History

Tappan Ranch

River mile ~57.02 — GoRafting / Carrey & Conley: Tappan cabin at Grouse Creek ~57

Mapped at 44.8732, -114.7667.

Tappan Ranch at Grouse Creek (about mile 57) began as Willis Jones’s homestead cabin; Fred and Daisy (Paulsen) Tappan bought it for about $1,200 and ran cattle, hay, and a large garden there into the early 1930s. Loss of grazing permits and the need to school their sons pushed the family out; the cabin later continued in private/vacation use and remains one of the Middle Fork’s best-documented homesteads. Daisy Paulsen Tappan (1908–1984) is widely remembered in regional histories as a packer, horsewoman, and backcountry settler.