The Matt and Kaisa Hill farmhouse (Pike Township, St. Louis County) in snow. Wayne Gudmundson, Testaments in Wood: Finnish Log Structures at Embarrass, Minnesota (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1991), 61. From the book: “Second-growth aspen trees growing around the Hill house have replaced larger pines that were cleared when the property was homesteaded in the late 1890s. The two-room dwelling, which overlooks the Pike River, measures nineteen feet by twenty-nine feet and is covered with drop siding and boxed corners that conceal tightly fitted hewn logs locked with double notches” (78).

Matthias Gedney, c.1900.

Maud Hart Lovelace, Minnesota author, c.1928.

Maud Hart Lovelace and husband Delos playing chess, c.1945.