Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Memorial Notices of Rev. Gideon H. Pond
Just forty-three years previous to the occurrence above alluded to, on the same beautiful site, was completed a humble edifice, built by the hands of two inexperienced New England boys, just setting out in life work. The foundation stones of that but were removed to make place for the present Pavilion, perchance compose a part of it. The old struc ture was of oak logs, carefully peeled. The peeling was a mistake. Twelve feet by sixteen and eight feet high were the dimensions of the edifice. Straight poles from the tamarack grove west of the lake, formed the timbers of the roof, and the roof itself was of the bark of trees which grew on the bank of what is now called Bassett's Creek, fastened with strin;s of the inner bark of the bass-wood. A partition of small logs divided the house into two rooms, and split logs furnished material for a ?oor. The ceiling was of slabs from the old government saw mill, through the kindness of Major bliss, who was in Command of Fort Snelling. The door was made of boards split from a log with an ax, havmg wooden hinges and fastenings, and was locked by pulling in the latch string. The single window was the gift of the kind-hearted Major lawrence taliaferro, United States Indian agent. The cash cost of the building was one shilling, New York currency, for nails used in and about the door. The formal opening exercises, consisted in read ing a section from the old book by the name of Bible, and prayer to Him who was its acknowledged author. The banquet consisted of mussels from the lake, ?our and water. The ground was selected by the Indian chief of the Lake Calhoun band of Dakotas, man-oh-the-sky, by which he showed good taste. The reason he gave for the selection was, that from that point the loons would be visible on the lake.
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