The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1911-04-20

eight to ten miles distant from your nearest
neighbor. II you should so choose TO settle,
among a group OF steep up-and-downs, quite re-
moved from a wagon road. a little nearer TO a
trail, and yet a greater and laborious overland
distance from a sawmill, it Is obvious that you
will have TO depend, to a great degree, upon your
own resources and upon your ability to create
with your own hands from those things which
nature has provided in a well-wooded country.
Imagine yourself placed In one of these val
leys or upon one OF these foothills, with no great
er amount Of baggage, tools and provisions than
could be conveyed over a country of this char
Rcter with a yoke OF oxen. Then, to be com
handed, Here is the forest and ell It contains;
go, prepare for yourself your future abode"
This is a story of home making under such
conditions. The progress OF the work is Illus.
trated and in its completion no other than the
raw materials Of the forest entered into the struc-
ture or its furnishings, save a small amount of
hardware and inoidentals forming a portion of the
initial supplies brought in as a settlers outfit.
Two young men, homesteaders, both city bred,
completed the entire work. unassisted.
OF the tools used the double-bitted ak per.
formed the greater portion of the heavy work. It
followed In the wake of the cross-cut saw after
the telling OF the trees, and. from then on was
the chief implement OF construction. With It
every duty of preparing the logs for raising them
into their positions in the building was most ade-
quately performed. First It scored the logs
lengthwise, on two opposite sides, ready for wedg-
ing and splitting into semicircular halves. Then
II followed az the tool for hewing the fiat sur
faces OF the half-logs, which, completed, formed
the smooth inside walls OF the dwelling. After
each log had been raised into position came the
task Of "notching down" which required even
more skill in the use of an ak. Those few of the
native inhabitants OF the forest who are most pro-
hcient in making the dovetailed notches which
are necessary in completing a perfect set Of
interlocking timbers are known as corner men"
At a native house raising the ones chosen for the
work are usually skilled woodsmen residing in
widely separated settlements among the hills.
How well this part of the work was done by two
young men totally unaccustomed. to pioneer life
is better illustrated in the series OF photographs
which shows each successiveo operation OF preparing
the logs and raising the framework Of the structure.
In going on to the flooring, shingling, window
framing, partitioning, finishing and furnishing
you would know how II was all accomplished In
the absence of the products OF a Saw and plan
ing mill or any Of the manufactures so essential
to building construction and home making.
Five very common tools constituted the board.
making outfit. This primitive substitute for a
sawmil' included an ak; two or three steel
wedges and as many, nand made, OF hickory; a
frow, with hickory handle, the blade made Of a
section of iron tire; a mallet and a maui, each
cut from unseasoned hickory timber.
The selection Of perfect board trees" is
guess work to a degree. as ~practiced by the ma
tives. Out Of every four trees chosen by the
woodsman's system Of identifying marks, usually
only one is perfectly adaptable to board making
by the method OF splitting with mallet and frow.
The most reliable way to select the right kind
OF timber is to observe the general trend Of the
crevices In the bark. The course Of these lines
should be nearly perpendicular with the trunk.
Another good method OF Judging a straight
grained trunk is to note the distribution and the
general design of the scaly. turtle-shel patches