- Miners Saloon and Republic Mountain, 2003
- Looking east, January 2010
Cooke City, Montana | |
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Coordinates: 45°1′10″N109°56′4″W / 45.01944°N 109.93444°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Montana |
County | Park |
Area | |
• Total | 9.54 sq mi (24.70 km2) |
• Land | 9.54 sq mi (24.70 km2) |
• Water | 0.00 sq mi (0.00 km2) |
Elevation | 7,580 ft (2,310 m) |
Population (2020) | |
• Total | 77 |
• Density | 8.08/sq mi (3.12/km2) |
Time zone | UTC-7 (Mountain (MST)) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC-6 (MDT) |
ZIP Code | 59020 |
Area code | 406 |
FIPS code | 30-17350 |
GNIS feature ID | 2583800 [2] |
Cooke City is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Park County, Montana, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 77. [3] Prior to 2010, it was part of the Cooke City-Silver Gate CDP.
The community sits northeast of Yellowstone National Park on the Beartooth Highway, which leads east to Red Lodge, Montana, on a scenic route climbing to 10,947 feet (3,337 m) in elevation through the Beartooth Mountains and across the Beartooth Plateau. The town's chief industry is tourism, which during the winter includes skiing and snowmobiling.
It is named for Jay Cooke, financier of the Northern Pacific Railroad. [4]
Cooke City is near the southeast corner of Park County, bordered to the south by the North Absaroka Wilderness within Shoshone National Forest in the state of Wyoming, and to the west by the community of Silver Gate, Montana. The two towns sit in the valley of Soda Butte Creek, which flows southwest into Wyoming to join the Lamar River in Yellowstone National Park. The valley is part of the Yellowstone River watershed.
U.S. Route 212, the Beartooth Highway, passes through the center of Cooke City, leading southwest into Yellowstone National Park, and east over 8,040-foot (2,450 m) Colter Pass in the eastern part of the CDP to continue southeast back into Wyoming in the valley of the Clarks Fork Yellowstone River and thence into the Beartooth Mountains.
Cooke City has a subarctic climate (Dfc) or subalpine climate due its extremely high elevation, at 7,580 feet (2,310 m), with only two months averaging above 50 °F (10 °C). Summers consist of mild to warm days with crisp, cool mornings, and winters are long and very cold, with many nights falling below zero. Snowfall is abundant, with most of it falling between the months of October to May, though snow does occasionally fall in the months of June and September. Cooke City is listed as the snowiest community in Montana. [5]
Climate data for Cooke City, Montana, 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1946–2013 [lower-alpha 1] | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °F (°C) | 48 (9) | 54 (12) | 58 (14) | 74 (23) | 80 (27) | 88 (31) | 100 (38) | 90 (32) | 86 (30) | 85 (29) | 60 (16) | 47 (8) | 100 (38) |
Mean maximum °F (°C) | 37.8 (3.2) | 44.2 (6.8) | 51.4 (10.8) | 61.2 (16.2) | 71.1 (21.7) | 79.9 (26.6) | 84.9 (29.4) | 82.7 (28.2) | 77.1 (25.1) | 66.2 (19.0) | 48.1 (8.9) | 36.3 (2.4) | 85.3 (29.6) |
Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 24.2 (−4.3) | 28.6 (−1.9) | 36.9 (2.7) | 43.4 (6.3) | 53.5 (11.9) | 63.9 (17.7) | 73.7 (23.2) | 71.1 (21.7) | 62.0 (16.7) | 47.0 (8.3) | 30.9 (−0.6) | 22.4 (−5.3) | 46.5 (8.0) |
Daily mean °F (°C) | 15.0 (−9.4) | 18.0 (−7.8) | 25.3 (−3.7) | 32.2 (0.1) | 40.9 (4.9) | 49.2 (9.6) | 56.3 (13.5) | 54.4 (12.4) | 46.6 (8.1) | 35.5 (1.9) | 22.1 (−5.5) | 14.3 (−9.8) | 34.2 (1.2) |
Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 5.8 (−14.6) | 7.4 (−13.7) | 13.7 (−10.2) | 21.0 (−6.1) | 28.4 (−2.0) | 34.5 (1.4) | 38.9 (3.8) | 37.7 (3.2) | 31.2 (−0.4) | 24.1 (−4.4) | 13.3 (−10.4) | 6.3 (−14.3) | 21.9 (−5.6) |
Mean minimum °F (°C) | −23.1 (−30.6) | −24.5 (−31.4) | −13.4 (−25.2) | −0.4 (−18.0) | 14.5 (−9.7) | 25.6 (−3.6) | 30.6 (−0.8) | 28.7 (−1.8) | 18.3 (−7.6) | 5.8 (−14.6) | −10.7 (−23.7) | −22.7 (−30.4) | −32.2 (−35.7) |
Record low °F (°C) | −51 (−46) | −47 (−44) | −40 (−40) | −18 (−28) | 1 (−17) | 16 (−9) | 22 (−6) | 12 (−11) | 3 (−16) | −13 (−25) | −36 (−38) | −50 (−46) | −51 (−46) |
Average precipitation inches (mm) | 2.23 (57) | 2.04 (52) | 1.94 (49) | 2.29 (58) | 2.85 (72) | 3.16 (80) | 1.97 (50) | 1.82 (46) | 1.74 (44) | 2.23 (57) | 2.17 (55) | 2.13 (54) | 26.57 (674) |
Average snowfall inches (cm) | 38.8 (99) | 29.7 (75) | 31.0 (79) | 22.4 (57) | 9.0 (23) | 3.4 (8.6) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 1.0 (2.5) | 13.4 (34) | 26.5 (67) | 37.9 (96) | 213.1 (541.1) |
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) | 17.3 | 13.3 | 13.1 | 13.1 | 14.1 | 14.5 | 11.1 | 10.4 | 9.5 | 11.6 | 13.4 | 17.2 | 158.6 |
Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 in) | 17.0 | 12.6 | 11.3 | 9.4 | 4.0 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 6.7 | 11.8 | 16.4 | 90.8 |
Source 1: XMACIS2 (mean maxima/minima 1981–2010) [6] | |||||||||||||
Source 2: NOAA [7] |
Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
---|---|---|---|
2020 | 77 | — | |
U.S. Decennial Census [8] |
Crow Agency is a census-designated place (CDP) in Big Horn County, Montana, United States and is near the actual location for the Little Bighorn National Monument and re-enactment produced by the Real Bird family known as Battle of the Little Bighorn Reenactment. The population was 1,616 at the 2010 census. It is the governmental headquarters of the Crow Native Americans. It is also the location of the "agency offices" where the federal Superintendent of the Crow Indian Reservation and his staff interacts with the Crow Tribe, pursuant to federal treaties and statutes.
