Whalen Cabin

Grandma Whalen’s Homestead Cabin

Grandma Whalen, a widow, filed to homestead in 1918 on 160 acres in the Swan Valley. Her husband Roderick, a Northern Pacific Railroad employee, had died that year in Missoula.

Mary Ann Whalen’s homestead included a large natural meadow, which the family later would call “Grandma’s meadow.” Her son-in-law Bill Deegan had filed to homestead in 1912 on nearby land. Deegan proved up in 1919. Grandma Whalen’s land was patented in 1923. She died in 1925.

Bill Deegan helped build Grandma Whalen’s one-room log cabin in 1918 or ’19. It was located on a small rise near the edge of the meadow. The cabin was well situated because Grandma’s meadow flooded each spring, and still does, creating a large shallow, lake used during spring run-off by migrating wildfowl. Grandma Whalen’s cabin sat just high enough to stay dry each year.

Later in summer, Bill Deegan mowed hay in the meadow for the Whalen and Deegan livestock and to sell. They had riding horses and a team to pull wagons and farm equipment. They probably had a milk cow and chickens. Grandma Whalen and the Deegan family lived in Missoula during the winter because Bill Deegan worked for the Northern Pacific Railroad. For this reason, they didn’t raise cattle in the Swan Valley.

Grandma Whalen had faith in Saint Benedict. She had Bill Deegan place St. Benedict medals under the four corners of the cabin. In 1929 her cabin was the only structure to survive a huge wildfire that burned through the area. (SHARON GRESSLE TELLS THIS STORY WELL IN THE RECORDING.)

Family members continued to use the cabin off and on as a place to stay in the valley and as a bunkhouse for outfitting guides. It remained in remarkably good condition despite being moved three times and built nearly 100 years before.

The cabin was moved to the Swan Valley Museum grounds in 2016. It was chinked with sawdust. Most of the chinking remained in place during the move. But a few spots needed new chinking. Several different sawing techniques were used to create various textures, so that right-sized sawdust could be chosen to match the original.