Within seven miles, though last year they did their
best and planted nearly five hundred round the house as avenues to
the drive; but only a few survived the drought of last autumn and
severe cold of winter, the rest are represented by dead sticks. We
tried to see the cattle at Boyd's, but they were away feeding on
the marsh and could only be looked at from a distance, as we
neither of us felt inclined to run the chance of being bogged or
of wetting our feet.
In coming home we called at the tent, and I was surprised to find
how quickly Messrs. H - - and L - - were building their stable,
which is to be large enough to hold two stalls and a room beyond,
which, when they have a house, will make a good loose-box; but for
the time being they intend to live in, either sleeping in the loft
or tent.
To build a house or stable is not very difficult; but with no
carpenter or experienced man to help it wants a certain amount of
ingenuity. You lay out your foundation by putting thick pieces of
oak called "sills" on the ground in the shape of your house. In
town these "sills" are nailed to posts which have been driven
eight feet into the ground; but on the prairie are simply laid on
the flat; on to the sills come the joists, planks 2 x 6 placed on
edge across, two feet apart. Then the uprights, which stand on the
sills two feet apart, form the walls. To these you nail rough
boards on each side, with a layer of tar-paper in between if
building a stable; if a dwelling-house, on the inside you put
against your rough board, laths, and then plaster, on the outside
the tar-paper and siding.
The floor is made by nailing rough boards on the joists, then
tar-paper, and on the top of that tongued and grooved wood fitting
into each other, to make it air-tight.
The roofs, which are almost always pointed on account of the snow,
are composed of rafter 2 x 4, two to three feet apart, with rough
boards across, then tar-paper and shingles; the latter are thin,
flat pieces of wood laid on to overlap each other.
We send you a small sketch of our buildings, which will give you a
better idea of these "frame" houses than any description. They can
be bought ready-made at Chicago, and are sent up with every piece
numbered, so that you have no difficulty in putting them together
again.
Our own house is twenty-four feet square with a lean-to as
kitchen.
