Shorty Lovelace Historic District, Historic district in Kings Canyon National Park, United States.
The Shorty Lovelace Historic District is a group of trapper's cabins in Kings Canyon National Park, on the Fresno–Tulare county line. Lovelace built his first cabins in 1912 at Crowley Canyon; the structures were typically five by seven feet with dirt floors. Named cabins include Williams (Quartz) Meadow, Sphinx Creek, Crowley Canyon, Granite Pass, Vidette Meadow, Gardiner Creek, Woods Creek, Cloud Canyon and Lower Bubbs Creek.
Trapper Joseph Walter "Shorty" Lovelace built cabins in Kings Canyon between 1910 and 1940, the first at Crowley Canyon in 1912; he was the first non-Native American to live year-round in the upper Kings River Canyon. The district, on the Fresno–Tulare county line, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on 31 January 1978.
The cabins carry the names of the creeks and meadows where Lovelace placed them, such as Sphinx Creek, Vidette Meadow, Woods Creek and Cloud Canyon. Trappers and packers moving through the upper Kings River country used these small shelters as overnight stops, and the district was listed on the National Register on 31 January 1978.
The cabins are spread across remote high-altitude locations, so reaching them requires hiking and a good understanding of mountain trails. Visitors should come prepared for alpine conditions and steep terrain, as snow blocks access during winter months.
Lovelace's first cabins went up in 1912 at Crowley Canyon, and the surviving structures carry individual names such as the Sphinx Creek, Granite Pass, Vidette Meadow and Cloud Canyon cabins. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on 31 January 1978.
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