Aspen for Cabin Logs

A plentiful supply of pine and cedar logs provided the early settlers of this country with a cheap and durable material for the construction of their homes and farm buildings. Only the axe and the ingenuity of the pioneer were needed to erect a shelter against the elements of nature. Early in the 19th century, the circular saw came into use resulting in a change in building construction. The pine stands in New England and in the Lake States, considered inexhaustible in the 19th century, were converted to lumber to construct buildings necessary for the rapid development of the country. Log cabin construction continued on a very small scale but was largely confined to the inaccessible parts of the country where a cheap and plentiful supply of good building logs still existed. Today, with lumber and pulpwood prices the highest in the history of the country, aspen is about the only cheap and plentiful building log material in the northern Lake States