Friends of Cooks Run

Picture a cold, clear trout stream winding through meadow and forest. A log cabin, built by hand ninety years ago, stands at the edge of the clearing. A level path lets anyone walk up to it, whether a child, a grandparent, an angler or a class of students.

That is what we hope to build at Cooks Run. Fish a Blue Ribbon stream. Hike and snowshoe quiet trails through forest and wetland. Learn from the land, and remember the men who raised the cabin through the Depression winter. We will restore the cabin, open the property and make it an outdoor classroom, with the help of neighbors, volunteers and local students.

Cooks Run belongs to the people of Iron County. We want it to be a place they are proud of.

Cooks Run is 121.56 acres of forest, wetland and cold water in Iron County, Michigan, owned by the county and just off US-2. Its log cabin, built in 1933–35 under the Civil Works Administration, is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Friends grew out of a steering committee established by the Iron County Watershed Coalition and drawn from nine Iron County and regional conservation, recreation and heritage organizations. Our work is to restore the cabin and make the whole property a historic, recreational and educational asset for the people of Iron County and the visitors who come through.