Historic Contexts Study and Phase II Inventory (Downtown Elk River) 2022

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With the relative ease of working with dry wall today, the process of applying three -coat wet plaster is almost a lost art. While it takes some expertise to apply properly, three -coat plaster is an excellent interior finish. It is strong and durable, but can be repaired with relative ease when needed. It can be left natural, or painted, whitewashed, or wallpapered over. It retards fire and reduces noise. Wet plaster was an indispensable product for early construction. Historically, plasterers used lime plaster made from lime, aggregate, fiber, and water. Lime could be purchased or made by grinding and heating limestone or seashells. The aggregate used was sand, and the fiber was generally horse or cattle hair or hog bristle. (Mary Lee MacDonald, "Repairing Historic Flat Plaster: Walls and Ceilings," Preservation Briefs 21, Technical Preservation Services, National Park Service, http://www.cr.nps.gov/hps/tps/briefs/brief2l.htm, accessed April 20, 2005, 1-3.) Illustrations of the process wlih captions, something like this. 1. In applying plaster, the first step is to combine the lime and water. This is called "slaking" or "hydrating" the lime. The process of hydrating creates heat, and the mixture should set until it has cooled down. Next, the lime is combined with sand and animal hair. 2. The first two coats are rough coats. The first coat is often referred to as the "scratch coat." It is laid down in a 3/8-inch thick layer, then scratched with a special steel comb to give it a rough surface, which will improve adhesion. The next coat is called the brown coat. It is also laid down in a 3/8-inch thick layer, but the surface of this coat is not scratched. A different mixture is used for the final coat, with little aggregate and no fiber. It is mixed into a paste before being applied as a smooth 1/8-inch layer. Log Structures "Mr. Sturgis house is constructed of tamarack logs. It resembled, when seen from a distance on the prairie, a two-story framed house an optical illusion common to the prairies of the West. The buildings and fences of this section of the country are composed principally of tamarack poles." The Sturgis farm was on the bank of the Elk River, three and a half miles west of Briggs Lake. (E. Seymoure, Sketches of Minnesota, 1849, quoted in Anderson, 28) Log houses were probably the most common structures built by settlers in Sherburne County between 1850 and 1900. Swedes and Finns introduced log structures into America in 1638. Other ethnic groups spread log construction techniques throughout the frontier as they moved westward. Yankees adopted log construction and modified it for their own purposes. As a result, many New Englanders built log structures as "temporary" structures that they intended to replace once they became established. Many European immigrants, on the other hand, looked at log structures as more permanent structures. When central Minnesota was settled between the 1850s and 1880s, many European immigrants transplanted their ethnic building traditions directly to Sherburne County. As a result, these structures and the techniques the builders used are rare evidence of ancient European traditions. Log construction was particularly popular among Northern Europeans, and the Scandinavian immigrants who came to Sherburne County, for instance, filled the county with log homes. (Bill Morgan and Sherburne County Historical Society Heritage Center Interpretive Plan, April 21, 2005, page 99