Cob: I'm new and adequately poor

[Dog In The Yard]

Kate Kamper wrote:

> a) One of the archive letters said something about
> immigrants (in Canada) not being able to buy timbers
> outside of poplar. Is that really true? Can permanent
> residents own better timbers, or own property?

I'm not sure if it's my poist you were referring to...if it was, then what I
said was that the most readily available wood in our location (North Central
Alberta) was poplar...if an immigrant had money to spend on other types of wood,
or even dimensional, milled lumber, of course they could buy it. Many had very
little money, and so they used wood that was free...the timber on the land they
were settling.

Poplar is notorious for how quickly it rots. It is a light wood and doesn't last
long in direct contact with the ground. It was used more as a temporary measure
to build a shelter of sorts rather than a long term solution to constructing a
permanent house.

Karen Clouston
Edmonton, Alberta