After years of community effort, Big Sky’s historic Michener cabin is preserved
By Carli Johnson SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR
After nearly three decades of preservation efforts, Big Sky’s historic Michener cabin has arrived at its new home at the Historic Crail Ranch. The move, completed on June 19, marks the culmination of years of work by community members, Big Sky Community Organization and local historians.
The cabin, originally built in 1913 by the Michener family, was once part of a dude ranch near the current Conoco gas station at the corner of U.S. Highway 191 and Montana Highway 64 (Lone Mountain Trail). It has since served multiple purposes and stood in multiple locations, each move supported by residents intent on preserving Big Sky’s early homesteading legacy.
“Moving this cabin was a huge community effort,” Madeleine Feher, CEO of BSCO, said in an interview. “Joan Traylor is really the primary community member behind it.”
From homestead to classroom
In 1997, the cabin was scheduled for demolition. Joan Traylor, then a teacher at Ophir Elementary School, stepped in to preserve the structure. She arranged for the cabin to be relocated to the school’s campus, where it could be used as an educational tool.
“I wanted students to feel a sense of what the place was like before they were here,” Traylor told EBS. “There was a gap I wanted to fill.”
She had noticed a lack of students’ knowledge about Big Sky’s history. To support her vision, Traylor developed a “Sense of Place” curriculum that used the cabin to teach students about the history of settlement in the Gallatin Basin and the role of early ranching families like the Micheners.
The movement of the cabin wasn’t without complications. During transport in 1997, the cabin partially collapsed on U.S. 191. Local resident Stacy Ossorio, who lived nearby, brought over timber from her own home construction to help rebuild the damaged structure.
“As they’re moving it from the Michener ranch, it just falls apart. The back just falls off,” Feher recalled. “This was another reason why we wanted to bring professional historical cabin movers.”
And that they did—this time around, BSCO worked with a group called the Historic Crail Ranch Conservators and community stakeholders to plan a careful and safe relocation. Unlike in 1997, this move was managed by professional historic cabin movers with more than 40 years of experience handling fragile structures.
In the nearly three decades after relocating to the Big Sky School District, the cabin’s educational use faded. Traylor, along with other community members and a group called the Historic Crail Ranch Conservators, advocated for its relocation to Crail Ranch. As the only heritage site in the community, they felt it’s a natural fit for the structure.
“It wasn’t until BSCO got on board that it really started happening,” Traylor said. “Madeleine and the whole team have been incredible in getting this done.”
The cabin is now in place at Crail Ranch and will open to the public with a ribbon cutting ceremony on July 27 once interior installations are complete. Inside, the cabin will feature historical artifacts that provide context to the family’s history.
“I think the community is so fortunate that so many people got on board to save one more piece of history,” Traylor said.
New programs at Crail Ranch
In addition to the cabin relocation, BSCO and its partners have launched several new initiatives at Crail Ranch aimed at expanding its educational value and community use.
A new firewise demonstration garden is being installed through a partnership with local nonprofit Grow Wild. The garden will be placed around the Michener cabin and serve as an example of fire-adapted landscaping. It will show how the use of rocks and native plants can help create defensible space for homes susceptible to wildfires.
“When you build it and show people that native plants can be beautiful, easy and waterwise, they adopted it,” said Jen Mohler, executive director of Grow Wild.
Crail Ranch coordinator Holly Studt has also increased activities and tours at the site, also reviving community gatherings such as monthly potlucks and the return of Gallatin Canyon Women’s Club bake sales.
“This is our first year really trying to create more awareness of the ranch,” Studt told EBS. “It’s amazing to me how many people have lived here for 10 or 15 years and never been here before.”
The community gardens on the property have received updates, now featuring above-ground beds to help extend the growing season. There is no charge to rent a bed for the summer, and in exchange, BSCO asks gardeners to help maintain the grounds and look after the bed reserved for the community food bank.
Studt and her fellow Historic Crail Ranch Conservators admire the ranch.
“I think the connection to Big Sky’s history, the families who settled here and understanding how resilient people had to be then to make it here helps give people inspiration to be resilient and make it here today,” Studt said.
The Michener cabin will be open to the public following the ribbon cutting. BSCO plans to add signage and educational materials to continue supporting school visits and historical programming.
For Traylor, seeing the cabin at Crail Ranch marks a new beginning of history and education.
“It has its new home, it has a new future, it has a new life. That’s the way I’m looking at it,” she said.
