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Johnny Sack's Cabin (Tap to Read)

12/4/2021

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John Parsons sent me a link to a cool 3D tour of Johnny Sack’s cabin in Island Park. I decided to write a little about the cabin and share the link with you.
 
The cabin, built by the hands of Johnny Sack, isn’t the typical ramshackle residence you might expect from an Idaho loner. It’s a piece of art.
 
Sack and his brother Andy, arrived in Island Park by train in June 1909, during a blizzard, according to the Fremont County website. The brothers mostly worked cattle in the area for years before Johnny started building cabins and furniture for a living. He’d had some training working for the Studebaker Wagon Corporation, which morphed into the Studebaker car company.
 
In 1929, Johnny Sack leased a site at Big Springs for $4.15 a year from the Forest Service and began building his own cabin. It took about three years to complete. The main part of the log bungalow is about 20 x 27 feet. In the 1972 National Register of Historic Places application for the cabin, it states “It is considered to be the work of a master craftsman.”
 
You can read more about the exquisite little cabin and its builder on the website and take a virtual tour of the interior. Take special note of the unique pieces of furniture also carved and assembled by Sack.

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1972 photo of the Johnny Sack cabin from its National Register of Historic Places application.
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    Author, Speaker

    Rick Just has been writing about Idaho history since 1989 when he wrote and recorded scripts for the Idaho Centennial Commission’s daily radio program, Idaho Snapshots. One of his Idaho books explores the history of Idaho's state parks: Images of America, Idaho State Parks. Rick also writes a regular column for Boise Weekly.

    Rick does public presentations on Idaho's state park history and the history of the Morrisite war for the Idaho Humanities Council's Speakers Bureau.idahohumanities.org/programs/inquiring-idaho/
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    Check out Rick's history of Idaho State Parks.

    The audio link below is to Rick's Story Story Night set called "Someplace Not Firth"

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