1885, Enos Mills. 9 miles south on Colorado 7 (NR)
At age fifteen, Enos Mills ran away from his family's Kansas farm for the Rockies. He built this rectangular, one-story cabin of chinked, notched logs with framed cutouts for the door and windows. Mills supported himself by guiding tourists up Longs Peak and by writing magazine articles and a dozen books on the joys of nature and mountaineering. No one did more to create Rocky Mountain National Park, established in 1915. Even more important, Mills promoted the idea that mountains should be treated as recreational rather than extractive resources. He also extolled rustic architecture, using sticks and poles to make the furnishings in his Long's Peak Inn, which stood across the highway from his cabin before it was destroyed by fire.