More than a century ago in the Northern Sierras, the legendary mountaineer and intrepid mail carrier, Snowshoe Thompson, used this remote cabin and corral as waystation. After the building was significantly damaged in a blizzard in the 1990s, a nature photographer contacted us, hoping we could rescue the timbers of the crib-style structure before they were washed down the mountainside.

We transported the enormous, hand-hewn Douglas fir timbers to a warehouse in Nevada, and eventually created samples for a Napa Valley estate.

Of extraordinary size, condition, age and color, 30,000 board feet of the 16" x 24" x 30' timbers created magnificent, vaulted ceilings and doorways throughout the Tuscan-style villa, and a massive fireplace mantel.

The completed interiors of the estate were featured in Architectural Digest magazine.