| Show E- feet long andfoot wide but all sizes were used The rocks were held together bysort of mortar made of clay and straw later they had mortar made of cement or lime and sand with water This barn is as tall astwo-story house The walls above the rock still in the Scandinavian tradition are made of vertical slabs of milled lumber of different lengths some as long as ten to twelve feet the top plank laid over the plank below Posts of large cedar trees supported the walls and roof The roof was probably covered by sagebrush or straw in the beginning but laterformer resident remembers shingles on the roof An oil painting made fromphotograph taken in 1989 showstin roof withrust spot on the northeast corner The Hallings have made many improvements since purchasing the property and this old barn will beusable structure again Vernon Carlson grandson of John Ruesch remembers many happy hours playing in this barn in the early 1930 He said The west side contained stalls where four cows could be fed and milked North of the stalls was an area where the cows could lie down andlarge window used to clean out the barn About twothirds of the east side was used for hay storage There wasloft above the portion over the stalls for straw and other items of storage There waslarge hay fork mounted near the very top which could be let down throughwindow to unload hay fromwagon remember Uncle Ed Tooth would always haul our hay in He would unhitch one of his horses to operate the hay fork The barn was often filled with hay in the summer to last through the winter It was great fun playing on top of the hay and sliding all the way to the bottom butsuppose mother disliked us kids coming in the house with hay leaves all through our clothes There was alwayslarge rope hanging from the large pole rafter from which we could swing We could swing from the loft all the way across the barn and if there was still hay down low it was fun to drop into it 69 |
