The Rural Voice, 1986-04, Page 85sion and contraction. All this
movement was hard on the mortar
chinked between Togs. In addition,
the combination of sunlight, rain,
and wind eroded the surface of all
unpainted wood.
If a settler wanted his log house
to last a long time, he repaired the
chinking in a year or two and then
covered it over with ship -lap siding
to protect it from the elements. It
is possible that log houses were
covered for other reasons. There
was a stigma against people who
lived in log houses so a covering
would make it Tess obvious. Log
houses were often alive with bed
bugs at night.
Few surviving log houses in this
area had fireplaces in them. By the
time settlers came into these coun-
ties, cast iron woodstoves were
readily available. If a pioneer
housewife had the choice between
cooking in a fireplace or on a
woodstove, she would choose the
more efficient stove. It had a dry-
ing rack above and a stovepipe to a
chimney upstairs. The house was
free from woodsmoke.
Pioneers living in log houses
were terrified of fire. There was a
rule: the last person to bed put out
the fire in every stove. The first
one up in the morning lit the kit-
chen stove. Log houses heated up
quickly.
Most permanent log houses in
this area were a storey and a half.
Some were two storeys. The front
door was customarily placed in the
centre of the front wall with a rear
door directly behind. There were
two windows at the front and
others only where needed on the
sides and back. In the older
houses, the window sashes con-
tained 20 or 24 panes of glass per
window and the later ones had 12
panes. It was impossible to
transport larger pieces of glass in
wagons on terrible roads.
The stairs were located usually
in the centre of the front wall
leading from the front door or
near a corner so that the stairwell
turned and followed the roofline,
an efficient use of space.
The gables at either end of the
house were not constructed of
Togs. Instead these triangular
shapes consisted of uprights that
were covered with vertical boards
on the outside. The top log of the
end walls served as the support
base for the upper window frames
as well as the brick chimney which
started at that point. One can often
spot log houses, now covered over,
by the placement of the gable win-
dows in that particular position.
Today, it has become fashion-
able to live in a log house. Many
have been dismantled and rebuilt
in distant places. Most of these no
longer have original walls, doors,
or windows and little of their true
pioneer character remains. Wood
preservatives make it possible to
show off the logs and the chinking.
The owners of the remaining
pioneer houses, still on their
historic sites, should be wary of
how they are adapted for addi-
tional modern use. The closer a
building remains to its original
state and construction materials,
the greater its value is to history.
These pioneer houses need protec-
tion. The temptation to "cutify"
an old treasure should be recogniz-
ed and avoided.
Approximately 80 pioneer log
houses, in continuous use since
they were built, exist in Perth,
Huron, Bruce, and Grey Counties.
With care they should last an addi-
tional 200 years. ❑
James Anderson
Stratford -Perth Archives
1986 CROP -ONE STOP
QUALITY SPRING SEED SUPPLIES
• Corn • Small grains • Canola
• Soybeans and White beans
• AGRICULTURAL CHEMICALS
• COMMODITY CONTRACTS
TWIN COUNTY GRAIN ELEVATOR
R.R. 3, Brussels,
Ontario
NOG 1H0
519-356-2292
519-356-2293
Brussels
Rodger Diegel,
Manager
APRIL 1986 89