You would be surprised on just how long Cooke City has been around. In fact, as our Neighbor (Yellowstone National Park) celebrates it’s 150th year, Cooke City was actually around even longer. In fact, Gold Miners have been digging around Cooke since 1869. In 1871 the first mining claims were filed on Miller and Henderson mountains. You can hike or off road to these mountains today.
It was not until 1883 that the Northern Pacific Railroad came through Montana and drove a spur line south to the boundary of Yellowstone Park, where the small mining towns of Gardiner and Cinnabar sprang up. Even then, it was still 60 miles of rough trails from Gardiner to Cooke City. The area never experienced the huge population booms that other mining town experienced.
John F. Curl was among the earliest businessmen in the mining camp of Cooke City in 1883 where he operated the Curl House hotel. He was involved in mining and in partnership with George Huston and Adam “Horn” Miller. Adam “Horn” Miller discovered gold in the Cooke City area with Bart Henderson and others in 1869-70, naming their mine the Shoo Fly Mine. The next few years he helped Henderson build the road from Bottler’s Ranch to Mammoth.
In 1880 Jay Cooke Jr. came to the area with the idea of investing in the rich potential of some of the mines. He and his cohorts examined the prospects carefully and believed the mines would be a grand investment. However, due to the legal ambiguity of the mining and land claims, he eventually ended up backing out of the deal. However, in the meantime, the local miners were ecstatic with the prospect of having someone with deep pockets buying their claims and filling their pockets with cold cash. In anticipation of what they thought would be their financial salvation, they decided to name their town Cooke City, in honor of who they thought would be their benefactor. Even though Jay Cooke bailed out, they kept the name, hoping perhaps when the lands came into the public trust he would return. Finally in 1882 a treaty was made with the Crow and the land on which they squatted became public land, upon which they could finally file legal claims. This they did, along with making formal surveys and creating a legal townsite with lots that could be bought and sold in a normal fashion.
The ground on which the Cooke City Store was built was originally part of the “Cache of Ore Millsite,” owned by George A. Huston, the earliest known prospector in the region. By the spring of 1886, John Savage and John Elder had purchased the site and were hauling milled lumber from the lower elevations around Cooke City to begin construction of their store. By the late 1880’s Savage and Elder’s was providing supplies for the community and area miners.
Until the mid-1930’s, Cooke City was mostly at the end of the road, blockaded by the vast Beartooth Mountains. A crude road existed from Cooke City to Cody via Sunlight Basin and over Dead Indian Pass. The road was narrow, steep and winding and hazardous in inclement weather. That situation changed when plans were made in 1933 to construct a 70-mile highway from Red Lodge, over the almost 11,000’ high Beartooth Pass and into Cooke City. With a railroad spur running from Billings to Red Lodge, visitors could enter or leave the Park via Cooke City allowing the area to become another Gateway to Yellowstone. Journalist Charles Kuralt once called it, “the most scenic drive in America.” Cooke city ceased to be the terminus of a dead-end road anymore (except in winter), and people could comfortably enjoy a drive over one of the most breath-taking roads in the country. The highway officially opened to the public June 14, 1936.
The town of Silver Gate is located one mile from the Northeast entrance of Yellowstone National Park and three miles from Cooke City. It is on the route of the Beartooth Scenic Highway. In 1931, John L. Taylor purchased 160 acres of land from Mr. George Winn who had obtained the land form Horace Double, the original homesteader. Taylor devised plans to create a new town to serve the Yellowstone tourist trade and create an old-west style of town. He envisioned selling lots on which people who ‘wanted to get away from it all” could build their summer resort. After much planning and consideration, Park County Commissioners approved the townsite of Silver Gate in September of 1932.
After the opening of the stunning Beartooth Highway in 1936, the Helena Independent reported Paul J. Campbell and P.R. Gorham were partners in the construction of the log chalet that would have 38 rooms with rustic-design beds. Construction began on the Gorham Lodge in 1937. Whole logs were brought in from the surrounding forests and oil paintings depicting beautiful mountain scenes were commissioned to line the banisters of the second floor. The lodge was constructed to be an “indoor playground” for all of the tourists coming over the Beartooth Highway. The main floor would provide space for a café, bar and dance floor and was expected to open on June12, 1938.
Since its opening, Gorham Chalet, with name changed to the Range Rider in the early 1950s, has seen many wild times and brought a lot of entertainment to a small mountain community. Ernest Hemingway even used to frequent the bar and write. The original logs still stand and the lodge possesses all of the magic that it has had since the day it opened. Over the years not much has changed, just enough so that people can continue to enjoy the Range Rider as so many have been able to in the past.
Today both Cooke City and Silver-Gate remain the historical rich town it’s always been. With National Historic Sites, (General Store) and reminisce of old mining equipment along with bar stools that Earnest Hemmingway once sat in. Cooke City is probably one of the best towns in America to have an Event or just stop by and say hello.
