Bear Canyon Cabin
is a historical gem...

The origins of it's unique history date back to just before the turn of the last century and to a special woman, Bessie Lawrence, and her family of five. Bessie arrived in the State of Montana as a young girl, just 13 years old, with her family - the Williams.

They homestead in Bear Canyon, in 1896. Bessie recalls a typical event in those days: "Momma and Pappa went to town once a week, cutting through the fields on a trail. They'd meet another wagon in the winter, when the snow was drifted, they'd have to move over to let it pass and one of the wagons would usually upset on a tall drift, throwing the supplies out all over the trail. All the flying objects had to carefully be picked up and the wagon righted before anyone could proceed to town or home again."

Orlando and Bessie Lawrence

She married Orlando Lawrence, another Bear Canyon resident, on December 6, 1899. The newlyweds initially moved out of Bear Canyon into the land near Wilsall but within two years they "tired of the jackrabbits eating all the grain crop," and returned to the canyon. She had five children (a sixth, Dorothy Alice, didn't survive but two days). They lived with Bessie's parents but built a homestead cabin and established a sawmill up the canyon another 1.5 miles, near New World Gulch.

Her husband, Orlando, at 74 years of age, passed away in 1946. Bessie moved with her children into the homestead cabin near New World Gulch (where Bear Canyon Cabin is located). In an article that features an interview with Bessie when she was 90 years old she related that she "milked five cows many mornings, then she would bundle Hazel into the buggy and push her to her mother's home farther up the canyon, leave Hazel with her grandmother and she'd go into the woods and pick huckleberries. Then she'd return home and bake homemade pies and cook dinner for her family and boarders. Bessie remarked "I'd like to live that life over again."

Eventually it was just Bessie and her son, Willie, at the cabin. They built a second cabin together, right next to the original homestead, in the early 50's - which is now the refurbished guest cabin. Bessie outlived Willie by 5 years and reached the impressive age of 91 years old -- dying peacefully in her sleep in 1973. One daughter, Katie, who is now 90 years old, still visits the cabin with her daughters on occasion.

Bessie loved to make quilts, and in her spirit, the log beds in Bear Canyon Cabin are decorated with quilts. There is a collection of quilts for sale as well. The cabin has an array of old photographs and newspaper articles for your enjoyment during your stay at this true Montana historical mountain getaway.

Bessie Alice Lawrence
Born May 5 1882 - Died July 11, 1973

"I saw lots of bears at huckleberry time, but mostly I heard them growling and smelled them up at the spring. In those days if you ran across a deer track you stayed with it, often sitting in the mountains all night until you could track the deer the following day."
Bessie Lawrence

Poem dedicated to Bessie

Mary Sadowski
3462 Bear Canyon Rd.
Bozeman, MT 59715
Phone: (406) 587-4749 OR toll free (866) 252-7706
Email us!