Alder Gulch (alternatively called Alder Creek) is a place in the Ruby River valley, in the U.S. state of Montana, where gold was discovered on May 26, 1863 by William Fairweather and a group of men including Barney Hughes, Thomas Cover, Henry Rodgers, Henry Edgar and Bill Sweeney who were returning to the gold fields of Grasshopper Creek, Bannack, Montana.
 They were on their way to Yellowstone Country from Bannack but were waylaid by a band of Crow Indians.
 After being ordered out of Crow hunting grounds, they crossed the East Slope of the Tobacco Root Mountains and camped for the night in Elk Park, where William "Bill" Fairweather and Henry Edgar discovered gold, while the remaining party was out hunting for meat.
 Agreeing to keep the new discovery quiet the group of miners returned to the town of Bannack for supplies.
 Unfortunately word leaked out about the new strike, and miners followed the Fairweather party out of town.
 The party stopped at the Point of Rocks, part way between Bannack and Alder Gulch, and established the Fairweather Mining District in a miners meeting.
 It was agreed that the discoverers were entitled to two claims and first choice.
 The first stampede of miners reached Alder Gulch June 6, 1863 and the population swelled to over 10,000 in less than 3 months.
 The "Fourteen Mile City" ran the length of the gulch, and included the towns of Junction City, Adobe Town, Nevada City, Central City, Virginia City, Montana, Bear Town, Highland, Pine Grove French Town, Hungry Hollow, and Summit.
 Upon arrival the miners lived in brush wickiups, dugouts and under overhanging rocks until cabins could be built.
 The first structure built in Virginia City was the Mechanical Bakery.
 Virginia City, and Nevada City were the centers of commerce during the height of the Alder Gulch gold rush.
 In the first year the area had over 10,000 people living there.
 Montana Territory was established in May 1864, and the first territorial capital was Bannock.
 The capital then moved to Virginia City, where it remained until 1875.
 The Alder Gulch diggings were the richest gold placer deposits ever discovered, and in three years $30,000,000 was taken from them, with $10,000,000 taken out in the first year.
 Nowadays, except during summertime, the streets of Virginia City are usually quiet and relatively few visitors find their way to the 16 ton granite monument that marks the spot of that incredible discovery of May 26, 1863.
The 1997 MAC Championship Game was the inaugural conference championship game of the Mid-American Conference, and was played on December 5, 1997, at Marshall Stadium in Huntington, West Virginia.
 The game featured the Marshall Thundering Herd of the East Division, and the Toledo Rockets of the West Division.
 It snowed the entire game.
 The Thundering Herd defeated the Rockets 34–14.
The 2009 Marathon MAC Championship Game was a college football game played by the Central Michigan Chippewas and the Ohio Bobcats.
 The game, sponsored by Marathon Oil, was the final regular season contest of the 2009 college football season for the Mid-American Conference.
 The game was held at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan, where it was moved to following the 2003 MAC Championship Game.
The 2016 Western Michigan Broncos football team represented Western Michigan University (WMU) in the 2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season.
 They were led by fourth-year head coach P. J. Fleck and played their home games at Waldo Stadium as a member of the West Division of the Mid-American Conference (MAC).
 The Broncos completed their regular season undefeated and won the MAC West Division title.
 The Broncos finished conference play defeating the Ohio Bobcats 29–23 in the 2016 MAC Championship Game, winning the school's first MAC championship title since 1988.
 WMU received an invitation to the 2017 Cotton Bowl as the highest rated Group of Five team in the College Football Playoff (CFP).
 It was the first major-bowl appearance in school history (and second for a MAC team).
 The Broncos also won 10 games in a season for the first time in their 111-year football history.
 They lost to the No. 8 Wisconsin Badgers in the New Years Six bowl game, 24–16.
The 2016 MAC Championship Game was a NCAA Division I college football conference championship game for the Mid-American Conference (MAC).
 It was the 20th MAC Football Championship Game and was played at Ford Field in Detroit on Friday, December 2, 2016, televised on ESPN2.
 The game featured the East Division co-champion Ohio Bobcats against the outright West Division champion Western Michigan Broncos.
Huntington is a city in Cabell County and Wayne County in the U.S. state of West Virginia.
