Small cabin built by Bill Wallace at Cabin Creek, restored - 1993 and 2019

Most of the structures built at Cabin Creek no longer exist. In the mid- to late-1970s, the US Forest Service went through the Big Creek drainage and reclaimed much of the land. During the process of reclamation, the US Forest Service purchased most of the private holdings in the drainage and burned, buried, and/or removed most of the structures and equipment.

The process of wilderness reclamation along Big Creek, and especially at Cabin Creek, finds multiple perspectives and parties at a crossroad of opinions and values. At the time of reclamation in 1975, most of the structures at Cabin Creek were only around 30 years old, and weren’t old enough to be categorized as historically significant. To burn and remove these structures was consistent with Wilderness Act regulations and intents, and purist wilderness philosophy.

Others think of the historical and cultural significance these original cabins could have had, had they been kept in the area. Only two buildings from the original Wallace homestead on Cabin Creek were kept and restored: one was dismantled and transferred to University of Idaho’s Taylor Wilderness Research Station, and the other is seen in this photograph here. Restoration efforts of this cabin have retained its original structure, and the cabin still has the “Flying W” brand in the log to the left of the door, a reference to the Merl and Jean Wallace ranch property.

Location: Cabin Creek Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, ID

Latitude & Longitude: 45.1393, -114.9306