Ground Floor: Kootenai
The Kootenai Lodge just outside Bigfork, Montana, was built nearly 100 years ago by Lewis Evans and Cornelius Kelley.
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Sharephotos by: Allen Kennedy Photography
June 1, 2008
The Kootenai Lodge just outside Bigfork, Montana, was built nearly 100 years ago by Lewis Evans and Cornelius Kelley, executives with the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, one of the largest trusts of the early 20th century. The duo, who became known as the "Copper Kings," used the lodge as a social gathering retreat for their friends, hosting such prominent guests as John D. Rockefeller, Will Rogers, and Charles Lindbergh in the 1920s and ’30s.After the days of Evans and Kelley, the lodge had several private owners before landing in the hands of developer Paul Milhous. In 2005, Milhous decided to transform the lodge—and the 42 acres that surround it—into a small enclave of vacation homes. The 14,000-square-foot Kootenai Lodge, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, overlooks Swan Lake and has six spacious rooms including a card room, a media room with big-screen plasma televisions and state-of-the-art audiovisual equipment, a catering kitchen large enough to prepare meals for up to 150 people, and a walk-up ice cream window. Additional amenities include a full-service concierge, a fitness center, and a heated swimming pool. Made from local timber and decorated with the original elk, deer, moose, and caribou mounts from its early days, the lodge will serve as the centerpiece of the community.
"We want to restore a piece of Montana history," says Milhous.
"The goal is to create a traditional family retreat for a new generation."
Situated within a forest, with 2,400 feet of waterfront property, Kootenai will
offer 10 restored cabins and 32 new cabins. Priced from $2 million to $7
million and ranging in size from 3,800 square feet to 6,300 square feet, the
four- or five-bedroom homes will feature a classic, Old Montana–style
architecture, with hardwood floors, wide hearths, craggy-rock fireplaces, high
ceilings with raw timber beams, and expansive decks. Two restored cabins and
three new homes are finished, with the remaining homes in the $165 million
development slated for completion in 2013.
Kootenai, 406.837.3000, www.thekootenai.com
