We are sometimes reminded of the ingenuity of our forbears when we find, at the cabin, a few of the accommodations they devised. The wood stove is a great example. To most of us this is a quaint dinosauróa nostalgic but disconnected antique. It calls to mind the old-fashioned kitchen, as a place of endless toil and drudgery.

The pioneers may have seen it differently. To them it must not have been a single, bulky presence, but a hundred separate ìappliancesî built around the indoor fire. Consider:

ï All surfaces of the stove were radiators, transferring the heat of the fire to the room and the entire house. No furnace needed!

ï A wooden rod, hung above the stove out of the way of traffic, would be the place to hang wet garments. No clothes dryer needed!

ï Water circulated through a sealed chamber on the outside of the firebox, and from there by convection to a tank, providing hot water for a thousand domestic tasks. No water heater needed!

ï An open pot of water, left to slowly boil on the stove between meals or overnight, put moisture into the dry air of winter. No humidifier needed!

The flat iron surface of the stove served as modern burners doótemperature control going along with control of the fuel and air in the firebox, and/or position of the pan relative to the fire. A ìwarming shelfî, positioned a few feet above the hot surface of the stove, would keep rolls or bread or pancakes warm while the rest of the meal came to completion, or while people gathered to eat.

The oven, positioned inboard of the fire chamber, but surrounded by ducts that allowed controlled flow of the hot air, permitted baking with reasonably uniform and controlled temperatures.

The creative perspective that led to these many adaptations applied not just to stoves, but to everything in a frontier home. The technologies of today extend the creativity of former generations, but they are of the same spirit.

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Forest Lake Times
P.O. Box 218
880 SW 15 St.
Forest Lake, MN 55025
651-464-4601
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