July, 19 2 3 
49 
Only log cabins and 
castles are allowed such 
timlling perches as this 
high cliff 
have got to eat and drink, 
and the most important 
point in selecting your site 
is to have it within comfort¬ 
able reach of pure water. 
If there's any doubt about 
the quality of the water, 
have a chemist analyze it. 
Husky as I am, I was 
badly poisoned once on a 
canoe trip by drinking the 
apparently clear water of 
an inland lake. Since then, 
I have the University an¬ 
alyze my drinking water 
whenever possible. During 
the period of doubt—boil 
the water. And in decid¬ 
ing your distance from the 
nearest highway, remember 
that you will have to ship 
in supplies, somehow, if 
your car cannot get 
through. Having been ad¬ 
dicted to the pack-sack 
method on canoe trips, 
this did not bother us— 
but it counts with the aver¬ 
age man. And above all 
things, don’t trust hearsay. 
Go over your land. 
Having decided on the 
general locale, there will 
probably be several build¬ 
ing sites on it. Choose the 
one which will serve you 
best. Usually the site is 
more or less automatically 
determined by the view. 
Our widest windows face 
south because of the blue 
of the lake and the glory 
{Continued on page 108) 
doing things we didn’t 
want to do in order that 
we could do the things we 
wanted to do when we 
were too old to want to do 
them. You grasp the main 
idea of this. I trust. 
This is about as far as 
you have got with your 
dream home in the woods, 
I gather from your letter, 
and the best I can do for 
you in the way of 
“pointers” is to follow out 
the history of our “Trail- 
syde Cabin”, the nucleus 
of the little grouj) at Pals’ 
Cove on the North Shore 
of Superior. 
First catch your site. No¬ 
body but yourself and the 
“Thou” who is to sit be¬ 
side you in the wilderness 
can judge of what you long 
for. Least of all a real 
estate dealer. Take plenty 
of time to decide upon just 
the sort of a place you 
want—and how far you 
dare go from the center of 
gravity, “the job.” Then, 
when you know what you 
want, stick to it, even 
though just after you have 
decided on a lake, a dear 
friend comes along with 
several acres of “virgin 
timber with a trout stream 
right through it” that he is 
willing to sacrifice to your 
whim. 
Don’t forget in your pas¬ 
sion for wild life that you 
A site exposed both to 
sun and storm, but with 
a view limited only by 
the horizon 
