Strains of "I'd Rather Be a Cowboy" complete with well-executed yodeling, by Carson Valley musicians All Hat No Cattle, met visitors wending their way up to the Alpine County Museum on Saturday to attend the grand opening. The highly applauded mountain man stew and a hearty vegetable soup were prepared and served by the men while delectable desserts were provided by the women.
The focus of the opening was the new Monte Wolfe permanent exhibit, finely displayed by Gary Coyan Jr. Photographs and personal items were donated by the Monte Wolfe Foundation represented on Saturday by Jim Linford, son of John Linford whose parents, James B. and Veda Linford (author of Monte: Lone Wolf of the Mokelumne) were Monte Wolfe's close friends. After Linford, who is the director of the Monte Wolfe Foundation, had opened the collection, I had the good fortune to meet him and talk about Monte Wolfe and his wilderness cabin, which the Foundation, with many other organizations and individuals, is petitioning to preserve.
Monte Wolfe, originally Archey Edwin Wright, was born in 1886 in North Dakota. In 1902, his family journeyed from Minnesota to California along the Oregon Trail in two wagons, one pulled by oxen, the other by mules. In 1909, he married Goldie Fay Coolidge. The same year he was sentenced to 18 months in Folsom Prison for second degree burglary. After he was released he found it difficult to find work because of his record. He and his wife had four children to support. In 1916 he joined the Army. A year later he and his wife separated because of his absence and lack of money.
Archey retreated to the Sierra and worked as a cowhand and prospector. In 1918, he registered for the World War 1 draft as Monte Wolfe.
In winter 1927, Monte moved to Mokelumne Canyon, Alpine County. He built a log cabin three miles from Highway 4, below Deer Creek. In 1932, after the highway was paved, he built the lower cabin, his wilderness cabin, five miles further downstream, finishing it in 1934. He trapped, hunted and grew a garden. He gave ski lessons and worked as a fishing and hunting guide.
As Veda Linford recounts in "Monte Wolfe: Lone Wolf of the Mokelumne," she and her husband James B. Linford and 11-year old son, John, met Monte in 1932 and spent time with him every summer for the rest of the 1930s. In late spring 1940 the Linfords were told by friends that Monte had not been seen, even though fishing season had started. When they hiked into the cabin, they found the moldering remains of breakfast on the table, half a pot of coffee on the stove and Monte's hat and favorite fishing gear gone.
Perhaps Monte, not fully recovered from a broken leg and suffering from vision problems which affected his balance, drowned in the swollen Mokelumne River. No trace of him has ever been found.
Following Monte's disappearance and presumed death the U.S. Forest Service acknowledged James B. Linford as his partner, giving him and his family the right to use the cabin for the duration of his life.
In 1980, when James B. Linford died, his son John recognized the need for public support to preserve the wilderness cabin. He started the Monte Wolfe Society which held annual dinners for the cabin's cause. In 1988, the Monte Wolfe Foundation was started, answering the need for a solid legal framework.
In 1997, the Monte Wolfe Foundation entered into a preliminary agreement with the forest service to maintain the cabin. On the advice of a forest service archaeologist, the foundation restored the cabin to its 1930s condition to increase the chances of eligibility for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
The cabin satisfied two out of the three possible criteria to be listed: the historic significance of the person who lived there and the quality of the structure. In 2004 or 2005 the forest service submitted the request.
However, the prospects for preserving cabin have been obstructed by confusing court decisions and opposition from wilderness fundamentalists. Last October, forest service employees opposed to the cabin's preservation, destroyed the door and removed the smoke stack, feeling justified in accelerating the cabin's deterioration.
By November, the forest service made an official acknowledgement at a press conference that they had made a mistake.
To help to preserve the wilderness cabin, contact Ramiro Villalvazo at 1000 Forni Road, Placerville, or ramiro.villalvazo@usfs.gov.
Thanks to Wanda Coyan, Jim Linford, and the "Alpine Review" article "The Story of Monte Wolf" by Monte Wolf scholar, Don de Young.
