Idaho Librarian

On My Mind...

Review

A well documented and very well presented, detailed study of log building in Idaho.  The author is well qualified to make such a well-documented presentation of log building for she surveyed log buildings all over the state, noting types of notching, chinking, roof pitch, and other building techniques.  Surveyed and studied in the context of the West, this eschews the romantic views of a little log cabin in the middle of the forest.

Log building: the term has usually meant a cabin, and most often connotes a temporary building, especially during the movement westward but also from the earliest settlements in America.  The author applies the term Euro-American to log construction, because of various construction techniques or methods and which date from settlement of the country.  As the nation expanded westward, construction techniques were applied according to the country or area of origin on the newcomers.  In this book, the author deals with two major groups of builders.  In north and central Idaho, these were more often northern European; in the southeast, were emigrants from Utah Territory and from further east.  Their purposes were different-- people intended to settle and build communities, to establish homes and farms.  In western and northern Idaho, the lure was gold; some later settled in southwest Idaho after the gold ran out and communities were established, ranching and farming developed.

The author has endeavored to elucidate the role of log building as exemplified in Idaho and the differences in western building from those of the eastern part of the nation.  Our heritage generally treats log building as an icon or symbol of the West. This is seen in so many movies, on TV, and in novels of the West--usually involving log homes, barns, fences, and forts.

The emphasis of this review, however, will be on building, the buildings for homes, farm use, logging camps, forts, communities, as well as such uses as fences.  Styles or modes of building depended largely on the points of origin of the builders and were adapted to building conditions and materials.

In Chapter One, the author studies western log building, dealing with the historical and cultural questions that have been asked about builders' intentions, location, methods of construction.  She explores the context of such building as regarded by scholars who have studied log construction in other sections of the country, and who have considered socioeconomic factors, the influences of previous generations of builders, calling this Euro-American construction.  Different building techniques were applicable, though groups drew on their particular construction heritage.  Separate chapters consider these techniques as applied in the two major areas of the state.

Subsequent chapters deal with construction in situ, characteristics, setting and techniques, with time frames or periods for these two regions, although they overlap.  One factor was the discovery of gold in 1860; the other was the movement of settlers into Cache Valley, also in the 1860's.

The final chapter deals with the log cabin myth in a western context.  All chapters are well served with extensive endnotes and with bibliographical references, the bibliography is extensive and the index well developed.  Illustrations include 70 photographs (most are from the Idaho State Historical Society) plus nine tables and three maps.  One photograph, Figure 6, is of the Bemis ranch and is also shown in Polly's biography: Thousand Pieces of Gold. 

This reviewer found the book to be especially fascinating for my first apartment was in a four-unit apartment building of log construction-- and in Idaho-- in Emmett.  Another major reason was the log house begun from my gift of books on log construction to a family connection.  The result is not a log cabin; it is a house built of logs.

This book is highly recommended for all libraries and for the general reader, who is interested in Idaho history.  Those libraries with special collections on Idaho need to have this title in those collections as well as in the general collection.

This is a well-written and scholarly work, both for historical researchers and for general readers.