Archives West Finding Aid

Conwell F. Robinson was born in Butte, Montana in 1917 to Conwell and Anna Robinson. He had one younger brother, Gerald Robinson, born in 1920. Anna Robinson’s parents, Jeremiah and Margaret McCarthy, homesteaded in Montana sometime before 1910 in Big Prairie, along what later became Glacier National Park’s western edge. Jeremiah died in 1909, and the property was deeded to Margaret McCarthy in 1915. This property remained in the family until, in 1967, it was condemned by the U.S. government for public use after negotiations with Isabelle Rae, Conwell Robinson's aunt and a one-third minority holder of the property (Conwell and Gerald Robinson were the remaining two-thirds property holders). The family received a special use permit that allowed them continued use of the original log cabin for an additional ten years and this permit was extended for another five years in 1979.

In 1984, the U.S. Government refused to extend the permit for a third time and, in 1986, the cabin was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Robinson and his attorneys requested the support of legislators such as Max Baucus, John Melcher, and Conrad Burns for the creation of legislation that would allow Robinson continued access and use of the property. This bill was introduced to the legislature in 1987-88, but it failed to pass. It was submitted again in 1990, co-sponsored by Conrad Burns and Max Baucus, stipulating that Conwell and Gerald Robinson would be allowed continued use of the land (for an administrative fee) until their deaths. It passed in July of 1990. Con Robinson died a month later in August 1990. He was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Great Falls, Montana.