SAGUACHE
THE historic Duncan Cabin has joined the U.S. Forest Service’s Cabin Rental Program. The Saguache District’s only primitive cabin offers a unique experience for the hearty cabin-goer: there’s a four-mile hike in, and no water, electricity, heat or cookstove.
“This new recreational opportunity comes after a significant preservation process,” said Saguache District Ranger Tristram Post. “We are pleased to offer this unique cabin stay experience for the adventurous folks that prefer to stay in places off the beaten path.”
The cabin offers solitude and amazing views of the Valley in a setting that is far from a typical 3-star hotel stay. Post added that, with a small corral on-site, horses would be the ideal mode of transportation into the cabin.
“At War With Squatters”
Denver, June 29 – Fighting has begun between settlers and the new owners of Baca Grant, No. 2, in Saguache county, Colo. A small miners’ settlement on Dead Man’
creek was blown up on Monday night. Three cabins were blown to pieces, the logs being reduced to splinters and rocks used in the foundations hurled hundreds of feet. Windows were broken and small buildings rocked in the neighboring town of Duncan, where the miners spent the night under arms. No traces of the perpetrators have been found. Judging from the latest reports, rioting may begin at any time, and unless the federal courts interfere bloodshed will follow.
After the eviction of Duncan, many of its settlers moved to Liberty. Liberty was located just a mile and a half southeast of Duncan and located outside the Baca Grant land.
The forest service estimates that Duncan’s peak population was as high as 4,000. Despite its 10 years of life, only this cabin has survived the test of time.
A 1942 photo of the cabin taken by Mirel Sibell Wolle. | Denver Public Library
In 1942, Muriel Sibell Wolle, a prominent Denver artist and the director of University of Colorado at Boulder’s Fine Arts Program at the time, visited the townsite of Duncan and documented the cabin. Wolle took a number of photographs of the cabin. These images provide a clear snapshot of the cabin, its condition, and materials. Her documentation was vital in understanding the condition over time.
However, the forest service said that some “measure of conjecture will still be necessary to rehabilitate the cabin.”
Restoration and Rehabilitation
Restoration of the cabin was conducted by HistoriCorps in 2011 with the goal of preserving site history and to make it available on the Forest Service cabin rental program. Find the plan HERE. Funds for the majority of restoration work were allocated as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Additional restoration work will continue into the future.
The cabin was in a state of severe disrepair. Many of the building’s systems – such as the foundation and floor, walls, roof and ceiling, doors and windows, and interior furnishings – no longer functioned and were addressed as the key points for rehab.
However, the cabin remained virtually unaltered since its construction and thus retained considerable historic fabric that could be documented and replaced in‐kind. “We propose that this project be a rehabilitation. Although the rehabilitated cabin will have a new roof, windows, doors, and floor the replacements will mimic, as closely as possible, the historic fabric,” the forest service wrote in its presentation.
The secretary of the interior has standards for rehabilitation of historic structures, which can be read in-depth here.
The original wood and structure were intact, but compromised. The roof and ceiling, which no longer protected the interior from the elements, was identified as a priority. The walls are made from eight inch thick sawn logs. New logs were measured and cut to the same dimensions. The ceiling was replaced with more ventilation and the roof was redone and reshingled.
Because of the primitive, backcountry location, no running water, gas, or electricity was installed. Instead, a wood-burning stove will be the primary source of heat. The cabin is lit with white gas or kerosene lamps.
New amenities were installed, as well: a dining table and chairs, a hoosier cabinet for dishes and cookware, and a firewood box. Two queen size beds were added for creature comfort.
A vault toilet with Forest Service specs was installed near the cabin.
The Forest Service wants to keep the site in its current “sparsely vegetated state.”
The site hopes to appeal to equestrians by constructing a small corral. A historic corral and barn are located to the west of the cabin. The restored corral used unpeeled juniper for the posts and cottonwood, aspen, or spruce poles for the rails.
Reservation and use information
As with all rental cabins on the Rio Grande National Forest, the Duncan Cabin has unique features and rules. Cabin renters should bring their own cookstove and can get water to filter, or for their stock at the nearby Pole Creek. Learn more HERE.
Reservations for the Duncan Cabin are available by calling 877-444-6777, or online at Recreation.gov and searching for the Duncan Cabin. Reservations can be made up to 6 months in advance. The nightly fee is $40. There is no minimum night stay; a maximum of 14 nights is allowed.
TOP PHOTO: The Duncan Cabin in 2011, before restoration began. | HistoriCorps
