Museums 101: Homestead Cabin and Barn (Photo Diary)

by Ojibwa for History for Kossacks

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Monday, Dec. 11, 2017 Monday, Dec. 11, 2017 at 8:31:26am PST

The Homestead Act of 1862 authorized the sale of public lands to promote settlement in the west. To claim a homestead, American citizens or people eligible to become citizens could record a claim, cultivate the ground, build a house at least 12-by-14-feet and live on the parcel for five years. In return, the United States would grant them title to 160 acres of land.

In 1879, Monrod Fix, a carpenter by trade, built the homestead house now displayed at the Heritage Station Museum in Pendleton, Oregon. According to the Museum display:

“Homestead structures were small, but functional, constructed with locally available materials. Out buildings were added as needed. Logs for this 16-by-20-foot cabin were hauled 20 to 30 miles from the forest near Ukiah to the home site, hand-hewn, and chinked with homemade plaster and horsehair. German and English newspapers pasted underneath the wallpaper provided insulation.”

In the 1890s, a second floor was added to the house and the first floor was divided into two rooms. The loft area was divided by a central wall. The boys slept on one side and the girls on the other—the Fix family had nine children: two girls and seven boys.

photo P1160711_zpshshzdxnh.jpg — Shown above is the root cellar.

According to the Museum display:

“Early settlers used a root cellar to keep food cool. Root cellars were dug into the ground or built up by mounding soil over a wooden frame. Temperatures remained at 50 to 60 degrees year round and were perfect for storing potatoes, apples, carrots and canned goods.”

photo P1160721_zpsrh0vbgfp.jpg — There was no indoor plumbing. The outhouse is shown above.

According to the Museum display:

“In the absence of indoor plumbing, the ‘privy’ provided toilet facilities. Located near—but not too near—the house, the average outhouse measured three to four feet square and seven feet high. A box with a hole served as the toilet. An outhouse might be a ‘one holer’ or ‘two holer’, depending upon seating capacity. The outhouse was set over a trench dug five feet in the ground. When necessary, the outhouse was moved to a new trench.”

The Barn

According to the Museum display:

“Homesteaders often built their barn before their home. Barns are important because they protect the family’s most valuable possession, their animals. A section of the barn is used to store feed, harness, and tools. Hay for winter feed is stored in the loft. Some barns included a blacksmith shop where metal was forged into nails, hinges, harness rings, and other implements. This museum building replicates the floor plan of a common barn and was built on the museum grounds using salvaged boards.”