11/3/26 – The start of this off-season’s mild weather has allowed time to get a few more items checked off the outdoor to-do list before the snow falls and we’re forced to transition to inside projects, like refurbishing canoes.

One item of business has been shoring up the back deck of the store. Like any good maintenance project, the need to go a little deeper than originally expected arose. It was found that the siding on one of the walls needed replacing. Once removed, the original exterior wall was revealed (almost like opening up a time capsule). Interesting to once again see the original “pulp sticks” and traces of windows. In Mary Alice’s book Sawbill History and Tales she remarks that construction of the original building (winter of 1957-1958) proceeded from crisis to crisis.

The first crisis was that the 600 pulp sticks that were supposed to make the outside walls were all used by the time the walls were four feet high. It turned out to be a good thing because they were really quite inadequate building materials. Still, the dilemma remained. Now what? We settled on board and batten siding and construction continued. – Mary Alice Hansen

Here’s hoping we didn’t unearth the “crisis” curse! -Jessica