Arizona Oddities

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Your Guides
  • Departments
    • Art
    • Dose of History
    • Culture
    • Natural Surroundings
    • Odd Observations
    • Weather Talk
    • Food & Dining
    • Small Town Scene
    • Recreation
    • Only in Arizona
  • Get the Books
  • Contact Us

logo

Arizona Oddities

  • Home
  • Your Guides
  • Departments
    • Art
    • Dose of History
    • Culture
    • Natural Surroundings
    • Odd Observations
    • Weather Talk
    • Food & Dining
    • Small Town Scene
    • Recreation
    • Only in Arizona
  • Get the Books
  • Contact Us
Dose of HistoryNorthern ArizonaSmall Town Scene
Home›Dose of History›Find a Famous Writer and Explorer’s Historic Mountain Retreat in Greer

Find a Famous Writer and Explorer’s Historic Mountain Retreat in Greer

By Taylor Haynes
July 31, 2020
4423
0
Find a Famous Writer and Explorer's Mountain Retreat in Greer

Schultz’s cabin in Greer was named Apuni Oyis, which means Butterfly Lodge in Blackfoot. 

James Willard Schultz led a fascinating life. He was born in New York in 1859 and found an early appreciation for the great outdoors, often going hiking, camping and hunting. Shultz earned a reputation as a fearless explorer and Glacier National Park guide, as well as a noted historian of the Blackfeet people, a nomadic Indigenous tribe who roamed the northern Great Plains.

Schultz operated a fur trading post in Montana and wrote 37 books throughout his career, mostly about his life alongside Indigenous people. He was eventually given the name Apikuni (Spotted Robe in English) by a Blackfoot chief. Eventually, Schultz found himself in Arizona’s White Mountains in the early 1900s.

In 1914, Schultz became the first non-resident to build a cabin near Greer. He returned to this beloved seasonal retreat, built from local ponderosa pine and Douglas fir, for decades to write and hunt. He eventually brought along his son, Hart Merriam Schultz (also known by his Blackfoot name, Lone Wolf), who was a talented painter. Inspired by the abundant butterflies in the surrounding meadows, Schultz named the cabin Apuni Oyis, which means Butterfly Lodge in Blackfoot.

Today, you can visit the Butterfly Lodge Museum in Greer to see the original structure and learn more about Schultz’s adventures in Arizona, Montana and other parts of the West. The property also includes an expansive event pavilion and a gift shop where you can purchase a Lone Wolf original sketch or a copy of one of Schultz’s novels. The cabin was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

(Visited 521 times, 1 visits today)

Related Posts:

  1. A Two-House Story in Snowflake
  2. Who Are the Babbitts, One of Flagstaff’s Most Famous Families?
  3. A Beer Between the Forked Tree in Flagstaff
  4. Ewing Young: The Southwest’s Premier Mountain Man
  5. Mattie Earp Gravesite, Vandals Spark Preservation of Historic Pinal Cemetery
TagsarizonaButterfly LodgeGreerJames Willard SchultzWhite Mountains

Leave a reply Cancel reply

Arizona Oddities Archive

Most Popular Posts

  • How to Keep Scorpions Away from Your Home
  • How to Keep Javelinas Away from Your Yard
  • What’s With All the Backyard Concrete-Block Fences…
  • Did You Know it’s Against the Law to Grow…
  • Can You Get a Sunburn Under Water?

This Week Past Years

2018

  • Spherical Building in Yucca a Monument to Failed Real Estate Project

2014

  • Sing High Chop Suey House Named by Mistake

2013

  • George Daves and Petra Edmunds: Tragic Tombstone Love Story May Not Be What It Seems

2012

  • Bromo Seltzer Art in Phoenix
  • Sunny Days Mean No Free Food in Yuma

2011

  • Time Stands Still In Florence
  • Arizona's "Hollywood" Trivia: Can You Pass?

2010

  • Roosevelt Dam Key to Valley Population Boom
  • Uncle Jim: The Last of Arizona's Bonafide Gunfighters

2009

  • A Giant Head Guards Route 66
  • Old Arizona's "Ladies of the Night"
  • Recent

  • Popular

  • Comments

  • Find a Famous Writer and Explorer's Mountain Retreat in Greer

    Find a Famous Writer and Explorer’s Historic Mountain Retreat in Greer

    By Taylor Haynes
    July 31, 2020
  • thousands of Mexican free tail bats make Phoenix tunnel their summer home

    Thousands of Mexican Free-Tail Bats Make Phoenix Tunnel Their Summer Home

    By Taylor Haynes
    July 17, 2020
  • How to Keep Scorpions Away from Your Home

    By Andrea Aker
    January 3, 2011
  • Javelina

    How to Keep Javelinas Away from Your Yard

    By Andrea Aker
    November 23, 2011
  • Phil Motta
    on
    August 27, 2021

    Why Does Downtown Phoenix Seem to Have Two Downtowns?

    I know this post ...
  • Carol
    on
    October 17, 2020

    The Tucson Artifacts are the Southwest’s Greatest Hoax

    lol ... these "clues" ...

Follow us

© Copyright 2009 – 2020 Aker Ink, LLC :: Arizona Oddities is published by Aker Ink.