The most prominent building in Bannack was originally built as the Beaverhead County Courthouse in 1875. Only six years later, the county seat was moved to Dillon, Montana, and the grand building lay deserted for another nine years. In 1890, it began its new life as the town’s finest hotel – the center of Bannack’s social life and a temporary home to many Montana travelers. It closed forever in the 1940s, and today stands empty except for the ghosts that are said to inhabit its deserted rooms. I made many images of the Meade, both inside and out. I use this one in the essay because it is about as bleak an image as one could make.