{"nrhp_refnum":"79000282","name":"Soda Springs Cabin","other_names":["Soda Springs Enclosure","John Lembert Homestead"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"SW of Lee Vining","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lee Vining","county":"Tuolumne County","state":"CA","lat":37.878720859000055,"lon":-119.36664025899995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-04-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Exploration/Settlement","Science"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small log cabin and spring enclosure at Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park, Tuolumne County, California, built about 1889 by John Baptiste Lembert over a soda spring on his homestead.","why_significant":"It is the last remaining structure of the homestead of John Baptiste Lembert, the first white settler of the Tuolumne Meadows region. It has local significance in exploration and settlement, and in science through Lembert's entomological collecting and his work as a guide and naturalist.","narrative":"Soda Springs Cabin is a small log structure at Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park, built around 1889 by John Baptiste Lembert directly over a bubbling soda spring. Measuring nine by eleven feet, with no windows and a dirt floor, it was probably a spring house meant to keep grazing stock from fouling the water rather than a dwelling. Today the peeled, weathered walls stand about seven feet high with V-notched corners, and the roof and chinking are gone. Lembert filed a claim to 160 acres in 1885 and received title by patent in 1895, making him the first white settler of the Tuolumne Meadows area. He also guided entomologist Harrison Dyar and collected specimens for federal agencies, the Smithsonian Institution and the University of California; a moth was named for him. The cabin is the last remaining structure linked to him and was listed for its associations with early settlement and science.","period_of_significance":"c. 1885-1889","architect_builder":"John Baptiste Lembert","architectural_style":null,"criteria":["B"],"status_note":"Deteriorated and unaltered: walls are about eight logs high, the roof is gone and the chinking no longer exists. The park management plan proposes no action, leaving it in a state of 'benign neglect'.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.862305-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/79000282.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000282/7c7b532a63-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000282/7c7b532a63-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Gowittylb","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:140.SodaSprings.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Gowittylb</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:140.SodaSprings.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123862291","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soda_Springs_Cabin","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7553192"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/tuolumne-county/soda-springs-cabin-79000282/"}