The other cabins we visited while out in the northern section of Kofa National Wildlife Refuge were these two in the pictures. The top one is called Hoodoo Cabin and was actually built from a kit in 1940. It was a line cabin. Line cabins were used by ranchers when they were so far out from home that they couldn't get back before dark. They had this cabin to sleep in and cook in. The left side of the cabin with the rounded roof was a full kitchen. The other side was the sleeping quarters with a wood stove and in the back was a bathroom with a shower. There is no water to this cabin now but it can still be used as a place to stay overnight.
The wooden cabin is Wilbanks cabin and is built where the old Wilbanks homestead originally stood. The Wilbanks family lived out here and raised cattle before the big drought that caused the dust bowl. It affected land as far west as western Arizona. Its hard to believe this area ever supported a large ranch full of cattle but it did. The homestead burnt down killing some family members and the rest of the family moved to "town" after the trajedy. It takes a few hours even now to get out to these cabins and its hard to believe people lived out here and survived.
1 comment:
The Wilbanks cabin was built by my grandfather, Jack Wilbanks. The cabin did, indeed, burn down, but no one was killed. He rebuilt the cabin bigger and better and they lived there a number of years more, until they did finally move closer to civilization so my mom and her sisters could go to school. You can find an excellent history of the Wilbanks family at http://www.in-the-desert.com/wilbanks.html.
Susan Marks
Cartersville, GA
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