THE BUILDING OF ROSS REGANS CABIN 

In 1948, 6 young pioneers lead by Ross Regan built their first cabin on Mt Seymour.

Young Pioneers  

Fresh from high school graduation Ross Regan and Bill Johnston decided to build a cabin on Mt. Seymour in the Goldie Lake area. They secured a building permit for $20 after submitting building plans to the local Lands and Forest Department.

Ross and Bill hiked to Seymour where they met Gordy Clark, Bill Dawson and Greg Proftman, who also had a permit to build on Seymour. Ross younger brother Roy Turner, who went on to build his own Cabin in 1950, also joined the group.

None of the group had any experience in building cabins so they decided to join forces, they built one cabin in 1948 and another in 1949. No contracts were needed in those days and the men shook hands on their word, All plans and ideas were shared and as the group started to understand what a major undertaking this was. 

In those days there were no roads to the top to access Seymour, so this venture involved getting all tools, equipment, food, and building materials to the top by packing it onto their backs and hiking to the cabin site.

The hike started the Mushroom parking lot up the Buck Train and over the Burn. It took at least 2 hours to hike the trail that was much harder then today’s popular Grouse Grind.

Each person carried a pack board that weighed between 100-150lbs and some people made the trip 2-3 times a day. All food, clothing and cooking utensils plus lumber, hammers, saws, axes, cables and winches all had to be carried up the trail.

Many others had built cabins on Mt. Seymour and many offered help and advice to the young pioneers. They accepted an invitation by Ken West, Gordy Love & Ken Long to use their existing cabin as a base during construction in the summer months.

At times they stayed at the old Overnight lodge operated my Harold Enquist Snr who was the original pioneer of Seymour.