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Supervisor Ronald Bell, on his horse Scotty, arrives at the cabin construction site with another load of supplies. Bell was an expert packer and oversaw every phase of the cabin construction.

Sonny Reesy enjoyed cooking on the wood stove inside the Thorofare Patrol Cabin.

The Summer of '55: The Story of the Thorofare Patrol Cabin

Sonny and Alta ReesyInterview—Recorded by Tim Fagan

The construction of the Wyoming Game & Fish Department's Thorofare Patrol Cabin ranks as one of the most fascinating undertakings in the Department's history. During the summer of 1955, an adventurous group of people was organized by Ronald Bell to build a patrol cabin in the wilds of Thorofare. This collection of log men, horse packers, cooks, and carpenters took on the task of building a patrol cabin in an area described as “the most remote place in the lower forty-eight United States .”

On a fall day in 1998, I cornered two of the major participants in the cabin's construction, Sonny and Alta Reesy. At their home in Cody, we sat at the kitchen table, and they began sharing with me their memories of the wonderful summer they spent together in Thorofare. So often, their eyes would light up as they would start another sentence with “do you remember the time…,” and they would begin another tale of their life together during the summer of '55. The following is their account of that summer.

Selecting the Site

To say the Thorofare Patrol Cabin's construction was an “afterthought” sounds a bit disrespectful given the cabin's noble history. However, such was the case in 1954. At that time, Ronald Bell, Cody Game Division Supervisor, had been trying to convince Shoshone National Forest officials that his personnel needed a backcountry patrol cabin on the upper South Fork of the Shoshone River near Marston Creek. He had already budgeted the money to build the cabin but was having no luck persuading forest officials to agree with his plan. Becoming frustrated, Bell finally contacted an acquaintance he knew working for the Teton National Forest in Jackson , Wyoming .

Bell was a persistent man, and he had an alternate plan to build a patrol cabin on Thorofare Creek in the Teton Forest . After explaining his plan to forest officials in Jackson , he quickly received approval and began making plans to construct a patrol cabin on the lower Thorofare.

Selecting the right site was of utmost importance. Bell took into consideration a location that was off the beaten path and where good cabin logs could be found. A meadow for grazing horses was also a requirement, as was good spring water for drinking. Finally, an arid location away from swamps and bogs would be preferable to minimize the problem with the swarms of bugs and mosquitoes that inhabit the area during the summer.

Bell settled on a spot that was known as the Home Lodge campsite. There was already a small pole corral there, and this location met all the requirements Bell had considered. Forest officials approved of this site, located at the foot of the Trident Plateau and within a few hundred yards of the south boundary of Yellowstone National Park , as the location for the Game & Fish patrol cabin.

Planning the Construction

Knowing he would have no more then three months to build a cabin in an area as remote and uncertain as Thorofare, Bell immediately went to work planning the cabin construction. The first priority was ordering, purchasing, and inventorying the supplies and materials needed to build a cabin. Knowing he must mobilize a small army of people to accomplish the task, Bell also oversaw the hiring and contracting of people with expertise in everything from horse packing to carpentry. In addition, coordinating the transportation of building supplies from Cody to Lake Ranger Station, then boating this freight across Yellowstone Lake , and finally packing these materials by packhorse to the cabin site fell on Bell 's shoulders.

Transporting the Material

The first step of the operation was transporting all material, equipment, tools, and supplies necessary to build a cabin from Cody , Wyoming , to Lake Ranger Stationin Yellowstone National Park . Pickup trucks began hauling material over Sylvan Pass in late June 1955. Horses were trailered over Sylvan Pass to Cub Creek Trailhead and were then packed and ridden along the Yellowstone Lake Trail to the Park Service Ranger Station at Trail Creek. These horses would be used to help carry people and supplies from Trail Creek to the Thorofare cabin construction site.

Two Larson 18-foot boats were made ready to begin boating supplies from Lake Ranger Station to Trail Creek. Each had a 25 horsepower motor and, beginning in July, were kept busy the entire summer freighting supplies and equipment the 20-mile journey across Yellowstone Lake . These two boats, often loaded heavy with construction equipment, made nearly 40 trips to Trail Creek that summer. Once at Trail Creek, the equipment was unloaded and stacked along the Lakeshore. The supplies and gear were then loaded on packhorses for the 18-mile journey to the cabin site.

