Dovetails and Broadaxes: Hands-On Log Cabin Preservation

Dovetails and Broadaxes: Hands-On Log Cabin Preservation Appendix E—Log Building Origins and Styles Plan and Form As they moved westward, European-American settlers successfully adapted log construction techniques to regional materials, climates, and terrains (figures E1 and E2). The floor plan and shape of log buildings constructed in the 1700s and early 1800s sometimes can provide clues to the ethnic origin or route of migration of the original inhabitant or builder. Because the settlers often borrowed and copied techniques used successfully by their neighbors, don’t infer too much about the ethnic origins of a cabin’s builders from the way they constructed the cabin. Figure E2—The builder of this cabin at the mouth of Big Timber Creek Canyon on the Big Timber Ranger District in Montana (Gallatin National Forest, Northern Region) used a stone foundation with massive, battered stone corners and porch piers, and moderate diameter, round, softwood log walls. The cabin has a steep cedar shingled roof and a rock chimney for a wood stove near the center of the building. The entry is on the gable end under a gabled porch. It was sold and removed from the site in the early 1980s. The basic unit of each of these types is the one-room enclo- sure formed by four log walls joined at their corners, called a single pen or crib (figure E3). People sometimes divided the single pen by interior partitions or enlarged them by adding another log pen. The typically mid-Atlantic “continental” Figure E1—The two-story Gladie pioneer cabin, built around 1900, was Appendix E—Log Building Origins and Styles restored as part of the Gladie Visitor Center pioneer homestead interpretive site in Kentucky (Daniel Boone National Forest, Southern Region). The builders constructed it of large diameter, hewn hardwood logs with half- dovetail notching and set it on elevated piers. It has a moderate pitch, hand- split shake roof, two full stories, and a stone fireplace on one end. The front and back doors are located under shed-roof porches on the long sides of the building. Historians have identified a number of traditional cabin plans and forms as prototypes. People often repeated these prototypes with simple variations. Settlers across the country built one- and one-and-a-half-story versions of most of these plan types. Figure E3—The original one-and-a-half-story Slate Creek Ranger Station, built in 1909 on a tributary of the Salmon River in central Idaho, is a single pen style cabin. It has a single room on the ground floor that served as an office and kitchen. The inhabitants used space under the rafters, accessed by a steep stairway, for sleeping. It was moved several miles from its original location after a new ranger station site was acquired in the late 1950s. The cabin is now used to interpret the life of early forest rangers of the Nez Perce National Forest in the Northern Region. 259 Dovetails and Broadaxes: Hands-On Log Cabin Preservation plan consisted of a single pen subdivided into three rooms The dogtrot plan (figure E5) had two pens separated by an organized around a central hearth. This plan originated in open passageway (sometimes enclosed later), all covered by central and eastern Europe. Eighteenth-century German a continuous roof. People built variations of dogtrot buildings immigrants probably brought it to Pennsylvania. The interior in many parts of the country, although the style sometimes is partition walls were not constructed of logs. considered typically southern because its covered passageway provided air circulation and shelter from the heat. The saddlebag, or double pen plan (figure E4), was com- posed of two side-by-side log pens that usually shared a cen- The distinctive Rocky Mountain style cabin evolved in the tral chimney. Saddlebag buildings often resulted from adding West around the middle of the 19th century. Although the a second pen onto the chimney end wall of a single pen. builders usually placed the entrance doorway to most early log cabins beneath the eaves, they placed the entrance to Figure E4—Builders constructed the saddlebag style Pole Creek Ranger Figure E5—Builders constructed the two-story, dogtrot style Wolf House Station in 1905 with post corners, posts at the junction of the two pens, and of hand-hewn yellow pine logs in 1829 on Wolf family land as a county small diameter log infill walls. The characteristic central chimney serves courthouse. It is the oldest public structure, and possibly the oldest standing a wood stove, rather than a fireplace. The cabin is located in southeastern building, in Arkansas. It has served many purposes over the years. The Idaho’s Sawtooth National Recreation Area in the Intermountain Region. building, restored from 1999 to 2002, now serves as a museum. It is located Appendix E—Log Building Origins and Styles across the White River from the Southern Region’s Ozark-St. Francis National Forest Sylamore District in the town of Norfork. 