Dunstan School (RCSH#6) & Willow Creek Store

The sixth of a series of caches planned to be hidden at or near the historic rural schoolhouses of Routt County - beginning in West Routt!

This is a pill bottle size cache big enough for small tradeables. Please return to it's hiding spot!

The Willow Creek Wye -- as so many of us know it (RCR 29 & RCR 55) was once a much more bustling place than it is today!

One of the Dunstan schools sat about 600' south of the cache near the house that is currently there. The district was formed from Pagoda District (#15) and the Upper Williams Fork (Beardsley) (#21) in 1915. The school operated in several different buildings. The one that sat at this location was built in about 1926. The school closed in 1951, but reopened for one term in 1959-60. The building was moved and is currently used as a summer home farther down RCR 29.

The Willow Creek Store sat about 300' southwest of the cache near the hayshed that is currently there. The store was originally built by George Howell in 1911 and operated until about 1943 by several proprieters. A post office was operated in the store from 1923 - 1925 and again in 1934. The original store burned down Dec 5, 1934. A new store was opened in June of 1936 and included a filling station. After the store closed in about 1943, the building was used as a residence for many years. The remains of the building burned in 1969.

Willow Creek runs under the road here at the wye and continues into Williams Fork approx 1/2 mile from the cache.