During the summer of 1955, over 100 packhorse loads of supplies were carried to the cabin site from Trail Creek. Windows, doors, flooring, lumber, and shingles all made the journey on the backs of these horses. Packers took great care in balancing and tying these loads on the horses, insuring the safe arrival of the packhorses and supplies. Packers were also very aware of the weight carried by each packhorse, holding most pack loads to 150 pounds or less.

Cabin Construction

While one crew freighted supplies and equipment across Yellowstone Lake , a second crew packed these same supplies on horses to the cabin construction site, and another crew began the task of building the cabin. Of course, no one was assigned just one specific job, and everyone gladly pitched in wherever help was needed.

Two expert log men were hired to build the cabin. Once at the cabin site, both men immediately went to work selecting the trees that they wanted cut down to be used for the cabin logs. A big brown horse named Abe, weighing over 1300 pounds, was fitted with a collar and harness, and skidded the logs from where they were felled to the cabin site to be peeled. As many of the crew busied themselves doing this backbreaking work, others began pouring the cement footings on which would rest the cabin's log walls.

The cabin quickly began to take shape during July and August. By late August, the cabin was completed as planned and only finish work continued into September.

The Players

Inscribed on the Thorofare cabin concrete footings are the names of the people that were actively involved with the cabin construction. Following are their names and the role they played in building the cabin in 1955.

Ronald and Evelyn Bell

Ronald was the Game Division Supervisor in Cody and put the entire production together. He was an expert horse packer and oversaw the building of the cabin. His wife Evelyn cooked for the crews at the cabin construction site. Both Ronald and Evelyn spent the entire summer in Thorofare.

Earl and Shirley Thomas

Earl was the Cody Game Warden in 1955. Earl ran one of the boats back and forth across Yellowstone Lake and helped with the horse packing between Trail Creek and the construction site. Shirley was Earl's wife and often accompanied him on his trips across the lake.

Pete and Myra Muchmore

Pete was the Powell Game Warden and was primarily responsible for boating supplies across Yellowstone Lake . Pete would not ride a horse and chose to walk from Trail Creek to the cabin construction site. Myra assisted with cooking for the crews.

Sonny and Alta Reesy

Sonny and Alta spent the entire summer in Thorofare. Alta cooked for the construction crew, sometimes feeding as many as 22 people. Sonny was the Meeteetse Game Warden and was involved with the horse packing. Sonny was very proud of his horse Abe whom he used to skid many of the felled logs to the cabin site.

Axel Viken and Howard “Slim” Waggoner

Axel and Slim were hired to lay the logs and build the cabin. Both were from Cody and were well-known log men. They began construction in late June 1955 and completed the cabin in late August 1955. Both stayed at the cabin site the entire summer.

Jerry Lanchbury

Jerry was hired to help with the horse packing. Jerry was a good hand in the mountains and came in with the first pack load of supplies. He spent the summer working with the pack strings as well as helping with the cabin construction when needed.

Sterling “Speed ” Spiegelberg

Speed was an outfitter in Thorofare and was hired to pack supplies from Trail Creek to the cabin site. Most of the horses needed to pack supplies were leased from Speed.

Dean Spiegelberg

Dean was Speed's son and was 17 years old at the time. Dean helped with the pack ing from Trail Creek to the cabin site.

Clarence “C.B.” Nay

Clarence worked at the Powell bird farm and helped with the cabin construction.

Chuck “Charlie” Hereford

Charlie was the game warden in Sunlight Basin and assisted with boating supplies across Yellowstone Lake and packing supplies to the cabin.

Memories

Sonny and Alta related many wonderful memories. They were quite proud of the fact that once the cabin project started, they spent the entire summer in Thorofare working on the cabin until it was finished.

