Fritsche Cabin Trail

Trail access from the top has been blocked by gate across private property. Trail access from the bottom is a few hundred yards east of where the map shows it. Hopefully Wild Rivers Trail Association and CCPLA can work with the landowner to restore access, as this is a very cool and historic trail.

Typically run as a downhill shuttle route, this multi-use trail is open to hikers, bikers, and motos. Use caution when descending and watch for other trail users.

History:
Moritz (Morris) Fritsche was a tall, blonde, and gruff Prussian who lived on the lower Rogue River for possibly over 50 years. He was born in Germany, left an orphan at seven years and took to the sea at Hamburg at an early age. He visited the main seaports of the world and then picked out a homestead under Wild Horse Prairie about 16 miles up the Rogue from Gold Beach and two or three miles south from the river at about 2,000 feet elevation. From there he could see the ocean nearly 20 miles away and many miles of the lower Rogue River. He had a good mountain and water view from his door.

Morris raised a little garden for many years, before the Siskiyou National Forest was placed under administration and he ran a small herd of cattle on Wild Horse Prairie some five or six miles by trail above his house. He built a trail from the river to his cabin and several cattle trails leading from his ranch to the grazing lands. For many years he "held domain" over the surrounding country, claiming it as his own, and greatly resented the enforcement of the payment of a fee for the grazing of his cattle on Wild Horse Prairie after the Forest Service took over.

He threatened to kill "Dick" Helm, an early Agness ranger, who tried to collect the grazing fee. He threatened another Agness rancher when he was allotted part of the Wild Horse range for his cattle that Morris did not even need. Morris also threatened the writer during early timber examinations in that area. He resented the coming of more people and looked on early Forest officers as intruders. In his prime, he was a rough customer. However, Morris was a man who mellowed some on further acquaintance and possessed a world of reminiscences concerning 50 years or more of living in the mountains.

Morris' cattle, without the protection of barns, corrals, and fenced pastures, were beset by predatory animals who took their toll year in and year out. Morris, like all early stockmen in the mountains, carried a rifle whenever he looked after his cattle and gradually became a great hunter of the bears and cougars that molested them. He always had a well-trained mongrel dog or two that aided him in the hunt. He chased many bears from his grazing range down into the bluffs along Rogue River, where either he or his dogs ran the varmints out of the caves, and he shot them. He showed courage as a hunter and had small respect for the fighting ability of either bear or cougar.

One year while pruning an apple tree Morris Fritzsche fell catching by the foot in the crotch of an apple tree. He hung head down for quite a time. He saved himself by swinging back and forth until he could reach a limb and pull himself to an upright position. His leg was badly wrenched causing him considerable suffering.

In February 1922, while he went visiting for a few days, his cabin caught fire and burned to the ground. On his return he found that his gatherings of many years had been destroyed. This was a hard blow to an old man. Morris, however, built another cabin on the old site and carried on for many more years. He never married. He said he could have married a Indian but wanted an white woman instead. He died in 1944 at probably close to 90 years of age. He was a picturesque character and not a bad sort during later years.

Photo - Dick Helm and Morris when Morris was a fire lookout on Wildhorse Mountain, 1930s RRSNF
Henry E. Haefner, early forester

Access Info Restricted Access

Access is restricted by private land currently