Lost Coon Lake

Lost Coon Lake, is a fishing lake south of Whitefish, Flathead County in the state of Montana, USA.^[1]

Lost Coon Lake was originally known as "Nigger Lake". It was named in the late 1800s or early 1900s. The name allegedly came about from the fact that an African American woman named Mrs. Randals ran a rooming house for lumberjacks near the lake. As offensive as the name was, it was not even accurate apparently as many later claimed Mrs. Randals was of Spanish descent.

The name began to come into controversy in the mid 20th century when Washington bureaus began to refuse ice harvest contracts with the name on them. They began to reference the lake as "Lodgepole Lake", while locals continued to call it "Nigger Lake" or alternatively "One Nigger Lake".

By the 1980s when upscale developments were being targeted for the area, perhaps as a compromise of sorts, the lake was renamed "Lost Coon Lake", which remains to this day.

References

Coordinates: 48°23′46″N 114°21′36″W / 48.39611°N 114.36000°W / 48.39611; -114.36000