It was winter of 1999 and in Park Ridge two small log cabins were up on pallets, ready to be moved or demolished. A member of the historical society wanted to know more about these cabins and asked PCHS volunteers to research them. The cabins were slowly being surrounded by new homes and road development and the current land owner was ready to pour a parking lot once the snow melted. Before they disappeared, asked this society member, what was their story?
This request started a flurry of activity. On one hand, the society knew very little about the Yellowstone Trail, the local Yellowstone Motel and campsite along Highway 10, or the proposed development to the land the cabins were sitting on. But if they acted fast, they might be able to save the structure for Heritage Park and also bring a historic topic back into the public eye. One group of volunteers began researching while another oversaw the negotiations for a single cabin and the movement of that cabin from Park Ridge to Plover. It was a cold winter for saving a building, but the Wisconsin weather hadn’t stopped PCHS before.
Moving the cabin happened before the research was complete. One of the two remaining cabins on the lot was sold to the Portage County Historical Society, but the new land owners wanted to start construction planning and needed the cabin removed from their property before winter was over. A friend of PCHS had a truck capable of towing the cabin to Plover, and had already moved the cabin from its original location. He still had it loaded and just needed PCHS approval to move it to Heritage Park. Since the structure is so small there was no need to coordinate with Public Service workers to have telephone wires moved, or to close streets so the cabin could move without impeding traffic. The move happened in the early hours of January 15th, 2000. The volunteers reported they saw no other cars and that the move was as quiet as they could hope for. The cabin sat at Heritage Park over winter, waiting for the ground to thaw so it could be fully installed. Volunteers with PCHS spoke with the Village of Plover community developer to assure them that, while yes, this is a new building that will need some construction and repair work, PCHS plans to complete the work for this cabin just like it will complete the needed work on the Franklin Calkins house, Hie Corners school, and Bancroft train depot. With the city’s approval the cabin was formally allowed to stay. PCHS had originally planned to build a mock cemetery on that land but volunteers agreed that the cabin was a better fit. As the cabin rested over winter, the research results began to pour in.
The history of the Yellowstone Cabin at Heritage Park begins with the Yellowstone National Park. The park was founded in 1872 and has been a national gem ever since. As westward expansion and development continued, dirt tracks became county roads with individual names. The county roads were miserable; full of mud and often impassable for the new automobiles that families wanted to use. Local residents across the country would band together for a “trail day” where they took it upon themselves to maintain the trails and county roads. The Yellowstone Trail Association (YTA) was a group based near Yellowstone National Park and they advocated for a full transcontinental highway that would go through the northern states. In 1912 the official plan began to form; county roads could be connected to form a transcontinental road that would stretch between Plymouth Rock and Puget Sound. The final route was about 3,700 miles long and needed advocates in every county to convince government regulators to connect the disjointed road systems. There was no federal or state money for these projects, just interested citizens who wanted to see the tourist travel and economic development brought to their communities. Interested cities needed to pay the YTA a small amount to be officially included in the trail advertisements and maps, and each county often had independent motels, cabins, or campsites built along their portion of the path. In many sections of the trail, the path followed railroad tracks since those lines were already the shortest line between two cities.
Originally the Yellowstone Trail went through Plover, but the trail was moved north through Stevens Point due to Plover road construction. In 1930 Ernest Viertel built a hotel on the corner of Fieldcrest Avenue and Highway 10 which would be named the Yellowstone Hotel. Viertel had served meals to travelers on this land previously and knew the need for accommodations; the existing cabins were too few for the number of visitors. Arthur Emmerson was the foreman of the building and made sure the faux log construction could be divided into 30 guest rooms with access to hot and cold showers. This hotel was an addition to Viertel’s campground, which had 15 cottages by 1930, and had 18 cottages by the time he sold the land in 1940. In 1971 the Yellowstone Motel was torn down and the cabins began to be sold off. It was rumored that some of the cabins were sold as hunting lodges. Half the cabins ended up at the Burr Oaks Motel in Plover. Once Burr Oaks began to see a decline in visitors they began selling their cabins as well. It’s likely that there are still Yellowstone cabins tucked around Portage County in rural properties. After 50 years, however, it’s questionable if we would recognize them now. Two cabins had stayed at the original campground location along Highway 10 and were likely used as storage buildings or guest homes for the landowners. When 1999 came, the final cabins were going to leave and the history of our Yellowstone Trail was in danger of being lost. The PCHS member who spotted this opportunity was a savior of history; the last cabin to stay in its historic context is living at Heritage Park.
Once spring arrived in Plover the building was finally able to be remodeled and installed. A crawlspace was dug and insulated so the cabin would be toasty for all seasons of visitors. The back of the cabin originally held a bathroom, but in the remodeled version this bathroom space was used as a small office instead. When the Engford family home was brought to Heritage Park and was remodeled in 2008, the back room of the Yellowstone Cabin was turned into storage space and the Engford home held the office. A small deck was built on the front portion of the cabin and decorative plants added around the deck’s edge. Finally, the signature yellow markers were added to a short gravel path heading towards the entryway. At Heritage Park, these markers are yellow painted rocks. Rocks and fence posts were both popular markers for cabins and waypoints on the Yellowstone Trail. In 2009 the Yellowstone Cabin was a Eagle Scout project for a local boy scout, Ben Walters, who scraped, painted, and gussied up the cabin after the original maintenance work was wearing off. The interior of the cabins, as remembered by a previous employee of the motel, had rag rugs on the floor, a brown metal bed frame, white bedding, white shades and curtains on the windows, a bedside table, and a single padded chair. In recreating this room PCHS added a dresser and radio to the furniture display. It is said that the radio inside was originally from the Yellowstone Hotel, although this has not been verified.
Compared to other buildings at Heritage Park the cabin is small and unassuming. It is dwarfed by the Methodist Church it sits next to, and the Bancroft depot nearby naturally attracts younger visitors. But ignoring the cabin leads visitors to miss critical history of Portage County. Cabins like these were necessary for tourists and travelers. In the 1970s Stevens Point was heralded as the Gateway to Vacationland; you would have to travel through town to go north, and you might fall in love with the area as you passed through. Today the original hostels, hotels, and boarding houses are gone. They were burned, demolished, refurbished, and sold. The Yellowstone Cabin is not just the structure but the story it tells inside. On the walls of the cabin are historic documents and maps of the trail from the time when a road trip was the premier way to travel.
On June 14, 2003, PCHS hosted a Trail Days event at Heritage Park, in Plover. This event celebrated the history of the trail and featured root beer floats, antique cars, presenters, live music, tours of the buildings, and a blacksmithing demonstration. Buttons and flyers advertised the event and were available to attendees. Trail Days was a success and, after years of being forgotten, the Yellowstone Trail was once again remembered by local residents. Today the cabin still stands at Heritage Park and is a part of tours and events held at the site. The cabin may not be used by travelers any more, but the displays inside highlight the historic trail and the work it took to maintain the cabin for visitors today.
Above: A button sold to visitors at Trail Days in 2003.
A 2013 article about the 100th anniversary of the Yellowstone Trail.
A book in the PCHS reference collection that includes local postcards and their history, including the Yellowstone Hotel postcard pictured earlier in this post.