260 Dovetails and Broadaxes: Hands-On Log Cabin Preservation Rocky Mountain style cabins in the gable end, probably as story to a single-story hewn-log house (figure E7). They a means of adapting to the greater snowfall in the Rockies. accomplished the addition by removing the roof and gables, A porch created by extending the roof beyond the gable wall constructing a second floor, laying additional courses of logs, usually protected the entrance. Two corner posts (figure E6) and building a new roof, or reassembling the old one. Some- usually supported the porch roof, but sometimes intermediate times, each generation of owners expanded a log building by posts also helped support the roof. adding on new log pens or masonry or wood frame exten- sions. They often added a rear “ell” or infill construction to From the late 18th century, Americans built many substan- link a formerly freestanding outbuilding, such as a kitchen, tial two-story log houses in towns throughout the country. to the main house. Such a layering of alterations is part of the In rural areas, they sometimes built two-story log houses evolution of many log buildings. to replace earlier cabins. Just as often, they added a second Figure E6—The Pretty Prairie Station, built in Montana in 1924 on the Figure E7—This substantial building in Frisco, CO, began as a small log Lewis and Clark National Forest in the Northern Region, is a classic Rocky cabin. Over time, the owners constructed a two-story addition above and Mountain style double pen log cabin. beside the original cabin and added a wing behind it. Appendix E—Log Building Origins and Styles 261 Dovetails and Broadaxes: Hands-On Log Cabin Preservation Foundations Most builders set their log cabins on foundations of some sort. To save time, some builders set their cabins on bare dirt. Cabins set directly on the ground usually had dirt floors and were intended as temporary shelters. Logs rot much more quickly when in contact with soil (figure E8) than when supported above the ground. Figure E9—The log sleepers that support the Clearwater Springs Ranger Station cabin are clearly visible under the log floor joists in this photo. The builders constructed the cabin in 1913 and used it as a summer station in the Blue Mountains (Pomeroy Ranger District, Umatilla National Forest, Pacific Northwest Region). Figure E8—The builders constructed this cabin directly on the ground. The lowest logs of the cabin are rotting because the ground holds moisture against the logs, which enables fungi to invade the wood. Log building foundations varied considerably in quality, material, and configuration, depending on when and where they were built, the climate, the builder’s skill and knowl- edge, and the intended use of the structure. Builders fre- Appendix E—Log Building Origins and Styles quently constructed the earliest log cabins on log pilings or log sleepers set directly on or in the ground (figure E9). If they intended to build a more permanent structure, they fre- Figure E10—The builders constructed the assistant ranger’s house at the quently used stone or brick piers that allowed air to circulate Landmark Ranger Station on rock piers in 1936. The Landmark Ranger Station now is a seasonal-use guard station on the Cascade Ranger District in beneath the sill logs. Piers could be as simple as a large rock central Idaho (Boise National Forest, Intermountain Region). with a relatively flat top and bottom under each corner of the cabin (figure E10), or could consist of several courses of Builders also commonly set log cabins on rock foundation mortared or dry laid stone or brick. In warm, humid climates walls, though the foundations seldom had footings and didn’t where wood decays more quickly, piers tended to be taller usually extend very far under the surface of the soil. Builders than in cooler or dryer climates. In cooler and drier climates, generally didn’t include full cellars in the original construc- builders sometimes constructed mortared or dry laid rock tion of most of the earliest log buildings, but later dug root walls to fill the spaces between the piers and discourage ani- cellars under a portion of some buildings. Concrete founda- mals from crawling under the buildings. tions and basements under log structures didn’t become common until the early 1900s. 262 Dovetails and Broadaxes: Hands-On Log Cabin Preservation Corner Notching and Other Fastening is common. Full dovetail notching (figure E13) is one of the Techniques sturdiest notching techniques, but also is the most time-con- Corner notching is a characteristic feature of log construc- suming to accomplish and requires a high level of craftsman- tion.

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