Oyen-Person Log Cabin Marker, rural Baltic, SD
N 43° 42.147 W 096° 47.450
14T E 678002 N 4841197
This tiny log cabin has walls that could tell volumes about the many people who lived there in the late 1880’s.
Waymark Code: WMAKD8
Location: South Dakota, United States
Date Posted: 01/24/2011
Views: 8
During the winter of 1880-1881, Iver Oyen made a number of ten-mile round trips between his homestead claim and a stand of timber along the Big Sioux River. After he felled, dressed, and debarked large cottonwood and maple trees, his team of horses dragged the tree trunks to his claim. He then whipsawed them into thick uniform planks for the walls of a log cabin 12 ½ by 14 feet.
Oyen drilled holes through the vertical width of each plank. Branches were straightened to become dowels and were inserted to align the plank walls. He notched plank ends to make double dove-tailed corners, a typical Scandinavian feature.
A year later Oyen traded his claim and cabin to Lars Person. During the Dakota Boom, at times the cabin’s tiny loft and lower level provided sleeping space for as many as 15 persons, including newly arrived Norwegian immigrants and the Person family.
In 1999 at the urging of Art Moe, owner Vince Hanson donated the Oyen-Person log cabin to the Minnehaha County Historical Society. After a six year, $15,000 restoration, it was moved to this site in 2005.
Marker Name: Oyen-Person Log Cabin
Marker Type: Roadside
Marker Text:
Same as above
|
Visit Instructions:
A photo of the 'Marker' or 'Plaque' is required to identify the location, plus a picture of the 'Historic Site'. If you do not post a photo your log will be deleted.