Cooke City was born in the 1870s mining boom, a rugged outpost tucked high in Montana’s Beartooth Mountains. Over the years, saloons have come and gone, and while Miners Saloon wasn’t here then, it stands today as a historic, enduring town staple. It also holds an unexpected link to Ernest Hemingway through former bartender and author Chris Warren.

Visitors are often surprised to learn that Ernest Hemingway once called this country home. He first arrived here in July of 1930, driving his Model A Ford deep into the Beartooth Mountains with his wife Pauline and their young son Jack. What began as a summer visit turned into a six-month stay that would shape his life and work for years to come. Hemingway was immediately taken by the landscape, the isolation, and the freedom he found here. He settled into ranch life beneath the peaks of nearby mountains, Pilot and Index, and famously called this region “the best trout fishing in the world.”

That summer, Hemingway fished local rivers, hunted with guides and ranch hands, and immersed himself in the rhythms of mountain life. He experienced big-game hunting for the first time, taking the only bighorn sheep of his life, along with his first elk and bear. Between these adventures, he finished Death in the Afternoon, producing nearly 40,000 words and mailing the final draft from the Cooke City General Store, which still stands today just a few steps from Miners Saloon. That history might feel distant, until you realize how it found its way back to the bar.

Years ago, Chis Warren was tending bar inside Miners Saloon. Like so many who come to Cooke City, he fell in love with the country first. Then he discovered that Ernest Hemingway had done the same. What began as curiosity turned into years of research, digging through letters, photographs, and local accounts to understand Hemingway’s time in Montana’s Yellowstone country.

Many of those early ideas were scribbled between shifts. Conversations with locals, outfitters, and longtime families helped shape the story. Over time, that work became a book: Ernest Hemingway in the Yellowstone High Country.

Hemingway never drank in Miners Saloon. It wasn’t here yet. But the spirit of this place–the hunting stories, the fishing reports, the mix of locals and wanderers– hasn’t changed much since 1930. Chris Warren’s time behind the bar became the bridge between Hemingway’s era and the present day.

To continue the journey into his life and time in the Yellowstone region, pick up Ernest Hemingway in the Yellowstone High Country available throughout Yellowstone and in Cooke City. A small museum inside the Range Rider Lodge in nearby Silver Gate is also dedicated to this history. And if you’d like a signed copy, you can often find Chris Warren at the Royal Wulff Tavern in Silver Gate or the Miners Saloon in Cooke City.

Visit:

108 Main St, Cooke City, MT 59020