Emigrant is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Park County,

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

, United States. As of the 2010 census, the

ZIP Code Tabulation Area ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs) are statistical entities developed by the United States Census Bureau for tabulating summary statistics. These were introduced with the Census 2000 and continued with the 2010 Census and 5 year American Community ...

(59027) for Emigrant had a population of 372. Emigrant is located in southern Montana, on the

Yellowstone River The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the Western United States. Considered the principal tributary of the upper Missouri, via its own tributaries it drains an area with headwaters across the mountain ...

, approximately north of

Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located in the northwest corner of Wyoming, with small portions extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U ...

, and south of Livingston.

Geography

Emigrant relies largely on tourism. Most of its facilities and services are open year round. Emigrant sits between the

Absaroka Range The Absaroka Range is a sub- range of the Rocky Mountains in the United States. The range stretches about across the Montana–Wyoming border, and at its widest, forming the eastern boundary of Yellowstone National Park along Paradise Valley, ...

and the

Gallatin Range The Gallatin Range is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains, located in the U.S. states of Montana and Wyoming. It includes more than 10 mountains over . The highest peak in the range is Electric Peak at . The Gallatin Range was named after ...

in Paradise Valley. The community is located just a few miles west of Emigrant Peak, elevation . It is situated between

Highway 89 A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights of way. In the United States, it is also used as an equivalent term to controlled-access highway, or ...

and Murphy Lane, making it a crossroads to the

Chico Hot Springs Chico Hot Springs are located near Pray, Montana. It is approximately 30 miles north of Yellowstone National Park. Beginning in 1900, the natural hot springs has been gradually turned into a vacation resort. Location Chico Hot Springs is l ...

Resort, which is situated a few miles southeast.

Climate

This

climatic Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorolog ...

region is typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

system, Emigrant has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

, abbreviated "Dfb" on climate maps.

History

Emigrant is situated very close to the site of defunct Yellowstone City, which was established in 1863 but eventually abandoned and replaced by Chico, sometimes called "Old Chico" or "Chico City," which is situated a few miles south at the mouth of Emigrant Gulch. The town of Emigrant as it stands today originated as a railroad stop for much of the mining and agricultural activities taking place in the area. It is a much newer community than nearby Chico but has overshadowed Chico due to strategic location. Although the railroad pulled out as transporting freight by truck became standard, Emigrant did not suffer the decline other rural towns in the region had due to its ability to tap into regional tourism. Much of the current structures in Emigrant are newer and well maintained with an "old western" architectural theme. In August 1864, three emigrants, who came to Montana on the Bozeman Trail, arrived and found men already hard at work mining the creek. The new arrivals decided to try their luck farther up the rugged gulch, finding pay dirt high up the side of Emigrant Peak. The strike caused a stampede that drew several hundred miners and a few women to this remote area deep in Crow Indian country. The miners worked the gravel with moderate success for several weeks before cold weather drove them down to Yellowstone City, near the mouth of Emigrant Gulch. This settlement was a collection of fifty rough log cabins with dirt roofs and elk hide floors. Supplies ran short during that winter; flour was scarce and tobacco cost $300 a pound, making it worth its weight in gold. The only thing plentiful was venison - for breakfast, lunch, and dinner during the long winter months. In the spring, the shortages ended and the men went back to work on their claims. By 1866, Yellowstone City had been abandoned due to hostility with the local Indian population and dwindling placer gold. Nothing remains of the town today. The Emigrant Gulch strike was not a fabulous one, but snug stakes rewarded many of the pioneers for their energy and hardships. Emigrant first had a post office in 1872, which only lasted 4 years but was reestablished in 1911.

Wildlife

Due to its location by the

, Emigrant is a popular area for

fly fishing Fly fishing is an angling technique that uses an ultra-lightweight lure called an artificial fly, which typically mimics small invertebrates such as flying and aquatic insects to attract and catch fish. Because the mass of the fly lure is in ...

, and also home to many species, such as American badger,

black-billed magpie The black-billed magpie (''Pica hudsonia''), also known as the American magpie, is a bird in the corvid family found in the western half of North America. It is black and white, with the wings and tail showing black areas and iridescent hints ...

deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...

elk The elk (: ''elk'' or ''elks''; ''Cervus canadensis'') or wapiti, is the second largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. ...

, coyote, fox, and occasionally

wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though gr ...

and black bear. From Emigrant, it is only a few miles to the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, and the

Gallatin National Forest The Gallatin National Forest (now known as the Custer-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 ...

. Emigrant's proximity to the national forests, wilderness area, Yellowstone National Park and the Yellowstone River make it an ideal spot for outdoorsmen to visit and live in.

Education

The CDP is in Arrowhead Elementary School District and Park High School District.
Text list
/ref> Park High School District is a component of Livingston Public Schools.

Demographics

References

External links

US Census data for ZIP code 59027, EmigrantZip Code Data for EmigrantClimbing information for Emigrant Peak
{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Montana Unincorporated communities in Park County, Montana