The Washington bee., 1895-09-21
4 MIiLI0NaIREs OLD HOME.
The Cabin Which He Has Set Up on Hi
Lawn.

Lawn.
Visitors at Arbor Villa. the splendid
new residence Of F. NJ. Smith on the
heights above East Oakland. have been
holding up their hands in astonishment
of late at the queer little unpainted cabin
that has come to take up its permanent
abiding place in the Smith grounds.
The cabin is a little one-roomed affair,
eight by fifteen feet, and was the resi-
dence of F. NJ. Smith at Jeels's Marsh,
in Nevada, in 1873. Mr.. Smith is one Of
the very few men who are not ashamed
OF the ladder by which they did ascend"
and he has brought this cabin all the
way from Nevada because he loves it
and is rather proud of his small Begin
ming.
This was the house built by Mr. Smith
after his great discovery Of the borax in
Jeels's Marsh, which gave him the first
impetus on the road which leads to mill
lionairedom. The lumber was brought
from Virginia, New, and the long mule
journey to Jeels's made 1t cost very near
ly 10 cents pound before it reached it's
destination. Consequently the little
house was very nearly priceless, and had
cost considerably above its face value.
Mr.. Smith wanted to be comfortable, and
he was willing to pay a considerable
price for it, although his tastes were
simple
Even to have board house in that re-
mote country was considered a luxury
Log cabins and adobes answered for
most. This cabin had door with real
hinges. window, roof sf shakes and q
tin stovepipe, with small stove at the
lower end OF 1t. The spaces between the
planks were weather boarded. and there
were really few holes larger than a silver
dollar, Mr.. Smith says. One end of the
cabin was occupied by the bunk, which
was nailed firmly to the wall Stumps
answered for seats and completed the
first furnishings of the cabin. Mr. Smith
built most of 1t himself, so that he knows
every board personally.
few years after this house was built
MIR. Smith married and took his wife to
live at the borax fields. Then he built
another house with three rooms, and
the old cabin went to new tenants. The
first thing they did was to build an extern
sive addition
The house, as set up in the grounds Of
Arbor Villa, is without the addition. 1t is
as Mr.. Smith occupied 1t, and the identi-
cal boards have been used in it's recon-
struction. The shingles are new, but the
siding, the door and the window are the
same. The boards look singularly new
and fresh for all their % years of SER
vice in wind and snow on the Nevada
plains When they arrived at the Smith
place the skeptical gardener said:
They've palmed off some other house on
you. Those boards are not 20 years DID,
They do not look their age. They are
almost as white as when they were new,
except that there is gray pallor over
them, which the careless might not no.
tice, but Is like the shadow of dead face
Time has touched them gently, but If
you scratch them with your nail brittle
bits splinter off. 1t is so soaked In salt
petre that 1t will never decay. For %
summers the strong alkaline dust Of the
desert has blown upon it, and the winter
rains have washed it until 1t is perme-
ated to its utmost fibre with the solution.
That is why it has so calamity resisted
decay. 1t remains to be seen IL 1t will
resist as we'll the fogs Of the bay region.
San Francisco Chronicle. ri - =.