The Cabins of the Stillwater
During
the late 1990’s and early 2000’s deadlines to remove cabins in the
Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness advanced. When the area was designated wilderness
in 1978, four cabins existed – The Pippin Cabin (2 miles from the trailhead),
Crippen Cabin (3.5 miles), Dayton Hole Cabin (3.75 miles) and the
Big Park Ranger
Station (14 miles).
In
the fall of 2002, A project was undertaken by a student
group from the Montana State University-Billings, College of Technology,
Drafting and Design Program to document the cabins of the Stillwater Valley.
This project was chosen because of the impending removal of the cabins. The area where the cabins are located is within the Absaroka-Beartooth National Wilderness Area of the Custer National Forest. The area was granted wilderness status in 1978. At the time of designation, the Pippin, Crippen and Dayton Hole cabins existed as public land leases within the forest. A period of time was designated for termination of the leases and the Pippin and Crippen cabins had been granted two ten-year extensions with the removal of contents and the removal of the cabins required within three year period beginning in 2001.
Students John Kocab, Robert Lambert, and Andy Verhasselt comprised the Stillwater Cabins group and completed the work for the project, with assistance from instructor Tim Urbaniak.
At
the time of the project, only the Pippin and Crippen cabins remained. The Big
Park Ranger Station burned during the Yellowstone Park fires of 1988 that
consumed 1.2 million acres of the greater Yellowstone ecosystem. During that
period, the fire advanced from the south until finally terminating at Flood
Creek on the west side of the valley and above Sioux Charley Lake on the east.
The
Dayton Hole Cabin barely avoided being consumed at that time, but was removed in
the winter of 2000-2001, however enough documentation was available to
accurately reconstruct the cabin.
The
main priorities of the student group were to obtain measurements, document
detailed notes, and obtain digital images of the Crippen And Pippin cabins.
Since the Dayton Hole cabin had been removed, site photos would be
obtained for before-and-after comparison. All
of this data would eventually be utilized to create three-dimensional data
models of the cabins. It was also
decided to use Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data to create a model of the
valley and to generally position the cabins into their Global Positioning System
(GPS) locations.
The
history of the cabins dates back to the late 1920’s and the early 1930’s.
The Billings Motorcycle Club built the cabin known as the Pippin Cabin in
the late 1920’s. The club owned
the cabin until lease regulations were changed not allowing organizations or
clubs to own cabins, so the lease was put in Barney Pippin’s name. This cabin is about two miles into the wilderness area.
Mr.
Crippen and others built what would become to known as the Crippen Cabin in
1930. This cabin is approximately
three and half miles into the wilderness area.
The Dayton Hole Cabin was built in the same time period and was built by a local rancher. This cabin is about three and three-quarters miles into the wilderness area.
The
Crippen and Pippin Cabins have been for the most part been used by the
respective families, while the Dayton Hole Cabin was generally known for its use
by hikers.
We
began the project with a trip up to the Stillwater Valley for a first-hand look
at the cabins. We went up on
September 20th, 2002 for a day and a half trip.
The
first cabin is the Pippin Cabin, where we arrived and began collecting data.
Field sketches were taken of the cabin along with many digital images.
Reconnaissance of the area also revealed that that a small water-powered
turbine generator provided electrical power to the cabin.
We then proceeded onto the Crippen Cabin.
This Cabin is located near Sioux Charley Lake, which is basically a wide
spot in the river. Here we stopped
and grabbed some lunch before we started our documentation of the site. This cabin also had some surrounding structures that appeared
to be a root cellar and a cooling house located on a nearby creek.
After this cabin was done we went down and took a look around the lake,
before proceeding on to the spot where the Dayton Hole Cabin is located.
This cabin had been burned out the winter before; the ashes were still
there which showed us the basic dimensions, and the shape of the cabin. Architecturally, this cabin was the least complex of the
three. The location of this cabin
is very beautiful, positioned on a rise at a sweeping bend in the river.
After we finished looking at the Dayton Hole site we headed back to The
Crippen Cabin where we spent the night. The
next morning we spent some time exploring the area before we headed back down
the trail stopping at the Pippin Cabin to take a GPS read that we had forgotten
the day before.
When
we returned to the lab, work continued on the project.
The data that was collected was organized and the photos were viewed.
The photos and notes were used in the construction of the cabins.
All of the cabins were modeled in 3D using AutoCAD 2002 (.dwg vector
files) where the basic components of the structure were put together.
Once the structures were completed they were brought into 3D Studio Max
4.2 (.max) where materials were mapped on to each specific piece. The materials
were taken from the material files in 3D Studio Max and some were created using
the photos that were taken of the cabins. Individual
pieces of land were created replicating each piece of land that the cabins sat
upon. This was done using AutoCAD
Land Development 2000 (.dwg). A
Digital Elevation Model was located on the Internet showing the Stillwater
Valley and was cropped using the Global Mapper software.
After that it was exported in to AutoCAD where it was saved and exported
again into 3D Studio Max. Once in the 3D Studio Max software, we overlaid the
Digital Elevation Model with a topographic map of the area and an aerial photo.
Once this was completed we created a fly through of the valley and placed
the created land and the cabins on the Digital Elevation Model with the
topographic overlay. An individual
fly around was done for each cabin as well using the 3D Studio Max software (.avi).
The final product includes a fly through of the valley and movies of each
individual cabin linked as you fly towards its approximate location in the
valley. The Adobe Premiere software was used for multimedia editing.
Challenges
that were encountered during the project included; additional construction
detail photos of each cabin would have been helpful, the inability to get inside
of the Pippin Cabin to see exactly how the roof was put together led to
construction assumptions, and positioning the satellite image on the Digital
Elevation Model properly was a challenge. Projects
of this type also create huge processing demands on current computer hardware.
To
bring the project to completion we are creating a HTML-based multimedia disc,
representing the data we have collected and created.
This includes three-dimensional models, maps, sketches, photos and movie
clips. A poster of the “Cabins of
the Stillwater” has also been created. A
printed summary as well as some photos, and 8 1/2 x 11 diagrams will be included
as part of the final project.
The
data collected will be recorded to compact disk with copies distributed to the
Montana State University-Billings, Center for the Northern Plains, The Custer
National Forest, and a copy will be made available to anyone with a historic or
personal interest in the cabins.
In summary, this collection of data represents the most comprehensive digital collection of data regarding the (now removed) cabins of the Stillwater River Wilderness.
References:
Billings Gazette. (2002).
MSU-B will help remove Crippen wilderness cabin.
Retrieved September 6, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2002/05/25/
The Billings Outpost.
(2002) Cabin dispute heats up. Retrieved
November 18, 2002 from the World Wide Web:
http://www.billingsnews.com/story?storyid=1612&issue=59
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