WEDNESDAY, August 12, 2026|
Photo – 1932 Fossil Cabin – Bigfoot99 file photo
The Fossil Cabin has reached its new home, but the building may never reopen to the public.
Built in 1932 by amateur fossil collector Thomas Boylan, the Fossil Cabin contains more than 5,000 fossils from the nearby Como Bluffs. Boylan built the cabin as a roadside attraction to promote his Lincoln Highway fuel station east of Medicine Bow. It drew visitors for years until Interstate 80 pulled most travelers off the old highway and the structure was effectively abandoned in the early 1990s. After decades of exposure to weather and vandalism, the Fossil Cabin’s latest owners, the Nash family, donated it to the Medicine Bow Museum, which then spent nearly 10 years working to move the cabin to the museum grounds.
On May 13th, the South Dakota‑based motor carrier O’Neil House Moving transported the Fossil Cabin from the Como Bluffs to its permanent home at the Medicine Bow Museum.
During Monday evening’s Medicine Bow Town Council meeting, Carbon County Visitors Council Executive Director Leslie Jefferson and Sales and Tourism Development Manager Megan McComas discussed plans for the Fossil Cabin. The Visitors Council orchestrated the move using tourism dollars and grants.
Sales and Tourism Development Manager Megan McComas said the Visitors Council hired five contractors to handle the relocation. The first, MFC Services of Medicine Bow, framed the interior of the Fossil Cabin to keep it stable during the move. Next, McComas said Rawlins‑based Mass Grading completed dirt and concrete work at both the Como Bluffs and museum sites.
At that point, McComas said O’Neil House Moving was brought in, but the South Dakota‑based carrier determined the Fossil Cabin was not ready for transport. The Visitors Council then hired a welding company to reinforce the structure, but O’Neil was still not satisfied. McComas said additional last‑minute reinforcements were added, and the cabin was finally ready to move.
McComas said that after the Fossil Cabin was relocated to the Medicine Bow Museum and set on the ground, Wild Services of Rawlins returned and secured the structure in place with dirt and concrete. She said the contractor is now preparing to install an ADA‑compliant ramp leading to the building, adding that they will also return to the original Como Bluffs location to remove debris and complete the final site work.
McComas said it was her understanding that the Medicine Bow Museum initially intended to have the Fossil Cabin openly accessible. Councilwoman Kristi Wickizer said the structure’s condition and people’s tendency to touch it could make that a bad idea.
Councilwoman Wickizer said the Visitors Council should have approached the governing body first, as they had already decided that people should be kept away from the cabin. Mayor Justin George said the Council was concerned that the cabin could collapse on visitors.
Mayor George added that people will also try to pick fossils out of the cabin’s walls, as they were doing when it was at Como Bluffs. Councilwoman Kristi Wickizer noted that the town’s liability insurance will not allow visitors inside the cabin.
Visitors Council Tourism Development Manager Megan McComas said she was told by former Medicine Bow Museum director Sharon Biamon that guests would be allowed into the Fossil Cabin and apologized to the Council for the misunderstanding. Mayor Justin George placed responsibility for the confusion on the museum’s board of directors.
Public Works Director Brian Lashley said the Visitors Council should have waited to speak with Medicine Bow officials before installing a sidewalk around the Fossil Cabin. He said that when the proposed fence is built around the structure, the sidewalk will either need to be removed, or the fence placed farther away from the building.
Visitors Council Executive Director Leslie Jefferson said the concrete sidewalk was needed to stabilize the building and cover the steel support beams. Lashley said the walkway didn’t need to extend so far beyond the cabin, a point he said he had made to the Visitors Council previously.
Councilwoman Kristi Wickizer said the sidewalk should have been built outside the proposed fence to let people walk near the building without standing directly against it. Tourism Development Manager Megan McComas reiterated that the concrete was needed to stabilize the cabin.
Following the discussion, Mayor Justin George advised the Carbon County Visitors Council representatives to delay the installation of the ADA‑compliant ramp until he speaks with the Medicine Bow Museum board of directors about the Fossil Cabin’s future use.
