Butterfly Lodge Museum

"Apuni Oyis"
1914

Greer, Arizona

The storied past of a famous Western writer and his artist son springs to life at Butterfly Lodge Museum. Nestled on a knoll among towering pines near a spring that trickles to the Little Colorado River we're a destination not to be overlooked! Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, you'll enjoy a visit to the picturesque Butterfly Lodge Museum. Inspiring and rustic, you'll find beautiful butterflies still fluttering in the meadow! A step back in time, you'll enjoy the original furnishings, artifacts, and a gift and book area that include the creative works of both father and son.

Butterfly Lodge was built in Greer in 1914. The cabin's name ("Apuni Oyis" in Blackfoot) was inspired by the countless butterflies in the nearby meadows. It was the mountain residence and hunting lodge of James Willard Schultz (1859 - 1947) and his son, Hart Merriam Schultz, known as Lone Wolf (1882-1970).

The lodge housed two colorful careers: the father's fashioned in words, the son's through painted images and sculptures of the West. They were two free spirits who found inspiration in this little cabin in the high mountains of Greer.

We invite you to spend a moment on our web page to learn about these fascinating pioneers and artists. In addition to a short biography on James Willard Schultz and Lone Wolf, you'll find our hours and selected photographs presented for your enjoyment! Then....we invite you to come and visit The Butterfly Lodge Museum in the beautiful hamlet of Greer!

James Willard Schultz

James Willard Schultz first came to Arizona to finish his first (and some think, his best) book: "My Life As An Indian" (1907). For two years (1905 - 1907), he lived and worked on the Pima Indian Reservation and during that time helped in the excavation of Casa Grande.

The hunting lodge of Schultz was built in Greer in 1913 by John Butler. Butler was the husband of "Aunt Molly" of Butler's Lodge fame, and father of Vince, longtime Round Valley rancher-cattleman. James Willard Schultz was the first tourist to build a cabin in this area, traveling 116 miles from the railroad in Holbrook to get here...first by wagon and later by "taxi"! According to Schultz's biographer Warren L. Hanna in "The Life and Times of James Willard Schultz (Apikuni)":

Schultz had looked forward to the time when he could own a mountain retreat where there was an abundance of wildlife, including even grizzlies, and fabulous hunting...The site selected by Schultz was a small open meadow beside the clear headwaters of the Little Colorado River. It was surrounded by a veritable garden of wild flowers, and there were countless butterflies everywhere. Schultz aptly named it "Apuni Oyis," or Butterfly Lodge.

Schultz came to Greer a middle-aged man, just beginning his second career: He wrote some 37 books before he died at 88 in 1947. The books, many published in serial form in both children's and adult magazines, were synonymous with adventure in the American West. The local children could hardly wait for the next installment in Youth's Companion, American Boy, Boy's Life, and Forest & Stream.

White Mountain pioneers remember the wonderful tale about Molly Butler's teenagers by her first marriage: George and Hannah Crosby and their WWI adventure as summer rangers under Apache Forest Supervisor Fred Winn on Mount Thomas (later called Mt. Baldy) in In the Great Apache Forest: The Story of a Lone Boy Scout, published in 1920.

The author, from a wealthy New York family, escaped a "West Point future" by boarding a Missouri River steamboat in St. Louis and some 2,000 miles later arriving at Ft. Benton, Montana Territory, in 1877. He fell in love with the country and the Blackfoot Indians, later serving as a hunting guide, trapper in the Glacier Pk. area, and fighter for Indian rights. By his first marriage to a Blackfoot maiden, Natahki, in 1879, there was the son Hart Merriam Schultz, known as Lone Wolf.

Hart Merriam Schultz
Lone Wolf

Lone Wolf was raised on the Blackfoot Reservation and drifted west for his health after the death of his mother in 1903, as did his father. James Willard began his writing career in earnest; and Lone Wolf found his way to the Grand Canyon (1906), where he worked as a cowboy, wrangler, and guide and painted as he went along. (He was known to brag, with some reason, that he could ride anything with four legs and draw it as well!)

In later years Lone Wolf attended the Art Students League School in Los Angeles and the Chicago Art Institute. During his career he left his characteristic wolf-head signature on some 500 paintings. His bronzes are also in museum collections.

During those early 1900 years, Lone Wolf and his father were re-united in Los Angeles. In 1916, Lone Wolf married Naoma Tracy ( a marriage which lasted 54 years).

The summer of 1914, Hart had spent some time at his father's Arizona mountain cabin. They made some hunting trips together and Schultz Sr. was pleased to learn of Lone Wolf's progress with his painting. By 1920, the senior Schultz built the couple a small guest cottage on the property (since removed) and in the middle 1920's, Lone Wolf and Naoma became sole owners of the entire property, a gift from JWS. Over the mantle of the main cabin hung a painting of the Grand Canyon by Hart, given to Naoma as a wedding present. He also decorated the large fireplace with figures of buffalo he molded.

A prolific painter of Indian and Western scenes ~ Lone Wolf had a winter-spring studio on the Greer property and a tipi studio at St. Mary's Lake at Glacier Park in the summer. (He also spent many winter seasons in Tucson.) His first one-man show in Los Angeles was in 1917, and he later enjoyed great success in shows in New York. His paintings were purchased by the Santa Fe Railroad and were in the collections of Mrs. Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover, among others.

He considered himself an Indian, and on the walls of his Greer lodge, often visited by friends, the famous, and "the curious," were displayed tomahawks, buffalo hides, Indian rugs, beaded outfits of buckskin, war bonnets, and his grandfather's suit with hair hanging from it...scalps "taken" by relatives in Montana.

The Mormon community in the eastern Arizona town of Eagar was very proud of the large 5' x 8' painting of Jacob Hamblin as missionary among the Navajos which he donated to their stake. It is still displayed at the church in Eagar.

The painter died, almost 88, on February 9, 1970 in Tucson and his ashes were buried in his uncle "Last Rider's" grave in Montana.

Father and son ~ colorful careers ~ One fashioned in words, the other through painted images, the West and its wonderful mystery and adventure.

They were two free spirits who found inspiration in the high mountains in Greer in this little cabin.

This cabin has stood its ground over 80 years...hopefully, through widespread support and thoughtful preservation, it can now be a living memorial to the life and times of James Willard Schultz and Lone Wolf.

Butterfly Lodge Museum

Open:
Memorial Day ~ Labor Day
Thursday ~ Sunday & Holidays… 10 am ~ 5 pm
Admission: $2 Adult ~ $1 Youth (12 - 17)
Children Free

Photos & Graphics Courtesy Butterfly Lodge Museum
Photos by Sam P. Applewhite & Kathy Watson

Greer ~ Hiking ~ Fishing ~ Attractions

Web Page Courtesy White Mountains Online
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