Wyoming’s famed Fossil Cabin museum has existed, at least in some form, for millions of years, but the last five have been perhaps the longest of its lifespan.
The cabin sits along a remote stretch of Wyoming Highway 30 between Rock River and Medicine Bow. It was supposed to be moved in 2018 to its new home alongside the Medicine Bow Museum. But for a long while now, it’s languished on beams above an excavation pit and has suffered some vandalism.
“We’re working on it, and we hope we’ll get it moved over here this summer,” Medicine Bow Museum Director Sharon Biamon told Cowboy State daily.
Ground Zero For The ‘Dinosaur Rush’
The cabin was the brainchild of Thomas Boylan, who homesteaded the property it sits on in 1908.
The homesite is at the base of Como Bluff, which was ground zero for the 1870s “dinosaur rush,” paleontologist Laura Vietti, director of the University of Wyoming Geology Museum, told Cowboy State Daily.
“That hillside was the source for the first large dinosaur skeleton discovered in America,” she said.
The bluff is a geological formation that exposed ground from the Jurassic Period. It contains incredibly rich deposits of dinosaur bones, most of them from mighty sauropods, Vietti said. Those were the lumbering long-necked dinosaurs, such as diplodocus, which were among the largest land animals to ever live.
There are still many dinosaur fossils left at Como Bluff, although it’s on private property, so digging is by permission only, Vietti said. The site retains its legendary reputation.
“You talk to any paleontologist, and they’ve heard of Como Bluff,” she said.
Can’t Build Your Own Dino? Build A Cabin Instead
With easy access to the ancient treasure trove, Boylan began collecting dinosaur bones with the idea of building an entire skeleton as a roadside attraction, Vietti said.
However, after spending numerous years hoarding nearly 6,000 bones, he realized it was going to be near impossible to sort out all the pieces of a single prehistoric megabeast.
“He had to pivot. He had plenty of bones, but once he realized they weren’t from the same animal, he decided to build a cabin instead,” Vietti said.
The cabin was built in 1932, and Boylan promoted it as an attraction to draw traffic to the gas station on his property, she said.
Donated, But Not Moved (Yet)
The current owners of the property donated the cabin to the Medicine Bow Museum, and plans were to excavate and move it, Biamon said.
The excavation was completed and funding to make it happen was available. But plans to actually move the cabin hit snags, so the project was delayed, Biamon said, without going into further details.
Vandals Strike
The cabin has been vandalized recently, adding to the urgency to get it to its new home, Biamon said.
“They (vandals) broke windows and stole some artifacts from inside the cabin. They’ve also tried to steal some of the dinosaur bones off the sides,” she said. “It needs to be moved. It needs to be preserved.”
Medicine Bow Mayor Lucy Schofield told Cowboy State Daily that the town is eager to welcome the Fossil Cabin, get it settled onto its new spot and restore it to its former glory.
Vietti said she was out at the cabin site last summer, and although it has suffered some damage, it’s largely intact.
“At least the cabin is still standing, and it appears ready to move,” she said. “It really is an important part of Wyoming geologic history and its human history.”
Contact Mark Heinz at Mark@CowboyStateDaily.com.
