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MICHIGAN FOOD & BEES BY A. D. P. VAN BUREN
The logs were first laid up by notching in, leaving the rough ends sticking out at the corners, and when raised to the required height, they were laid in by degrees until they came to a peak at the top. This was called "cobbing up, " because it was the style of a child's cob house. Shakes were put down in layers over these logs for a roof, and were held in their places by long poles laid across each layer and fastened by a peg or a withe at each end. This was the primitive style of log house architecture. Then followed the log with square corners, and rafters for laying down the roof. The floors were at first small-sized oak logs split in two, the flat side being hewed smooth, the pieces were laid round side down, and if necessary pinned at each end with oak pins. These floors were used until saw-mills were erected and lumber could be procured. A stick chimney was laid up with a mixture of clay and sand for mortar, at one end of the house. This answered until brick could be obtained. The old brick fire-place, was in use until the stove superseded it.
The log house stood with the side to the road; a door on wooden hinges and with a wooden latch, was in the center, with a window of two six-lighted, seven-by-nine sashes, close by it, and a window of the same size in the opposite side of the house. Not a nail or particle of iron was in use in any part of the building, nor any sawed lumber. The glass was held in the sash by small wooden pegs.
The logs had been cut eighteen by twenty-two feet for a common sized house and hauled to the spot; a neighbor may have assisted in the hauling.
Michigan
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