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November 3, 2017
T he C olumbia P ress
Lindgren House: Ownership in question
Continued from Page 1
formalized.
“There are no official re-
cords. It was a good ol’ boys’
handshake of the day, so
we’re not even sure whom the
rightful owner is other than
the fact that it’s been on our
property so long.”
Erik Lindgren built the ce-
dar house for his family in
1922 along Soapstone Creek,
which is off Highway 53 near
Hamlet and east of Canon
Beach. It was in the wilder-
ness, which was his intent.
n eWspaper history
The Columbia Press, which
had its beginnings in 1922
as an Astoria-based Finnish
newspaper, kept a running
commentary on Lindgren,
his homestead and his fam-
ily via articles in the weekly
newspaper. Much of the in-
formation and photographs
used by the historical society
in its May 1971 booklet “The
Pioneer Finnish Home” came
from Columbia Press articles.
The house has been de-
scribed as “America’s fore-
most example of a hand-hewn
cabin” and a prime example
of “Wild West axmanship.”
Each log in the five-room
house was hewn by hand and,
while there were hundreds of
cabins in the rainforests of
Clatsop and Tillamook coun-
ties, the Lindgren’s was most
likely the grandest and best
built. It was held together by
few nails, just wooden dowels
and it was chopped by hand
to keep the rain out.
t he home ’ s demise
As Erik Lindgren and his
wife, Johanna, aged and as
the Great Depression had
many pioneers struggling,
the Lindgrens moved from
their home and the land
eventually was sold for delin-
quent property taxes to a pa-
per company for timber.
And that led to destruction
of a barn on the property and
damage to the house as camp-
ers, picnickers and squatters
pulled it apart for firewood.
Some built fires inside in at-
tempts to keep warm.
Those who knew the Lind-
grens or their legend and
Finns who believed the house
was worth saving banded to-
gether and spent weekends
dismantling the house, num-
bering each board and mov-
ing them to a county ware-
house in Seaside.
County workers, the Finn-
ish Brotherhood and Finnish
social societies then turned to
rebuilding the house after the
county laid a foundation for
it at Cullaby Lake.
For years, tours were of-
fered by the Finnish Amer-
ican Historical Society each
weekend, from mid-June
through mid-September.
But the past couple of years,
society members have grown
elderly and no one comes to
open the house for tours, the
county’s Meshke said.
A discussion last week about
what to do with the house was
postponed after a member of
the Finlandia Foundation in
Portland expressed interest
in the house.
“It’s something we’re go-
ing to be discussing at our
board meeting this week-
end,” said Jukka Perkioma-
ki, who serves on the Fin-
landia board. “It’s certainly
something we’d want to be
in support of, but since we’re
based in Portland, it may not
be something we’d be able to
commit to.”
Nominations are being
sought for two public ser-
vice awards issued annually
by the Astoria-Warrenton
Chamber of Commerce.
The George Award and the
Richard Ford Distinguished
Service Award are given to
community leaders who work
behind the scenes to make
our community better.
The award winners will be
announced at the chamber’s
annual meeting and banquet
in January.
The awards honor citizens
who give extraordinary service
to the community, local peo-
ple who give time and energy
to make our region better.
Nominations will be accept-
ed until 5 p.m. Dec. 1.
Learn more about nominat-
ing someone online at Old-
Oregon.com or get a nomi-
nation form at the chamber
office or Warrenton City Hall.
Nominations sought for chamber service awards