 It is the county seat of Cabell County, and largest city in the Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH Metropolitan Statistical Area, sometimes referred to as the Tri-State Area.
 A historic and bustling city of commerce and heavy industry, Huntington has long-flourished due to its ideal location on the Ohio River at the mouth of the Guyandotte River.
 It is home to the Port of Huntington Tri-state, the busiest inland port in the United States.
 Surrounded by extensive natural resources, the industrial sector is based in coal, oil, chemicals and steel all of which support Huntington's diversified economy.
 The city is a vital rail-to-river transfer point for the marine transportation industry.
 Also, it is considered a scenic locale in the western foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.
 This location was selected by Collis Potter Huntington as ideal for the western terminus of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, the predecessor of what would become CSX Transportation which still operates CSX Transportation-Huntington Division in the city to date.
 The railroad founded Huntington as one of the nation's first planned communities to facilitate the railroad and other transportation related industries at the railways western terminus.
 Developing fast after the railroad's completion in 1871, the site was previously a collection of agricultural homesteads, and is eponymously named for the railroad company's founder Collis Potter Huntington.
 The first identifiable permanent settlement, Holderby's Landing, was founded in 1775 in the Colony of Virginia although the site had been sparsely settled by the French as early as 1609.
 With the exception of the neighborhoods of Westmoreland and Spring Valley, most of the city is in Cabell County.
Highway 287 (MT 287) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Montana.
 The highway runs 42.822 mi from MT 41 in Twin Bridges east to U.S. Route 287 (US 287) in Ennis.
 MT 287 is the primary east–west highway of Madison County.
 The highway connects the county's four towns, including Sheridan and the county seat of Virginia City.
 The course of MT 287 follows the ultimate portions of two trails that met in Virginia City, the center of the Alder Gulch gold rush of the mid-1860s and the second territorial capital of Montana.
 Parts of the highway were improved from rudimentary roads around 1920 from Virginia City to Ennis.
 This connection became the first portion of Montana Highway 34 in the early 1930s; the highway was extended west to Twin Bridges in the late 1930s.
 MT 34 was reconstructed from Twin Bridges through Alder to Virginia City in the late 1930s and early 1940s and between Virginia City and Ennis in the late 1940s to mid-1950s.
 The MT 287 designation was first applied to a cross-state route from West Yellowstone to Canada in the late 1950s.
 The highway was rerouted in place of MT 34 in the early 1960s.
 MT 287 was replaced by US 287 along much of the cross-state corridor in the mid-1960s.
 The highway extended north of Twin Bridges to Whitehall until the late 1970s, when it achieved its current length.
The 1998 MAC Championship Game was the second conference championship game of the Mid-American Conference, and was played on December 4, 1998, at Marshall Stadium in Huntington, West Virginia.
 The game featured a rematch of the 1997 game, between the East Division's Marshall Thundering Herd, and the West Division's Toledo Rockets.
 Marshall was heavily favored to win the game.
 Marshall defeated Toledo to claim their second consecutive conference title by a score of 23–17.
 During the game, Marshall starting quarterback Chad Pennington was hurt, and was replaced by Byron Leftwich.
The 2011 Northern Illinois Huskies football team represented Northern Illinois University in the 2011 NCAA Division I FBS football season.
 The Huskies competed in the West Division of the Mid-American Conference.
 They were led by first year head coach Dave Doeren.
 They played their home games at Huskie Stadium.
 NIU finished the season 11–3, 7–1 in MAC play to win the West Division Title.
 The Huskies defeated Ohio in the MAC Championship game to win their first MAC Championship after two previous trips to the Championship game.
 The Huskies were invited to the GoDaddy.com Bowl where they defeated Arkansas State.
The 2002 MAC Championship Game was played on December 7, 2002 at Marshall Stadium in Huntington, West Virginia.
 The game featured the winner of each division of the Mid-American Conference.
 The game featured the Marshall Thundering Herd, of the East Division, and the Toledo Rockets, of the West Division.
 The Thundering Herd beat the Rockets 49-45.

Question: The 2002 MAC Championship Game was played in the West Virginia city that is in what two counties?
Answer: Cabell County and Wayne County