Through all the traditions of the Indians, the valley has been famous for the plenitude and fatness of the white-tailed deer that graze upon its ever-nutritious and almost ever-green grasses. And so the Indians, true to these facts, and weaving with them a happy fancy, named it after that which it most resembled; and we have it that the Snake hunting parties, approaching the crests of the surrounding mountains, before the pale-face came to the land, would try the fleetness of their steeds to see who would first catch sight of and hail the point of rendezvous “IT SOO-KE EN CAR-NE” “The lodge of the White-tailed deer”. The early coming French, appreciating the poetry of the designation, adopted it literally, and among them it was known as La LOGE DU CHEV-REUIL. But the laconic, matter-of-fact Yankee pioneer came this way, and without remorse boiled down all its traditions and beauty and poesy into the practical appellation “DEER LODGE,” by which name is now known the valley, the river, the county and town.
A bit flowery on the language, but here’s something for Deer Lodge
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