Cooke City-Silver Gate was a census-designated place (CDP) in Park County, Montana, United States, corresponding to the unincorporated communities of Cooke City and Silver Gate. The population was 140 at the 2000 census. Starting with the 2010 census, the two communities were listed as separate CDPs. The communities sit toward the northeast of Yellowstone National Park on the Beartooth Highway.
Billings is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Metropolitan Area, which had a population of 184,167 in the 2020 census. With one of the largest trade areas in the United States, Billings is the trade and distribution center for much of Montana east of the Continental Divide. Billings is also the largest retail destination for much of the same area. The Billings Chamber of Commerce claims the area of commerce covers more than 125,000 square miles (320,000 km2). In 2009, it was estimated to serve over 500,000 people.
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The Absaroka Range is a sub-range of the Rocky Mountains in the United States. The range stretches about 150 mi (240 km) across the Montana–Wyoming border, and 75 mi (120 km) at its widest, forming the eastern boundary of Yellowstone National Park along Paradise Valley, and the western side of the Bighorn Basin. The range borders the Beartooth Mountains to the north and the Wind River Range to the south. The northern edge of the range rests along I-90 and Livingston, Montana. The highest peak in the range is Francs Peak, located in Wyoming at 13,153 ft (4,009 m). There are 46 other peaks over 12,000 ft (3,700 m).
Slough Creek is a tributary of the Lamar River, approximately 25 mi (40 km) long, in Montana and Wyoming in the United States.
The Stillwater River is a tributary of the Yellowstone River. Approximately 70 miles (113 km) long, it runs through southern Montana in the United States. The Stillwater River has also been known as: the Itchkeppearja River, Rose River, Rosebud River and Stillwater Creek.
The Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Yellowstone River, 150 mi (241 km) long in the U.S. states of Montana and Wyoming.
The Beartooth Highway is an All-American Road in the western United States on a section of U.S. Route 212 in Montana and Wyoming between Red Lodge and the Northeast entrance of Yellowstone National Park. It crests at Beartooth Pass in Wyoming at 10,947 feet (3,337 m) above sea level, and was called "the most beautiful drive in America," by late CBS News correspondent Charles Kuralt. Because of heavy snowfall at the top, the pass is usually open for about five months per year, from mid-May to mid-October, weather conditions permitting.
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The Gallatin National Forest is a United States National Forest located in South-West Montana. Most of the Custer-Gallatin goes along the state's southern border, with some of it a part of North-West Wyoming.
Absaroka–Beartooth Wilderness was created from existing National Forest lands in 1978 and is located in Montana and Wyoming, United States. The wilderness encompasses two distinct mountain ranges: the Beartooth and Absaroka ranges. These ranges are completely distinct geologically speaking, with the Absaroka composed primarily of volcanic and metamorphic rock, while the Beartooth is made up almost entirely of granitic rocks. The Absaroka are noted for their dark and craggy appearance, lush and heavily forested valleys, and abundant wildlife. The highest peak in the range, in Wyoming, is Francs Peak at 13,153 feet (4,009 m). The Beartooth is more alpine, with huge treeless plateaus and the highest peak of Montana. The wilderness has more than 120 peaks over 10,000 feet (3,000 m) and 28 peaks over 12,000 feet (3,700 m), including Montana's highest, Granite Peak at 12,799 feet (3,901 m). The wilderness is integral to the 20-million-acre (81,000 km2) Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and borders Yellowstone National Park.
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Montana is one of the eight Mountain States, located in the north of the region known as the Western United States. It borders North Dakota and South Dakota to the east. Wyoming is to the south, Idaho is to the west and southwest, and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan are to the north, making it the only state to border three Canadian provinces.
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The Mountain states form one of the nine geographic divisions of the United States that are officially recognized by the United States Census Bureau. It is a subregion of the Western United States.
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