Those in the market for a ghost town need look no further than Jefferson County — provided they have enough money to buy it.
The former mining town of Comet is for sale, and is listed at $1 million for the 68.8 acres and numerous buildings that remain on the property, according to Realtor.com
Owner Rusty Giulio, who also happens to be the mayor of Boulder, declined to discuss the sale.
Realtor Mike Agee with Windermere Real Estate said this is his first stab at selling a ghost town.
He finds Comet’s history intriguing — how it was once a thriving town and now it’s “deserted, abandoned and out of time.”
Comet is located about five miles up High Ore Road, a gravel road that winds past a series of private residences. An abandoned mining shaft alerts visitors that they have arrived in Comet. The town itself sits quietly, albeit a flapping piece of metal roof, in a narrow valley.
Mining near the town, which is located between Boulder and Basin, is thought to have begun as early as 1869, according to a report by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality.
The Comet mine was the richest in the High Ore District, and initially the ore was shipped by wagon to Wickes, another mining ghost town located west of Jefferson City.
Comet had several boom and bust cycles and at one time, as many as 300 people lived there, according to DEQ.
The town was deserted by 1913, but production resumed in the 1920s and 1930s. The Comet School had 20 students and the town had 22 salons during that time, according to the DEQ.
Over the years the Comet mine produced $20 million in lead, zinc, iron, copper, silver, and gold ore, according to the listing on Realtor.com.
The town was abandoned in the 1940s. Today, there is one residence on the west side of the town’s border.
The online sales listing shows numerous photos of buildings in the former town in various stages of deterioration.
Agee said there is electricity available in Comet.
“It’s a clean canvas. It’s up to the buyer on what he sees it to be. It’s got a lot of potential,” said Agee.
Comet and Wickes are two of three mining “ghost towns” in Jefferson County, with Elkhorn being the third. Elkhorn also has the distinction of being Montana’s smallest state park.
