Samantha's Cabin

Samantha's Cabin

NPS / Amanda Rich

Quick Facts

Location:

Lees Ferry, AZ

Significance:

Lonely Dell Ranch Tour

Amenities

1 listed

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits

1886

Warren Johnson, who took over operations after the Lees, built this cabin for his second wife Samantha and their young children. Samantha lived here only a year until the large family home was completed next door. When she moved out, farm hands moved in. In 1897, new ferryman James Emett converted the cabin into a school for the children of Lees Ferry. Using salvaged parts from a steamboat abandoned along the shore of the Colorado River, Emett extended walls and improved the floor and roof. Throughout the years, the cabin housed ranch workers and travelers, then reprised its role as a schoolhouse in the 1920s. By 1935, vacationers could rent the cabin at the new Paradise Canyon Ranch.