Steve Moseley

Twenty years back when we lived in Powell, the plug between Wyo. Highway 296 and the northeast gate of Yellowstone was a topic of anger and angst and had been for years even then. I see nothing has changed. Still a big rhubarb. Still not plowed.

I come to you today to provide guidance through this morass of possibilities, options and opinions. The fact I am presently a clueless flatlander should make no difference at all, but of course it will and it should, to folks in northwest Wyoming up into Montana.

Some small volume of research on this topic via the internet and a conversation with my good friend Mark Davis of this newspaper reveal this to be a complex quandary. One not so easily solved. But let’s poke at the bear anyway just for fun.

Turns out the few hearty citizens of Cooke City and Silver Gate who inexplicably squat in place and ride out winter have few options to obtain anything from a loaf of bread to open-heart surgery. That 9-mile obstacle of unplowed snow is a barrier only breached in winter by over-the-snow conveyances, primarily sleds (or snowmobiles as all corn heads but me know them).

Our knee-jerk reaction is to pity these poor souls and do all we can to help. Our second thought is to acknowledge the obvious; they do it to themselves by denying common sense and hibernating there in self-afflicted isolation winter after winter after winter. Far easier to save a lot of trouble and abandon them in their misery. I can see a measure of merit both ways.

Next, we are confronted, literally in this case, by boisterous recreational users who cannot — nay, will not — abide plowing the plug under any circumstances. Ever. Their rigidity has merit, too, I have learned. Plowing would destroy a route that leads to wonderful trails into the magnificent surrounding mountains and eliminate parking for their rigs altogether.

What rational person, even a lowly flatlander such as myself, would disparage these adventurers who drive winter commerce to Cooke City and Silver Gate at a time of year when the rest of us lack the gumption?

I have been educated on the cost to plow those not-so-measly 9 miles, too. Turns out the sheer volume of snow in that stretch over the course of winter could well require 24-hour plowing to keep ahead of the incredible volume that dumps on that country every winter. We’re talking millions and millions of dollars. Wyoming and Montana could share this I bet, but why would they want to take on the incredible logistical challenge, never mind the astronomical cost.

Hmm, not such a simple plug after all as it turns out.

I read that for decades local residents and businesses as a rule wanted no part of plowing, however in recent years that stance may be softening. A story I found online told of a lady who keeps her truck on the east side of the plug, then crosses over and back on a sled so she can get to Cody for a spool of thread, to have a family broken bone tended, her hair and nails done or whatever. The alternative to go west further into Montana is said to be double the distance to Gardiner, never mind Livingston.

What to do? I respectfully propose something of a plowing test run. How else to know what will happen but to try it at least one time?

What to do is wait until, oh, say the last couple weeks in April, then blast it open for just three days. No more, then let it snow closed again. Not so much to ask in the quest to find a permanent solution. Wyoming and Montana would bother themselves with only a couple phone calls to hire a contractor, one with really big machines, and simply split the cost of this wee experiment.

Entirely by happy coincidence, two fellow Husker photographer buddies, my friend Don and my other friend Don, joined of course by the aforementioned Mark when we get there, are at this very time putting together a late winter camera safari in the Lamar Valley just then.

It will be a Thursday, Friday and Saturday, probably April 18-20 or 25-27. We’ll notify the appropriate agencies soon so planning can commence.

Please do not take offense, Livingston, we’ll look in on you another time. What do you have going on in July? A summer festival perhaps?