This story is how the Cabin came to be! I hope you like! The Cabin My Dad decided it was time the Whites’ had a hunting cabin. Actually it was my Mom who had grown tired of having to entertain hunters, wanting a cup of coffee and tracking through her house. Well in 1992 the project was begun. This wasn’t going to be the run of the mill, pre-fab kits that lumber yards sell and you finish off. No this place was going to be special, a log cabin, and we would build it ourselves. Dad must have had it visualized but I wasn’t getting the picture. Anyway as soon as the snow melt and the frost was out of the ground, we were back to our woods. We started out by picking out the largest poplar trees standing. We wanted trees tall and straight with girth. I wasn’t convinced that poplars were the best choice for logs to become a dwelling, but Dad assured me that the lumber men he had talked to convinced him that poplar is considered a hardwood. I investigated further by talking to N. Willis Brooks a well known logger, lumberman, and sawmill owner in Muir, Michigan. He flatly told me that yes indeed poplar was considered a hardwood. OK that was settled. Soon we began the task of felling, trimming off limbs, sizing and pulling the logs out of the woods. For this we used Dad’s Ford 5000 farm tractor and logging chains. At last a large pile of logs lay at the edge of the woodlot. It was about mid-summer and now all we had to do was figure out how to get them to the sawmill? We managed to load a few of the smaller ones onto a hay wagon, but the larger ones we could see were going to be a problem. We intended on having the logs cut into 4 X 4’s ten feet long, and a few 2X4 and 2X6’s for rafters, framing etc… Willis’s sawmill was the destination. He had a worker one of the Cooper boys at the time and he arranged with Dad to bring over a loader and a heavy framed low-boy trailer. With that the rest of the logs were loaded up and then the two of them made a slow progression to the mill, Ford tractor and wagon, followed by one ton pickup and low-boy trailer. Willis got the logs finally cut into the pieces we wanted, but told us to let them dry a little. It was now September and we wanted that cabin up by hunting season. November 15. Toward the end of September or early October the logs and lumber were transported back to the farm and down the lane to the spot chosen as their final destination. Dad and I had laid out the 20’ X 20’ square, and Dad set the treated post that would serve as the foundation and upon which the floor frame would rest. Soon the floor had been laid using boards from the army tent we had salvaged from a season or two before and the balance we scavenged for from the now decrepit old chicken coop behind our smaller barn. Now the serious work began. All three of my Uncles and Dad, with some help from me and my brother when we could, began in earnest. Logs were laid out, and there were no power tools, only a chainsaw, a couple of hand saws, long spikes, hammers and sweat. Soon the cabin took shape as course upon course the logs let you witness their rise. Then two large logs were placed, notched over the outer walls, wall to wall to stabilize the structure and keep the walls from coming down with the soon weight of the roof. A beam was constructed that ran in the opposite direction lying on the two log beams. This was to become a part of the roof structure. Soon the rafters were cut and placed and then plywood covered the skeleton. On the 14th we completed the roofing project, put in the small wood stove, a table and set up our cots. WE made it. As we had not had time to chink or fully seal the cracks that first year was rather chilly, especially if the wind was up. We didn’t care we were proud of our place. I can still see my Uncles and Dad, carharts, stocking caps, working on that structure; stopping for coffee from a thermos, and eating cheap grocery store donuts, telling lies, playing jokes, arguing about this or that, and working together. That won’t be repeated again. In 2009 Gary, the youngest of the brothers passed away. Our cabin still stands, and I hope for a long time, because at least for me it has brought many happy times.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 23:40:36 +0000
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