Comet, ghost town in Montana, USA

Comet is an abandoned mining settlement in Jefferson County with remains of houses, a schoolhouse, and an ore bin. Most structures are deteriorating but their presence marks where hundreds of workers once lived and worked.

The Comet Mine was developed in 1883 by the Helena and Livingston Smelting and Reduction Company, based on a discovery made in 1874; ore went to Wickes for processing until this operation shut down in 1897. The Montana Consolidated Copper Company revived work in 1900, and in 1927 the Basin Montana Tunnel Company built a processing plant serving both Comet and the Gray Eagle mine. The mine was exhausted and operations halted permanently in 1941.

The town takes its name from the Comet Mine, developed in 1883 on a discovery made in 1874. High Ore Creek runs through the site and separates the mine buildings from the town proper. A single active residence remains among the abandoned structures, and the site sits on private grazing land that is open to public access.

Comet lies about 20 miles (32 km) south-southwest of Helena; follow High Ore Road north from Interstate 15. The site covers roughly 35 acres on private grazing land but is open to public access. High Ore Creek divides the mine buildings from the town proper, and one residence is still occupied, so keep clear of it.

The Comet Mine was the richest in its district, yielding about $20 million in ore, roughly ten times the Gray Eagle mine's $2 million. Its ores carried lead, zinc, copper, silver and gold. The Basin Montana Tunnel Company, which took over in 1927, was the state's largest base-metal producer outside Butte, employing 100 men until the mine was exhausted in 1941.