Alta enjoyed cooking for the men at the cabin construction site. She recalled picking wild strawberries to make desserts for the crew. She never knew how many men she would be feeding from day to day, often feeding as many as 22 hands at mealtime. Sonny enjoyed telling this tale of packing the first load of supplies from Trail Creek to the cabin:

“It was the first big loads the packhorses carried that year, and they were a little green and spooky.” Speed did not want his packhorses “tailed” together, so all the horses were loose and followed each other down the trail. After getting all the horses packed and headed toward the cabin site, they had gone about a mile when a tree fell over right in the middle of the trail. The cracking sound of the tree spooked the horses and “horses went every-where.” Since this was the first trip, Bell had requested that the concrete be brought in so the construction crew could start pouring the concrete footings. Loaded with concrete, the scared horses ran and bucked through the timber until finally the sacks of concrete were exposed and the sacks ripped open. The powder and dust of the concrete was suddenly engulfing the area, and when all the commotion stopped, “there was a smoky haze covering the area.” Sonny stated that they “pretty well paved that portion of the trail with cement” and that “if the EPA would have existed then, they would have been in big trouble.”

Packing in the cabin doors also proved challenging and nearly resulted in disaster when they crossed the Yellowstone River . A door was packed on each side of a pack-horse, and due to the length of each door, they hung down low on each side of the horse. The packer leading this horse was told to head upstream once in the river to prevent the current from building up against the door, the pressure of which would cause the horse to lose his footing. Unfortunately, the horse was led straight across the river, got caught in the current, and began rolling downstream. After much excitement, they were able to locate and catch the horse, and remarkably, both the horse and the two doors emerged from the river unscathed. Later that day, as they neared Yellowstone 's Thorofare Ranger Station, the same horse carrying the same two doors fell on bad luck again. One of the sling ropes began to wear and finally broke, dropping one of the doors on the ground. This noise spooked the horse and he took off running, finally stopping after dragging the door some distance. One windowpane was broken after this unplanned outburst. The doors were re-slung on the horse, and they made the remaining trip to camp without incident.

Sonny recalled that a phone line once ran from Lake Ranger Station to the Thorofare Ranger Station. The line ran along the trail and had not been maintained for several years. Trees had fallen over the wire, and the phone line was lying on the ground all along the trail. This proved to be very dangerous for both horse and rider. On the third or fourth trip, Sonny recalled how Ronald Bell and his horse Scotty somehow got wrapped up in the stiff wire. Scotty began “spinning in the wire” causing him to go down and Ronald to tumble off of him.

They were able to cut the wire off of the horse, and both horse and rider escaped without serious injury. The cabin was completed as planned by the fall of 1955. During 1956, the combination storage shed and outhouse was built behind the cabin with Axel, Slim, Ronald, Evelyn, Earl, and outfitter Mel Stonehouse mainly involved with that construction.

And Finally

Sonny related many stories of the trips he took to the Thorofare as a game warden. In addition, he and Alta frequently made the ride to the cabin, often bringing along their two children, Ron and Cali . Both talked of getting the kids to sleep at night in the cabin and then sitting together in front of the stove, the firelight flickering on the dark cabin walls. It was during these times they would talk into the night of their times together and their appreciation of their wonderful experiences in Thorofare.

After spending an afternoon with them, it was evident that this firelight was still flickering. Thank you, Sonny and Alta!!

Thorofare Cabin Epilogue

2005 marks the 50th anniversary of the construction of the Thorofare cabin. Over the past 50 years, wardens and biologists have frequently set off from the steps of the cabin, embarking to study, trap, locate, and track the region's wildlife and fisheries resources. Likewise, the nightly shadow of the cabin has greeted many a wildlife officer after spending many days patrolling the wilderness backcountry, insuring compliance of wildlife laws, and investigating and apprehending those involved with illegal hunting and fishing activity.

Today, as in the past, the Thorofare cabin continues in its role as a backcountry outpost. The cabin logs are no longer clean and smooth as in 1955, but have become weathered and checked, taking on the complexion of the harsh environment that surrounds it. It is from these elements that the cabin has protected, and continues to protect, those wildlife guardians that cross her threshold.

Tim Fagan
Cody Damage Warden, 1977–1993
South Cody Game Warden, 1993–Present