50,000 Silver $ Bar Keychain

To return to Lincoln's 50,000 Silver $ Bar in Haugan, Montana. Just follow the signs along Interstate 90 as you get close. Before and after, this TB would like to visit all sorts of those roadside attractions, curious spots and unique places that make up this crazy world (see www.RoadsideAmerica.com for good places to start). There are certainly caches in many of these places too. Feel free to post pictures.

Lincoln's 50,000 Silver $ Bar began in 1951 as a small bar opened by Gerry and Marie Lincoln alongside what would one day become Interstate 90. They soon realized that travelers needed a reason to stop at the bar, some sort of attraction.

At that time, their local customers, loggers and miners, were paid in silver dollars. Travelers to Montana also received their change in silver dollars. All these coins weighed a lot (supposedly this is why loggers wear suspenders). So in 1952, Gerry cut a hole in the bar top, hammered a silver dollar into it, and inscribed his and Marie's names next to it.

The idea caught on and by the end of 1953, over 2,000 people had placed their coins and names in the bar top. The bar was soon names "Lincoln's 2,000 Silver $ Bar." Each coin is technically still the possession of the person who left it, and many people, or their children or grandchildren, return to see their family coin.

Over the years, more and more people added coins, and the bar has changed its name to reflect the greater number of coins. Coins now cover the walls of the bar as well. In 2007, the 50,000th coin was added, and about 1,500 more are added each year from people all over the world. The bar has moved several times and grown to add a souvenir shop, restaurant, motel and gas station. The Lincoln great-grandchildren now run the place. There are can't-miss signs all along Interstate 90 in Montana directing travelers to the 50,000 Silver $ Bar.

After first visiting the bar 14 years ago, we picked up this key chain when we visited again as part of the Cheng Family's 2011 Road Trip from Bellevue, Washington to Mt. Rushmore, South Dakota.