Soon after its founding in January 1946, the Sterling Section announced plans to build a replacement for the bedraggled Mould Lodge, (Shattuck Lodge). Work began that May. Fifteen volunteers, including Fred Mould, who built the previous shelter, turned up every warm weekend to build a sturdy log cabin in the Beaver Meadow. A horse was used to skid logs to the site and some of the lumber came from nearby Mould Lodge which was dismantled. The new lodge was completed the following year.
According the 1947 Long Trail Guide Book, “The Sterling Section built a fine log camp, called Beaver “Medder” Camp about 1-1/4 miles directly south, and 900 ft. in elevation below Whiteface Shelter.”
Beaver Meadow Lodge lies at the end of the Chilcoot Pass Trail, more than a half-mile from the Long Trail, so few ender-to-enders choose to stay there. However, the lodge’s idyllic setting, surrounded by cascading streams, abundant wildlife, and varied flora, makes it a popular destination for day-hikers, skiers, and snowshoers.
Work outing logs testify to the fondness Sterling Section members feel for the lodge:
Snowshoes were left at the door of the lodge. A fire was quickly started. As soon as the lodge began to warm up, three or four spots in the roof near the chimney began to leak, but soon slowed to almost nothing. However, for a few minutes Dick Spear was kept busy … this is an indication that roof repair is needed. Before departing “the crew” collected dry dead wood from the “ghost forest” surrounding the pond and piled it in the cabin.
Brent Teillon 2/7/71
A Beaver Meadow Lodge History
by Willard K. Sanders
This log cabin, so well-equipped and so beautifully situated, is a gift from those names appearing below, to all who love the out-of-doors.
Conceived in the winter of 1946. work commenced on its erection in May of the same year. The ground was cleared, logs were cut and peeled and skidded into place, cut, and shaped to true fit, and lumber for the floor and roof, together with the roofing paper, chinking material, stove, and furnishings were dragged or carried 2.5 miles by hand from the nearest access road.
During the building cows went un-milked, loved ones were forgotten, fish poles, hitherto in constant use. stood in the closet gathering cobwebs, the family car spent many a Sunday parked in the field at the end of the road, wedding anniversaries went by the board unnoticed, fingernails were pounded, several new cuss-words were coined, false teeth were parked at home over Sunday, and interest in the Beaver Meadow Camp at times overshadowed that of the Green River Dam, another small project current-ly in progress.
Thus have the works of nature and man been blended into these pleasant surroundings; the ageless rocks of Whiteface look down upon this edifice with approval, and Morse and Madonna Mts. shelter it in their bosoms from the tempests of the higher steeps; the first morning rays of the sunshine with luster in the front door while the nearby brooks babble their greetings.
May all who come to this spot appreciate the time and sacrifice which have made it possible, and help keep it in its present excellent condition, that it may continue to be a source of pride and pleasure to all who chance this way.
GB 13th Edition 1947
GB 24th Edition 1996
Sterling Section Outing Logs, 1970-1977
Green Mountain Club, Long Trail System Shelter History, Paul and Joanne Woodward, 1999
