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Schunk Lodge is a complex of privately owned buildings on the Bighorn National Forest, in northern Wyoming. This complex is distributed over approximately one acre and includes seven buildings. The buildings are all log construction and fit in well with the surroundings. The main cabin appears to have been built under a Forest Service permit which allowed grazing, operation of a dude ranch, and as a stage stop on a mail route. Records indicate that the permit was converted to a recreation residence in 1924. The main cabin was begun in 1910 and the other six buildings were built between 1933 and the early 1940s. The more recent buildings are: an icehouse, a bathhouse, a powerhouse, a bunkhouse, a saddle barn, and an outhouse. Another bunkhouse was removed in 1985 at the request of the Forest Service. All buildings have been maintained to preserve their historic integrity.

The Schunk Lodge is significant at the local level under National Register criteria A and C. The site is eligible under criterion A in the area of conservation due to its association with historic events: management of public lands (permitted uses like ranching, commerce, and recreation residence), development of transportation systems, and association with the regional conservation movement. The Schunk Lodge hosted many politicians, government officials, prominent organizations, and personalities in the regional and national conservation movement of our national forests and water usage. From 1933 and well into the 1960s the lodge was Dr. Will Schunk’s mountain headquarters for conservation and wilderness preservation efforts hosting nationally renowned conservationists and politicians. It was the perfect retreat for family reunions, dignitaries visiting Wyoming, artists, philanthropic organizations, Boy Scouts, and assorted Sheridan College events. Additionally, in its very early years it had a commercial role in the stage and mail route crossing the Big Horn Mountains.

The Schunk Lodge complex is also eligible under criterion C for the log construction of its various buildings. This complex of buildings is representative of the rustic architecture which is typical of the Mountain West. The various building’s construction and uniqueness are well preserved examples representative of mountain home log construction.