The Barton Cabin/West Wall of the Bluff Fort

The Barton Cabin/West Wall of the Bluff Fort. . The Bluff Fort consisted of an arrangement of single-room log cabins with all door and window openings facing the center of the fort. Log fences closed the space between the log cabins. The Barton cabin originally consisted of one room with a dirt floor. The room you are facing is likely the original Barton cabin and a portion of the west wall of the fort. When the San Juan pioneers moved from the fort to their allotted town lots, the Bartons, whose town lot included their original fort cabin property, expanded their home to two rooms by moving and connecting another single-room log cabin. Eventually their home was expanded to include three rooms, an enclosed breezeway, and a framed kitchen in the northeast corner. The kitchen no longer exists., The stone remnants around the opening in the westernmost wall were part of the original fireplace. Fireplaces were the primary means for heating and cooking. Some cabins used a potbellied stove in lieu of a fireplace, but during their first years, this was generally an exception for the San Juan pioneers. Today the restored room has no visible means of heat. However, during the restoration, a chimney pipe for a potbellied stove was found in the roof of the northwest corner of the breezeway. Photo is of a Bluff cabin that no longer exists, USHS Archives., Cottonwood was the only readily available timber in the immediate vicinity of Bluff. Pegs were used throughout the cabin to secure adjoining cottonwood logs which were prone to shrink and twist for many years., Stone , To prevent ground moisture from rotting the base logs, the Bluff cabins were built on foundations of large sandstone rocks. Part of the foundation is visible on the south side of the cabin., Captions , (Photo #1) The Fireplace , (Photo #2) Hand-hewn Pegs