Lucky Dog Retreat - A History

Today we went to Lucky Dog Springs with some friends from home, Bryan and Brynne and their three darling children, Spencer, Ivie, and Olivia.

Things were much the same as the last time we were there.

Then tonight in a text Brynne said that Bryan's Aunt Rexa, who they are staying with up here, knew the real name of the place and it was called the Lucky Dog Retreat.  It was run by an older couple 30+ years ago.  They served one dish - whatever the cook decided to make that night is what you got. According to Aunt Rexa, there were only six tables but they had an incredible gourmet menu or selection each night.

I searched online for Lucky Dog Retreat and found quite a detailed report and assessment made for the USDA forest service by the Oliver Conservation Group in March of 2011 found here http://goo.gl/UMGbU4. There it is called Lucky Dog Ranch.  The report is 37 pages with nice black and white photographs from 2011.  The buildings each have names and the purpose, physical description, and then present condition are all nicely described.  It is all very interesting.

Here I quote from the first page, "The Cache-Targhee National Forest acquired the site fourteen years ago in a land exchange with The Nature Conservancy (TNC), at which time the history and significance of the ranch were unknown. TNC owns all of the buildings until October 2011, when they revert back to CTNF. The property deed currently requires TNC to dispose of the buildings, but both TNC and CTNF were reluctant to remove or destroy them until the site had been documented and its significance determined.

"The purpose of this project was to document the site and the buildings, research their history and
past use, and determine the historic significance of the Lucky Dog Ranch. An additional purpose
was to provide information to guide future actions, ranging from preserving and interpreting the
buildings on site to permanently removing them."

So some of the mystery is solved.  But this report still does not answer why the best cabin, originally built by our own Johnny Sack, has been torn down.