|
 Bearcat's Cabin
Not far from Bearden Cabin, where the family lived until they finished building this second residence in 1941, Bearcat’s Cabin sits in Squaw Creek Valley facing south into breathtaking Cordillera. Ellis “Bearcat” Bearden, the youngest child of Roland and Maude, was the last inhabitant of this property until his near-fatal stroke in 1992. Ellis passed away in 1993, and Cordillera acquired the cabin from his surviving family in 1995.
After a decade of abandonment and deterioration, Bearcat’s Cabin claimed numerous structural problems that translated into big tasks for the CPF: the 60-year-old foundation of the house was crumbling, the unique patchwork tin roof was leaking and layers of rotted insulation and decayed wood piled on throughout the decades was masking the original wooden walls.
To begin the giant undertaking, the CPF clean-up team removed the unsightly insulation, and in doing so discovered a 1940 wall calendar still intact! The cabin’s adjacent back room, the bathroom, was unfortunately water-damaged beyond repair, and hence demolished. But the remaining structure was then lifted by a crane and temporarily moved to allow the CPF to rebuild the dilapidated foundation.
To date, the Foundation has been able to use most of Bearcat’s Cabin’s original building treatments to restore the home. The multicolor tin roof was patched, and the original hand-carved log frame was secured. The property also showcases remnants of an outhouse, a water pump and a well, built and used by the Beardens long ago. Finally, Ellis’ rusty old Dodge truck remains parked nearby, as if ready to drive into town with a bed full of his latest lettuce crop. To restore and preserve these details means revisiting the initial 1940s look and feel of the cabin, which took the Bearden men more than a year to complete. |
