Cooke City has been in the news a lot this winter. Most recently I read a story in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle about Veronika Ohlinger, Miss Montana 2011, who will be appearing in the Miss America pageant on January 14. Ms Ohlinger lives in Cooke City. Before that was the story about the two men who were killed in separate avalanches and the Welch Corgi, Ole, who miraculously survived. Reading those stories reminded me my visits to Cooke City. It is a great little town, with an interesting history.
Before Cooke City became a tourist destination, it was a mining camp. Gold was discovered there in the early 1870’s while it was still within the boundaries of the Crow Indian Reservation. It is hard to imagine people flocking to the area in a traditional “gold rush”. The high elevation assures a long winter with heavy snowfall. The miners who lived there must have been a hardy bunch. The town was named for Jay Cooke Jr. who was affiliated with the Northern Pacific Railroad. Ironically the railroad never came to Cooke City. As is the case with many mining camps, Cooke City became a ghost town of sorts when the gold panned out. In 1936 the Beartooth Highway, connecting Cooke City to Red Lodge put the town back on the map. The history of the Beartooth Highway is fascinating as well, but that will be a subject for another day. In 1988, people around the world watched as fire threatened Cooke City and burned thousands of acres in nearby Yellowstone Park.
Even though I am not a winter sports enthusiast I enjoy visiting Cook City summer or winter. It is rustic and friendly and surrounded by grandeur, and it certainly doesn’t hurt that it has a history.
For more information about Cooke City I recommend this website: http://www.cookecitychamber.org/cooke_city_montana_history.html (be sure to take a look at the historical photo slide show.
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