Historical Note - Week of August 23rd

Big Timber Pioneer, September 3, 1942

Silver Gate Inn Burned

Friday’s Livingston Enterprise: Fire destroyed the Silver gate inn, at the northeast entrance to Yellowstone park, at 2 a.m. Thursday, according to word brought to Livingston today by F.B. O’Brien, Livingston salesman, who assisted in battling the flames. The inn has not been opened to the public this year, but has been used for storage, O’Brien said. The building and all its contents were a total loss. It was owned by Frank Cavenaugh. A bucket brigade was organized among residents of Silver Gate, Cooke City and surrounding mines to help in the fight. O’Brien, who was at Cooke when the fire broke out, helped to gather the volunteers. Twenty-five miners and about 35 others formed the bucket brigade. A gas station nearby caught fire but the flames were extinguished by the volunteers. For a time the blaze threatened to enter the forest. O’Brien said that defective wiring was believed to have caused the blaze.

Photos of the burning Silver Gate Inn courtesy Kathleen Mahnke