Old Cabin: This is an old cabin I found last Spring in South Eastern Washington state, about 20 miles north of a little town named Touchet, pronounced 2-chee. A friend of mine who is...

SeamusMac Loc: Walla Walla, WA

This is an old cabin I found last Spring in South Eastern Washington state, about 20 miles north of a little town named Touchet, pronounced 2-chee. A friend of mine who is knowledgeable of the local history said it dates from early 1900’s. It sure looks to me to be much older than that. Any guesses? I’d appreciate any. Thanks

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JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

SeamusMac wrote:

This is an old cabin I found last Spring in South Eastern Washington state, about 20 miles north of a little town named Touchet, pronounced 2-chee. A friend of mine who is knowledgeable of the local history said it dates from early 1900’s. It sure looks to me to be much older than that. Any guesses? I’d appreciate any. Thanks

Hard to guess from just a picture. Factors such as type of wood and local environment would play a big role. South Eastern Washington is dryer than Western Washington, so wood would rot slower. But then again, different wood types rot away differently too.

SeamusMac Loc: Walla Walla, WA

Thanks Jim. I really don't know but I think the wood is Cottonwood. Not many Pine Trees in the area.

Bipod

SeamusMac wrote:

This is an old cabin I found last Spring in South Eastern Washington state, about 20 miles north of a little town named Touchet, pronounced 2-chee. A friend of mine who is knowledgeable of the local history said it dates from early 1900’s. It sure looks to me to be much older than that. Any guesses? I’d appreciate any. Thanks

It's a log cabin, and I'll bet those square timbers in the door and window frames
are hand hewn. There really is nothing in the photo that sets an earliest date,
except the general condition. It does suggest that there wasn't a sawmill
nearby at the time it was constructed.

A second wave of homesteading occured during the Great Depression, which makes
dating difficult. Using local materials is sometimes a sign of age and sometimes
just of poverty.

Some other ways to date ruins:
* Hand-forged (square nails) -- dates to when blacksmiths were more common than hardware stores
* Purple glass -- probably dates between the 1880s and 1918.
* Tinned food cans sealed with lead solder -- dates to the 19th century
* Tin cans opened with an opener that pearces the center of the can
then saws around the edge.
* Barbed wire -- if it's not modern, an expert can usually date it to withing a decade
* Old car parts
* Hand-dug well -- Up though the 1930s
* Anything with a date: cons, newspapers (often used to caulk chinks between logs)

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

If the walls could talk.

krl48 Loc: NY, PA now SC

Bipod wrote:

It's a log cabin, and I'll bet those square timber... (show quote)

Bipod, thanks for the useful list of tips.

SeamusMac Loc: Walla Walla, WA

Thanks Bipod. All of those points seem valid. I'll go up this spring and look for those items.

Earnest Botello Loc: Hockley, Texas

Very good capture, Seamus.

DeanS Loc: Capital City area of North Carolina

One thing for sho, gonna take some doin’ to git ‘er liveable agin!

Vince68 Loc: Wappingers Falls, NY

Certainly looks like it has seen better days. It was probably a very nice log cabin back in its day.

Susan yamakawa

Bipod wrote:

It's a log cabin, and I'll bet those square timber... (show quote)

Thanks

Keven Loc: Grandview, WA

Nice pic. I need to get over there some day.

SeamusMac Loc: Walla Walla, WA

Keven, your not too far away.

Bipod

One interesting question is why did they chose this particular site for the cabin?
I wonder if there was/is water near by? Or if it is sheltered by the hills?

It has a flat roof which hasn't caved in, so the area must not get too much snow.

Throw a tarp over the roof, and you'd have a pretty good shelter (except for
inevitable pack rat).

SeamusMac Loc: Walla Walla, WA

Thanks Bipod. The Touchet River is not visible but is on the left side of the photo. You can see the cut it has made if you look above the upper right roof corner of the cabin. So there's plenty of water, and the S. E. corner of Washington State gets a good amount of snow each year. As I type this it's snowing, right now. So I don't know enough about turn of the century (1900) structures. But I can't help thinking the cabin is older than 119 years. As I said, I'll go back in the Spring and look for nails etc.. Thanks