If ever anyone has discovered a soul sister, it is Mary Sadowski. The only problem is that the two will never meet. Bessie Lawrence, the woman who occupied Sadowski's home nearly a 100 years before her, died in 1973 at the age of 91. In 1998, when Sadowski bought the log cabin situated on the side of a mountain about three miles up Bear Canyon Road, she had no idea what would be uncovered once she explored the history of the property. The more she discovers about the family who lived in what Sadowski has named The Bear Canyon Cabin, the stronger her desire is to preserve what began on the property a century ago.

Sadowski wasn't quite sure what she wanted to do with the two cabins that sat on the 1 1/2 acre plot she purchased. One was a 630-square-foot log home that Lawrence and her husband, Orlando, built in 1904. The other was the second log house that Lawrence and her son, William, built in 1952.

Since the 1952 cabin was more livable - some remodeling had been done by the prior owner - Sadowski moved into it. Within two years, she broke ground behind her home to begin the reassembly of the 1904 cabin on a basement foundation.

It was about six months later that Sadowski decided to convert the cabin she was living in to a guest cabin. That decision marked the beginning of her journey into the life of Bessie Lawrence, a woman she never knew. Her eyes sparkle as she talks about the similarities she discovered between her and Lawrence.

"After the guest cabin started, I researched the history of it," Sadowski said, and she found out that Bessie boarded mill workers in the same cabin that Sadowski was converting to a guest cabin.

More digging into Lawrence's past turned up a favorite pastime - making quilts. Lawrence had made more than a hundred of them. The discovery was somewhat eerie to Sadowski, who already had purchased several old quilts to add to the early 20th-century decor.

The history of the Lawrence property came to life last July, when Lawrence's only living child, 90-year-old Katie, and her daughter, Betty Baker, drove past their family's old homestead and stopped when they saw Sadowski's partner, Tom Skeele, in the yard.

Despite her concern that she may be intruding, Baker stopped and introduced herself. The minute she told Skeele that her mother, Bessie Lawrence's daughter, was in the car, Skeele dashed into the house to get Sadowski.

"It brought back a lot of memories for mom," said Baker, who remembers lots of family outings to her grandma's house. Asked what she thought of the work Sadowski has done, Baker replied, "It's great. She's done a nice job on it."

A year ago Sadowski began the remodeling project. The original structure was kept in tact, and the inside revamping included constructing a wall for a second bedroom, new carpet and adding a washer and dryer for guests. On the outside, Sadowski re-chinked the logs and designed a new front porch to offer a warmer welcome to visitors. She says the cabin offers the "hospitality of a bed and breakfast and the privacy of a vacation home."

The first guests of The Bear Canyon Cabin arrived in May. They and others who stay at the cabin are treated to more than just a cozy night in a secluded mountain cabin with occasional visits from moose, deer and bear. They are given a glimpse at history in the form of a book that Sadowski has compiled, complete with photographs, about The Bear Canyon Cabin, the Lawrences and life in Bear Canyon dating back to the late 1800s. The book sits on a table in the cabin. Framed photographs of the Lawrence family and newspaper clippings about them hang on the walls.

A walk through a connecting doorway in the back of the cabin leads to Sadowski's house, which was reconstructed with the logs from the Lawrence's 1904 cabin. Every piece of the cabin that was salvageable is used in Sadowski's house. Even floor planks from the original house were used as a mantle on the stone fireplace.

At left, the cabins sit in scenic Bear Creek Canyon, walking distance from the Bear Creek trailhead, and feature the intricately detailed door pictured above. On the open-ing page, Mary Sadowski rebuilt this 1904 cabin, adding several logs, new windows and a stone fireplace, among other things. What was once two bedrooms, a kitchen and living room is now a 630-square-foot great room and kitchen on the main floor. Antique win-dows with stained-glass inlays complement the architecture and help make the transi-tion between the cabins.

When Jack Mountain Builders disassembled the homestead building, they used paint, numbers and arrows to make the task of putting them back together easier. Some new logs had to be hand-notched to replace old ones that were rotted.

Sadowski describes the materials used in her house a "nice blend of recycling in moderation."

It's an appealing combination of materials - red oak- plank flooring, antique leaded windows with stained- glass inlays and tumbled marble in the master bathroom - that contribute to the rustic ambiance.

Stonework and antique windows tie the two cabins together.

Although the log walls of the house are the same ones that housed the Lawrences and their five children, the open floor plan is a noticeable change from the 1904 layout, Baker said.

"It seems so much bigger now, all opened up," she said, describing the two bedrooms, kitchen and living room that encompassed her grandparents' 630- square- foot cabin.

Sadowski has used that square footage for a great room and kitchen area. The master bedroom and bathroom are part of an addition that is sided with third- cut logs to match the rest of the exterior.Despite the contrast in age among all the structures - a new bedroom addition, the 1904 rebuilt cabin and the 1952 guest cabin - there is a cohesiveness. Stonework on the lower portion of all the buildings ties them together.

Although there's been some changes to the structure, the memories of sledding, berry picking and playing games at Grandma Lawrence's are vivid in Baker's mind. When she sent her two sisters a brochure about The Bear Canyon Cabin, they all talked about how fun it would be to stay a night in the guest cabin and reminisce. When they do, it shouldn't be hard for them to find it if they keep an eye out for their grandparents' outhouse, which Sadowski moved to the front of the property as a landmark.

Carol Ferrie is a freelance writer who lives in Bozeman. She writes regularly for At Home.