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88 THE RURAL VOICE
RURAL HERITAGE
Column No. 13
The Log House
Beginning with this issue, a
series will follow on the architec-
ture of domestic buildings,
primarily in the part of Ontario
served by The Rural Voice.
The settlers coming into Perth,
Huron, Bruce, and Grey Counties
experienced backwoods life in a
log house to the fullest. As they
travelled across Upper Canada to
their new townships, they saw
buildings constructed of brick,
stone, framed timbers, and logs.
Beyond urban centres, log houses
predominated and they no doubt
took note of features to incor-
porate in their own dwellings. A
permanent house would be out of
the question for some years to
come.
The earliest European architec-
ture in Upper Canada was French
in origin. These buildings of log
construction used uprights with
stacks of timbers between. The
United Empire Loyalists brought
with them log technology based on
the various building methods of
northern Europe which had evolv-
ed in the American colonies over a
long period of time.
The forests of Britain had disap-
peared before English settlers came
to North America so they had no
tradition of log houses to bring.
Their most rudimentary houses
were beam frames stuffed with
wattle and daub which could not
stand the rigors of the American
climate. Horizontal log construc-
tion was widely used in Germany
and Scandinavia where forests of
long straight trees grew.
In Europe, such details as the
placement of doors, windows,
fireplaces, and staircases differed
from country to country. The use
of cellars in continental Europe
was common but in Britain they
were disdained. In Upper Canada,
the techniques used in log house
construction depended to some ex-
tent on the origin of the boss in
charge of a house -building bee.
Settlers usually arrived in late
summer at the end of a long
journey and after finding their
backwoods lot had only time to
put up a temporary log building
and make a clearing around it so
that falling trees would not hit it.
These first houses were usually
12 -feet wide and 20 -feet long. A
cedar base -log, if available, was
laid first and the walls went up in a
one -day community effort. When
the walls were finished a doorway
and possibly a small window were
cut out. A big fireplace and
chimney was fitted at one end to
heat and light the interior. Beds
were located at the other end and a
table stood in the centre. Above
was a low warm loft reached by a
ladder where the younger set bed-
ded down. A rough plank floor was
placed inches above the ground.
These shelters were estimated to
last seven years.
r1 sealer's first house
After a few years, the luckiest
settlers were able to put up a splen-
did new house of brick or some
other permanent material. The ma-
jority of settlers, however, faced
with cramped conditions and
meagre income, were forced to use
the cheapest building material
available for their second house,
which was logs.
Before the second log house was
started, the builder -contractor had
to know the projected life expec-
tancy of it for the family. This
determined the amount of finish
needed for the logs, the inclusion
of expansion joints, and the type
of foundation, etc.
A British builder would be more
inclined towards a low stone wall
foundation with access to a
scratch -hole cellar from a trap-
door. He would also choose a flat
site. A German-speaking builder
would include a full cellar of stone
preferably with a direct outside en-
trance on a sloped building site.
Log houses, left uncovered,
could be draughty places. As the
logs dried out, they shrank and
split. The extreme range of
temperatures also caused expan-