Stafford Cabin

Stafford Cabin is an 1880 homestead log home on the Silver Spur Meadow Trail in Bonita Canyon. I'd make it part of the walk through the Faraway Ranch Historic District and meadow, not a separate drive-up stop. The trail is 1.2 miles and usually takes 45–90 minutes, with starting points at the visitor center, campground, or Faraway Ranch picnic area. The cabin is about 450 yards from the Faraway Ranch house.

The path is easy and fairly level, but it dips into washes and isn't suitable for standard wheelchairs. Wash crossings can be hazardous during winter snowmelt and summer monsoons. Leashed dogs are allowed. Interior access isn't confirmed, so plan on seeing the cabin from outside. The Faraway Ranch parking area has a restroom and water-bottle refill point; those aren't at the cabin.

Ja Hu Stafford filed a homestead claim in October 1880 and built the first room before winter: about 14 by 14 feet, made of unpeeled logs with a dirt floor. The family later added a second room. The building now has two log rooms, a stone fireplace and chimney, a porch, and later additions. It sits on flat ground that once held the Staffords' orchard.

The Staffords planted an orchard southwest of the cabin and a large vegetable garden near today's meadow. A warm spring supposedly watered the garden until it stopped flowing after the 1887 earthquake, according to family lore. Ja Hu sold produce to Buffalo Soldiers in Bonita Canyon and to Fort Bowie. The family lived in the cabin until 1918, when the Erickson daughters bought the homestead as an expansion of Faraway Ranch.

The Civilian Conservation Corps had a camp here from 1934 to 1940. The fireplaces along the trail are remains of its mess hall, later reused for the Silver Spur Guest Ranch lodge, which operated from 1948 to 1968. A CCC-built bear cage on the north slope housed Cima, an orphaned black bear cub and camp mascot, before he was released in the Coronado National Forest.

For a photo, frame the stone chimney and porch together from a slight angle. That shows the log walls and the cabin's mix of materials better than a flat shot of the front.