Take a video tour of the restored Morgan-Case HomesteadThe former cook for Lt. Col. George Custer's 7th Cavalry left military life shortly after her boss made a disastrous decision along the Little Bighorn River in 1876. Some time in the 1880s, she settled deep in Rock Creek Canyon and tried to make a go of it at an abandoned fox farm about 25 miles from Philipsburg. She was one of Montana's first and few black residents.
A few years later, she came across Joseph Case, who was deathly ill with typhoid or some similar disease. Annie nursed him back to health, and the two struck a partnership. He'd improve the property in return for a half-interest in her homestead claim.
“They weren't here to make money - just to make their way,” said Gene Thompson, a ranger district recreation technician and project director for the restoration effort. “Case was also called ‘Fisher Jack.' You could say he had a commercial interest in Rock Creek - he sold fish to the people in Philipsburg.”
Over the years, their little shack added north and south wings, a bunkhouse, a chicken coop and a corral. Frank and Sarah Puyear bought the ranch in 1951, running it themselves for a while and then leasing it out. In 1979, the Puyears sold it and the 320 acres on which it sat to the Forest Service.
Thompson said most of the windows were broken and the bottom wall logs were sagging when restoration crews started work. They took sightings off the big rock fireplace to determine how much to raise the structure. Then they supported the corners on piers while pouring a new foundation and replacing the rotten bottom logs.
Inside, volunteers from the Passport In Time program helped redo floors, kitchen cabinets and other furnishings. Unlike the Hogback cabin, the Morgan-Case Homestead has access to the only electric utility line coming up from Philipsburg, so there's baseboard heat, an electric stove and a refrigerator. The baseboard heat is especially helpful in winter, because the building can be kept at 45 degrees regardless of what the weather does. That makes it much easier for the woodstoves inside to bring the building to a comfortable temperature.
And there's plenty of wood. A new structure next to the cabin shelters a stack of firewood 7 feet high and six logs deep. It also houses a new vault toilet (there's no running water in the cabin).
There are two bedrooms, one with a double bed and one with a double and a twin bed. The south wing is a spacious living room, with the big fireplace and lots of period furniture. Thompson said an old photo album of the ranch helped the restoration crew create a 1940s style for the place.
Outside, a stand of huge ponderosa pine trees shelters a campfire ring. Two of them are “peeled trees,” bearing scars 3 feet long and 6 or 8 inches deep, where centuries of passing visitors maintained landmarks. Thompson said an archaeological dig found evidence the homestead had been a regular camping ground back to 8,000 to 10,000 years ago.
Another minute's walk reaches Rock Creek itself and its blue-ribbon fishing. Steep hills on either side are habitat for moose, elk, deer and bighorn sheep, although Thompson said the game appears very alert to the dates of Montana's hunting seasons.
“Other times of the year, this is like a safari park,” he said. “Rock Creek has always been a recreation place for folks in Philipsburg, Anaconda and Butte, and for people long before that. We keep journals here for the people who stay, and the common thread in the entries is ‘Thank you for having done this.' This is recognized as a special place, and people very much appreciate that.”
Reporter Rob Chaney can be reached at 523-5382 or at rchaney@missoulian.com.
Make a reservation
Reservations for the Morgan-Case Homestead and Hogback Homestead in Rock Creek are available by lottery twice a year. However, because of its recent opening, some fall and winter dates are still open for Morgan-Case. Call the Missoula Ranger District at 329-3814 for information on available fall and winter dates, or to make a request for the March lottery for spring and summer dates. Each cabin rents for $65 a night, with a limit of five days per party.
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