Wurtz Cabin
Polebridge, Flathead County, Montana. NATIONAL FOREST CABIN.
Details
- Where
- 10 Hungry Horse Drive, Polebridge, MT. Directions
- When
- Check-out time is 1200 pm. Check-in time is 2 pm.
- Getting there
- North Fork Road, Two Miles North of Ford.
- Fees
- $65/night.
- Access
- Water is not available; bring your own.
- Walk-in or reserve
- The cabin remains locked; a combination lock code will be contained in your reservation confirmation letter.
- Phone
- 406-387-3800
- Website
- recreation.gov
- Managed by
- USDA Forest Service.
- Established
- 1913.
- Coordinates
- 48.8833333, -114.3916667.
Wurtz Cabin is located 48 miles north of Columbia Falls along the Wild and Scenic North Fork of the Flathead River.
Notable Events
- 1913The Wurtzes left Kalispell with their baby Louise Kathryn, a team of cayuse horses and a covered wagon for the new homestead on the North Fork. npgallery.nps.gov
- 1913In the spring of 1913 Frank Wurtz selected 160 acres on the North Fork to claim; he and Ella's father, Archibald Lewis Hanes, registered their claims in March of that year. npgallery.nps.gov
- 1917Harold Frank Wurtz was born in the two-room cabin, the first birth on the North Fork to a non-Indian family. npgallery.nps.gov
- 1918The Forest Service challenged the Wurtz claim in 1918, charging that not enough land had been cultivated. historicmt.org
- 1918Charges against the claim for insufficient cultivation were drafted in July 1918, and on October 30, 1918, a meeting in Kalispell took up reducing the area to be cultivated. npgallery.nps.gov
- 1919The protest was withdrawn in 1919; a few months later an arson fire consumed the family's newly finished third cabin. historicmt.org
- 1919The Assistant to the Solicitor withdrew the protest against the Wurtz claim, closing the case. npgallery.nps.gov
- 1919Shortly after 1:00 p.m. the family's new cabin mysteriously caught fire; no bones of Marie or Harold were found, and foul play was suspected. npgallery.nps.gov
- 1920The land was officially transferred into the Wurtz name. npgallery.nps.gov
- 1920Frank began work on his final house, the log family home that stands today. npgallery.nps.gov
- 1922Grief was hard to overcome; Frank, Ella, and nine-year-old Louise left the North Fork in 1922. historicmt.org
- 1932Frank and Ella returned by auto with Thelma, Dorothy and Leonard and found their cabin being used for a school. npgallery.nps.gov
- 1940The root cellar was built in the hillside behind the house with logs cut from the bench. npgallery.nps.gov
- 1964Frank completed the log house and improved the property until his failing health forced its sale in 1964. historicmt.org
- 1964After a heart attack, Frank held onto the homestead until it sold to B. James Jokerst and Carol O. Jokerst. npgallery.nps.gov
- 1990On the transfer to the Forest Service in 1990, the Wurtz grandchildren wrote: This land has been good to our family. historicmt.org
- 2003In 2003 planning and restoration work began to add the cabin to the rental program. visitmt.com
People
- Ella Hanes, Frank Wurtz's wife (born February 8, 1893).
- Fairy Marie Wurtz, daughter, lost in the 1919 fire (born October 27, 1915).
- Frank N. Wurtz, homesteader and builder (born February 28,1890).
- Gary L. Haverlandt, Wurtz grandson; prepared the National Register nomination.
- George R. Steppler, Forest Ranger who examined the claim (July 6, 1917).
- Harold Frank Wurtz, son, first non-Indian child born on the North Fork; lost in the 1919 fire (born June 22, 1917).
- Richard G. Lawrence, owner who named the land the Flying W-Z Ranch and sold it to the Forest Service (1974 to 1990).