 The cabin was built just south of Spread Creek by John Pierce Cunningham, who arrived in Jackson Hole in 1885 and subsisted as a trapper until he established the Bar Flying U Ranch in 1888.The Cunninghams left the valley for Idaho in 1928, when land was being acquired for the future Grand Teton National Park.Cunningham and his wife grew about of hay, later irrigating another to provide feed for 100 cattle and eight horses.