Please be careful in the sloped area of this cache, since several seekers have reported slippery conditions due to pine needles and potentially wet rocks.
The Staunton Ranch Rural Historic Landscape was designated in December 2012 under the National Register of Historic Places, and focuses on the area where the Staunton family had direct involvement within Staunton State Park. The Ranch is significant for its overall intact rural landscape, and retains a high degree of integrity regarding layout, feeling, setting, materials and workmanship, consistent with the Rustic Style of the early 1900s. It was also used as a recreation site for summer camping as a medical retreat and family escape from city life. The collapsed sawmill also represents evidence of how the logging industry operated in this area prior to World War II. When visiting the sites, you can imagine what it was like to spend peaceful summers here in the refreshing mountain air and sunshine. You can also imagine children playing in the woods, and home-made music played in the evenings.
The physical geocache contains the GPS coordinates of the following structures, should you choose to explore the human cultural history of this State Park. It is best to approach the location from the north side of Pookah Loop, to avoid the steep slopes from the east and south. Please do not venture past the buck rail fences erected around some of the structures because of their condition.
Staunton Cabin
This cabin was the original homestead cabin for Drs. Archibald and Rachael Staunton, the parents of Frances Staunton who bequeathed the Staunton Ranch to the State of Colorado for a State Park. It was built in 1916 to 1918, and was the summer home for the Staunton Family, who also had a house in Denver. The Stauntons had nicknames for their ranch (Sherwood Forest) and their cabin (Wildwood), as well as for other buildings on the ranch. The cabin’s main floor is about 20’ by 40’, with a large porch and a large stone fireplace. The living room had two pianos at one time, and Frances was trained in music at Univ. of Denver. Her passion was singing in opera performances in the Denver area. There was an indoor kitchen with propane stove, and a privy. Nearby there are terraced gardens that were supplied with water through a ditch from Black Mountain Creek, and where a variety of crops were grown. An attic room was accessible from the front porch. There are future plans for this cabin to be open to the public with displays of how the Ranch was used, but funding has not been approved yet.
Blaine Cabin
Stephen Blaine homesteaded the area about 1906, and built this cabin (Pine Cone) within a few years. The Stauntons acquired it in 1916 from John and Bessie Blaine, and are reported to have made modifications to this cabin prior to the Staunton Cabin being finished. It is approximately 900 square feet, with a main floor and an attic. The first floor has four rooms, with one attic room, reached by an outside staircase. Fallen trees have damaged the cabin structure and roof. It served as a rental cabin for the Brooks family for a number of years.
Richardson Cabin
This large cabin (Mushroom) contains about 1100 square feet, and has two stories. The partial upper story has a large sleeping room, and may have been used to house tuberculosis patients that the Stauntons were treating in the clean air of the mountains. It was rented for many years by the Richardson family from Shreveport, Louisiana as a summer escape from the heat and humidity.
The cabin sits on a concrete foundation, and was constructed between 1922 and 1931. Although it was built originally by a Scotsman who used it as a workshop, it was converted by the Stauntons to a residence. It was used as a Park office for several years after the State acquired the property, because running water and electricity were supplied to the cabin at a later time.
Brola Cabin
This one-room small cabin was originally an extra bedroom for one of the other cabins, and is only 200 square feet inside. It later was named for Jeanne Brola, who was a famous opera singer and friend who coached Frances Staunton during her singing career. The Brolas rented the cabin during some summer periods. Jeanne and her husband spent considerable time in Europe, and were heavily involved in the Opera scene there.
Shower House
This small structure located near Richardson Cabin was constructed in the 1922-1936 period, and was used for bathing for the cabin occupants and probably also for tent campers in the adjacent areas during the summer. It has four doors on the east side, and inside are the remnants of steel pipes on which shower curtains were hung for privacy. The floor is concrete, and there is a porcelain sink in one of the stalls. Water was supplied from a large barrel located about 400 feet uphill through underground pipes. The high concrete foundation wall may have been a later addition, since the water may have led to rotting of the original structure’s lower walls.
Policeman’s Cabin
This small cabin is above where the ranch road crosses Black Mountain Creek, and was used as a residence for a caretaker or policeman who looked after the ranch when the Staunton’s were away. It consists of two rooms, and a total of about 400 square feet, and may have started as two adjacent one-room cabins that were later joined. Its nickname was Left Fork, probably because of its position relative to Black Mountain Creek.
