288 - Log Cabin

The homestead opportunities of the late 1880s brought an influx of Norwegian immigrants to Nelson County. With the promise of their very own land, many families made the taxing trip to North Dakota, many by way of Northwood, Iowa. With all their belongings packed into horse or ox-drawn wagons, they would make the nearly 500-mile journey to stake a claim for land given to them by the federal government. We can only imagine the struggles they faced as they traveled northward. The immigrants were required to build a dwelling and raise crops. Both of these log houses helped the owners satisfy these conditions, and, after five years, the land became theirs.

The smaller of the two cabins was constructed south of McVille, North Dakota in the Sheyenne River Valley by Togar Mikkelson and his wife in 1880. It was the first log home built in Nelson County. While the home was small and modest with only two open rooms and interior walls, it was furnished with everything a growing family would need in this time period. The cabin itself has made several of its own treks, having had several locations besides its original site. Its final move happened in 2001 when the Nelson County Historical Society moved the cabin to its present location.

The larger log home belonged to two other Norwegian immigrants, Ingebrikt Halsteinson Helgeland and his wife Gjertrude who came to the United States in 1857. After living in Wisconsin and Iowa over the course of fourteen years, they yearned for a new place to live. Like many other Norwegian immigrants, they set their sights on North Dakota. They sent their two oldest sons, Anfin and Lars to pick out a homestead claim. They chose a wonderful spot on the hills of the Sheyenne River Valley to build the home their parents deeply desired.

Anfin and Lars began construction on their parents home in 1881, just upstream of the Mikkelson home. The two-story cabin boasted an addition for the master bedroom and a kitchen, complete with heating and cooking stoves and was quite impressive as it overlooked the Sheyenne River. In 1882, when the finishing touches were completed, Ingebrikt and Gjertrude left Iowa to travel north to their new, log home where they would spend the rest of their days. The farm was passed down to Lars when they died in 1908.

Lars’ family sold the farm to Arthur and Wilma Quanbeck in 1926. They raised their three children, Rona, Donna, and Dale in the large log house. Dale was the last child raised in the home. Building materials were scarce during World War II, but shortly after its end, Art began building a new modern home adjacent to the log cabin. The farm still remains in the Quanbeck family, but the log house was moved to Stump Lake Village in 1994. Unfortunately, the kitchen addition did not survive the move.

Besides their unique histories, these log cabins are special for other reasons as well. Both cabins were built out of oak cut in the Sheyenne River Valley. Each log had to be squared by hand with a board ax or adze. Take a close look at every corner where compound angle cuts were used to lock each log into position. This was no easy task in the late 1880s when you consider the tools with which they had to work. The Mikkelsons and Helgelands proved they were up for the tremendous challenge and built these functional and beautiful homes that are still appreciated today.