways to recover my money. She actually committed fraud with my bank. Every time anybody talked to her about this she presented more lies, was misleading, was misrepresenting, performed scamming and theft. It went from I tried to pry out the stone and damaged the ring to my jewelry damaged it when sizing it. Again the Jeweler never had it in their possession. Also after the purchase while trying to get my funds returned, she stated to me no guarantee on Yogo sapphires, and then suddenly came up with an enormous restocking fee, to overcharging for the beads, to paying for the free book. She even hired an attorney to avoid paying $620 that is rightfully my money. Beware! I have been to the District Attorney and Attorney General in an attempt to resolve this matter and the local Sherriff. They all said Julie broke no laws. YES this is apparently legal in MT.  I keep getting told this is legal and it's a civil issue go to small claims. Well guess what? MT does not make it easy for an out of state tourist to file small claims. You have to travel to MT to file the claim then travel again for court. Civil court you need an attorney which would cost more than $620! We never felt comfortable while in this area and with this ordeal it is apparent to me that if you are not part of the "Good Old Boy's Club" stay away. The law is not there to protect you. You are on your own.  This is especially if you are a person of color or one of those protected groups. I'm sure if Julie sees this review she will come back with even more lies!

The gas pump is really cool, it is a modern gas pump but it has the old-school pumps just on either…read moreside, this is the cheapest gas in town as well, go inside and you find some really cool old vehicles, and there is some information about the town inside.