At 51, He Built a Log Cabin With Hand Tools. More Than 50 Years Later, It's Still Standing.

In the summer of 1967, a 51-year-old man stood on the shore of Upper Twin Lake in the Alaska wilderness with a set of hand tools and a plan. No road led there, and no power line either. If he wanted a house, he would have to build it himself, one log at a time.

His name was Richard “Dick” Proenneke. The cabin he built is still standing today.

A farm boy, a carpenter, a mechanic

Proenneke was born on May 4, 1916, in Primrose, Iowa. He left high school after two years and worked on farms, driving tractors and fixing equipment. The day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he joined the U.S. Navy, where he served as a carpenter.

After the war he trained as a diesel mechanic, and in 1950 he moved to Alaska. He worked as a heavy equipment operator and repairman at the naval air station in Kodiak, fished for salmon and fixed engines across the state. By the time he reached Twin Lakes, he knew how to make things and how to fix them. That turned out to matter more than any power tool.

Two summers and simple hand tools

According to the National Park Service, Proenneke built his cabin during the summers of 1967 and 1968, using mostly local materials and simple hand tools. He brought steel tool parts with him and made the handles himself from local wood. When a tool broke, he repaired it instead of replacing it.

The cabin is roughly 12 by 16 feet, built from peeled spruce logs that he saddle-notched at the corners so they lock together. The gable roof is made of spruce poles covered with sod and moss. He built a fireplace from beach stones and made a Dutch door with wooden hinges and a wooden lock.

He also filmed the whole build. That footage later became the documentary Alone in the Wilderness (2003), shown on U.S. public television, and his journals became the book One Man’s Wilderness by Sam Keith.

Thirty years without a power outlet

Proenneke lived at Twin Lakes for about 30 years, with no electricity, no running water and no telephone. Next to the cabin he built a food cache on 9-foot poles, wrapped in tin so rodents couldn’t climb up. His friend, bush pilot Babe Alsworth, flew in mail and supplies.

In 1999, at 83, he left the cabin and moved to California to live with his brother. He died in 2003. He left the cabin to the National Park Service, and in 2007 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today it is part of Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, and visitors still come to see it.