Lost Horse Guard Station

Lost Horse Guard Station was built in 1938 by request of George Case, Moose Creek District Ranger, to assist the Forest Service’s efforts to administer and manage the high country of the southern Bitterroot Range. Using funds from the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the cabin was constructed by Emil Schwartz, from Wisdom, MT and known for a paying close attention to detail. Its quality of construction is evident through the minimal number of required repairs and restoration over the 80 years since its construction. It is an excellent example of a Region One standard plan log cabin and guard station, with saddle-notched random-length log crowns, a drive through porch, native stone foundation and cedar shingle roof. 

The Lost Horse Road was built in 1936 by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The drainages on the west side of the valley differ from the surrounding landscape. These glacial carved canyons are home to towering peaks, craggy granite cliffs, serene alpine lakes, steep avalanche chutes, flowing creeks and cascading waterfalls. These features create a microclimate in the canyon that sustains a dense mixed coniferous forest that contains ponderosa pine in the lower/drier sites; Douglas-fir, western hemlock and western red cedar along the creek, and lodgepole pine, subalpine fir, Engelmann spruce and whitebark pine in the higher elevations. The Lost Horse Road provides access into the Bitterroot Mountains much further than the typical eastern boundary of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. The Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness can be accessed at Bear Creek Pass and Twin Lakes, which are both within 2 miles of the Lost Horse Guard Station.