A Hope Valley Cabin

The history behind an almost-gone cabin

      There’s almost nothing left, now, of this old Hope Valley cabin. Its timbers are slowly sinking into the earth. Soon, only memories will remain.

       Here’s how the cabin looked in 2021, roughly one hundred years after that earlier photo was snapped.

       A notation in the Dangberg photo records suggests the building was one of the earliest cabins in Hope Valley. But just how early was it? And who built it? Nobody really knew — until dedicated researcher Debbe Nye filed a request for the original homestead records. 

       Turns out the 160-acre parcel on which the cabin stands was homesteaded in 1881 by George Hanlon, a Sacramento County rancher, who operated a dairy ranch here for many years.

      While Hanlon’s homestead application was dated 1881, his claim actually began about seven earlier. According to Hanlon’s sworn statement, he had purchased a “possessory right” to the property in June 1874, and first settled there on October 1, 1875 — after building his cabin.
 
       “I built a dwelling house, stable and have nearly the whole of the same enclosed with fencing,” he confirmed in his homestead papers. And while the property wasn’t exactly conducive to cultivation “on account of the short seasons,” he had sown “about 4 acres in Barley and about 20 or 25 ares in blue grass for pasturage.” Total value of his improvements: “about $400.”
 
       Hanlon’s choice of location for a dairy ranch made good sense; several other dairy ranchers were operating in Hope Valley about this time, including the Scott, Stevens, and Nye familes. Hope Valley, the Alpine Chronicle humorously put it, was a “hotbed of Republicanism and good butter.”
 
       At least two of the witnesses to Hanlon’s homestead application might have been employees; James Stout and John Keiser both were described as “laborers.” And as for witness William Brammel, he may have been a hunting companion (a “Col. Brammel” would later show up as a fellow hunter in an 1882 article).
           
       Homestead records unfortunately don’t include Hanlon’s cabin’s original dimensions. But it was more spacious than it might appear in photos. Based on measurements of the existing ruins, we’re guessing its footprint was about 15 x 25 feet in size.
 
        Hanlon swore he resided with his family in his cabin “the greater portion of the time each year,” adding that in the fall, “I am compelled to remove with my stock to the Valley, [because] the snow falls to such depth there I cannot remain there during the winter months.”
 
        And while he may or may not have actually spent all summer there each year with his family, they clearly did visit. An October, 1882 clipping from the Sacramento Union reported that the Hanlons “of Routler’s Station,” accompanied by various friends and relatives, had paid visits to Yosemite Valley and Big Trees before stopping in Hope Valley, “where Mr. Hanlon has large dairy interests.” The trip was evidently in part a hunting expedition; the news story noted they had killed a number of deer.
 
       Later articles, too, confirmed that the family kept returning to Hope Valley as a “summer home” where they enjoyed hunting and fishing. An 1899 story in the Sacramento Bee touted Hanlon’s daughter and her female friend as “noted hunters,” and praised grandson George as “an excellent fisherman.”
 
       But who, exactly, was George Hanlon? Ah, we have Debbe Nye’s research to thank for that answer, too! Born about 1823 in Columbus, Ohio, Hanlon had moved with his parents to Iowa in 1853, but soon decided to come west. He crossed the plains with an ox team, settling at first at Clarksville in El Dorado County and running teams to Nevada, then later moved to Mills Station in Sacramento County. There he became a leading stockraiser and dairyman. His home ranch alone spanned 1,100 acres, and he owned at least three other ranches in Sacramento and El Dorado counties.
 
       Hanlon married Mary H. Cable, and they had at least four children together (Georgiana, Sarah, Catherine, and John). But wife Mary passed away in 1883 at their ranch, at just 58 years old.  In addition to his own children, Hanlon also raised his grandson George, after son John’s untimely death. (In yet another tie with Carson Valley history, grandson George would marry Florence Celio in 1914, and lived for a time in Minden, Nevada!)
 
       Following his initial purchase of the 160-acres, Hanlon continued to purchase additional land in Hope Valley, eventually winding up with a total of 466 acres. His daughter Sarah, too, acquired 160 acres there in 1877 (the same parcel on which Dangberg cow camp structures still remain). Somewhat surprisingly for such a large landowner, Hanlon was evidently illiterate; he signed both his homestead application and his will with an “X”!
 
       Hanlon remained active well into old age. Guests at his 73^rd birthday party in 1896 included former homestead witness James Stout and friend R.C. Caples. That same year, however, he experienced a near-tragic accident, falling about ten feet to the ground from a gate he was repairing and hitting his head. At first, the local newspaper suggested Hanlon’s “chances for recovery [were] very slight” – but he did, in fact, recover. He finally passed away four years later, at the age of 77, in July, 1900 after yet another fall – this time, from a wagon. His funeral procession to the cemetery at Rancho Cordova was said to be “over one mile in length.”
 
       At the time of Hanlon’s death, his Hope Valley property was still being operated as a dairy. Included in the probate inventory were 53 calves, 82 cows/heifers, 3,370 pounds of butter, and 300 milk pans. Hanlon left all of his Alpine holdings to his only surviving child, Sarah [Burns/Swickard]. When she died in 1921, her estate was valued at several hundred thousand dollars. In late 1922, her heirs sold the family’s entire Hope Valley holdings  to H.F. Dangberg Land and Livestock Company for an estimated $22,000.

       As you can see by those updated photos from 2025, George Hanlon’s 1875 cabin has nearly vanished, now. But thanks to researcher Debbe Nye, its story (and George’s) will live on!
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Many thanks to researcher Debbe Nye for sharing her outstanding research on the Hanlon cabin site. The property on which the cabin is located is currently owned by Calif. Dept. of Fish & Wildlife, and remains under the watchful eyes of site stewards.

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