State Parks   Elkhorn

State Parks in Gold West Country: Elkhorn

Claim was first located in Elkhorn in 1870 by Peter Wys, who died two years later. Anton Holter’s Elkhorn Mining Company began developing Wys’s claim in 1875. The silver boom enveloped Elkhorn in the 1880’s making the town a lively center for public meetings, dances and fun at the two-lane bowling alley. During its heyday in the 1880’s, the town’s population reached 2,500. In 1889, a diphtheria epidemic swept through the town killing many of the women and children. Gravestones record the deaths of scores of families. In 1893 the repeal of the Silver Purchase Act signaled the beginning of the end.

Today, one acre of Elkhorn is protected as a Montana state park, surrounded by private land along with some homes and cabins still in use.

To get to Elkhorn travel 7 miles south of Boulder on Montana 69, then 11 miles north on county graveled road.