Audio Tour:
This small two-room log building with crude milled fascia was the oldest remaining building in Saratoga, Wyoming before it was moved to the museum. It was built prior to 1890 by John Cluff, a popular saloon keeper in Saratoga at the beginning of the 20th century. It is hard to imagine a family living in such a small, cramped space, but it is a true representation of the difficulties and deprivations of a homesteader’s life on the frontier. Check out the water handpump in the yard and the bathtub that cost $7.50 brand new.
The most notable residents of the cabin included Charley Fait and Lizzie Nichols, who made this cabin their first home. Fait was a firefighter, and Lizzie was the daughter of Horace and Sylvia Nichols; pioneers of the area. Lizzie was the older sister of the famous photographer Lora Webb Nichols, who is prominently displayed and represented throughout the museum.
Another famous resident was Judge W.L. Kuykendall. Kuykendall was the judge who presided over the trial of Jack McCall for the murder of “Wild Bill” Hickok in Deadwood, Dakota Territory in 1876.
The cabin stood empty from the 1930s to the 1970s before the building’s owner, Cotter Ferguson, decided to tear it down. Several Saratoga citizens saved this GEM by convincing Ferguson to donate it to the Grand Encampment Museum instead!