It has an adjacent structure which appears to be an earlier cabin with the roof still visible over the collapsed walls. It is nearer the creek, and may have been damaged by flooding after it was probably built in the 1920s by the Stauntons.
Sawmill Ruins
The sawmill that is now collapsed was built in the 1918 to 1934 time period, but there may have been earlier milling activities at this site as early as the 1880s. Early activity would have involved mule carts delivering logs and taking cut lumber to the nearby settlements. A number of logging roads can be found in the area from several directions. The later mill used a gasoline engine to run the saws via belt drives that are still visible. It is not known how the earlier mill was powered, but it may have used a steam engine fired by a wood boiler. The available records indicate that Dr. Archibald Staunton acquired this land in 1930 from a Mr. Hoffman who had homesteaded it earlier. Dr. Staunton made a contract with a logging company in 1934, for which he would provide the equipment and the company would provide the men and operate the equipment. However, no early photographs of the mill have been found. The operations continued on and off until about 1942, when the war effort changed the market for lumber locally. Interviews with locals indicate that the mill collapsed about 1970. The equipment, including some of the tables used for sawing, and the corrugated metal roofing material are still visible. There are no plans to rebuild the mill structure.
Bunk House
This structure was probably built in the 1930s, and is located just uphill from the sawmill. It has two stories with one room on each level, with a total floor area of about 1000 square feet. It has a log structure on a stone foundation, but asphalt sheeting was added later. An old photograph shows logs on the exterior walls. It was probably used for the logging crew during the summer operations, and later was used by guests of the Frances Staunton until about 1989.
Other Historic Park Structures
Although not part of the Staunton Ranch Rural Historic Landscape, the current State Park also contains several other structures that were acquired during development of the Park prior to its opening. There is no evidence that the Stauntons were directly involved in development or use of these cabins. They include Chase Cabin (for more information, see GC51HK8 Harvey “seen” at Chase Cabin), and Elk Falls Cabin adjacent to Elk Falls Pond, both of which are currently used as staff residences. [Please respect the privacy of the residents.] A barn near Elk Falls Cabin was built in 1931 along with several shed built nearby later. There are also ruins of an old stone building in the meadow near Mason Creek, and a number of collapsed small cabins or foundations in other areas of the Park. None of the standing structures are open to the public at this time.
Hints about the Cabin Route
A park map is available online or at the entrance station. The suggested route to see all the structures, for which the GPS locations are identified in the cache container, is to start up the Davis Ponds trail from the upper trailhead, and turn at the Chase Meadow trail. Then when you pass the Shower House, you can find the Historic Cabins trail, which will take you past several cabins. After you reach the junction with the SR trail, you can take it northwest toward Black Mountain Creek. The Policeman' Cabin can be found in one direction, and the old sawmill and bunkhouse are up the OM trail. Some structures are reached via a maintenance road or trail except as noted. From the last structure, you can return to the parking area via OM and SR trail (about 3 miles) or via MC trail (about 4.5 miles, but very icy in winter).
This cache is located within Staunton State Park, which has one public entrance along S. Elk Creek Road, six miles west of Conifer, about 1.5 miles off U.S. Highway 285. Parking along either side of S. Elk Creek Road and Upper Ranch Road adjacent to the park boundary is prohibited. All vehicles entering the park must have a daily park pass ($10) or a CO state park annual or special pass.
The Park is open year-round, and day use hours at 6:00 am to 10:00 pm. A walk-in campground (up to ¼ mile from parking) is open for public use, and overnight parking is currently permitted only for those staying in the campground. During summer and autumn weekends, the park may reach capacity, and cars are allowed to enter only if a parking space is available. Horse trailers are admitted if space is available for parking trailers in a new, dedicated, unpaved parking area. All Park trails are natural surface, some trails are hiker-only, but other trails are multiuse for bicycles and horses also. Information about the park can be found at Staunton State Park website
All visitors must follow park rules and regulations. These include dogs on leash at all times, clean up after pets, travel on developed trails to the extent feasible, leave no trace, respect areas closed for resource management, and be careful around wildlife (especially mountain lions, coyotes, and black bears). Fires are strictly prohibited, except for camp stoves with an on/off switch in the designated campsites and grilles found in the picnic areas. No motorized vehicles are allowed on trails within the Park. An exception is the special tracked chairs that the Park offers to visitors who cannot access selected trails on their own mobility. Pack your own trash out of the back country, and trash receptacles are located near the parking areas. Also, be prepared for changing weather, bring adequate water and footwear, and trails may be snow-covered or icy in winter.