MUSCATINE, Iowa — Ryan Schneider made a surprising discovery after he began tearing down an old house on his wilderness-edged property near Wildcat Den State Park.

Nestled beneath the weathered lumber was a hand-hewn log cabin built 150 years ago.

“It was perfectly preserved,” said Schneider. “I was amazed at the craftsmanship.”

Schneider noted the dovetail joints and handcrafted wooden pins that held the logs in place.

He also thought about the fact that the builder had to cut the trees down before he could fashion them into material for a house.

“I thought of the struggles of living then and the time it took to build the cabin,” said Schneider. “Now you just write a check and buy a home.”

Schneider, who purchased the property in 1994, and lives there with his wife, Sheri, and their teenage daughters, Natalie and Amy, was especially intrigued with his find, because he knew its builder may have been an important historical figure. The abstract for his property showed the land had first been purchased from the United States government by Benjamin Nye, the first settler in Muscatine County.

His love for local history led Schneider to hope he might be touching the building that reflected Nye’s skills and investment of time.

He shared his thoughts with his fellow members of the Friends of the Pine Creek Grist Mill, an organization of volunteers who have restored the 160-year-old mill that was built by Nye.

Schnieder donated the cabin to the Friends group with hopes of preserving it as an historical landmark.

How old are you?

Tom Hanifan, president of the Friends of the Pine Creek Grist Mill, said his group needed to know when the cabin was built in order to determine whether or not Nye is the builder.

In order to do that, dendrochronologists, trained professionals who can determine the age of a log by counting its rings, would have to study the cabin.

Hanifan said former Muscatine resident and highly successful engineer and entrepreneur, Don Bently of Nevada, provided the funding to hire a team of professionals from the University of Missouri Tree-Ring Laboratory to read the logs.

Hanifan said Bently, a Muscatine High School graduate and MHS Hall of Honor inductee, attended the Melpine School, another historic structure located in Wildcat Den Park near the mill. Bently believes the Nye family are among his ancestors and had a special interest in learning about the cabin’s builder. 

Hanifan said the dendrochronologist came to Muscatine County to cut samples from the cabin logs in November 2007. Ken Hyman, a member of the Friends of the Pine Creek Grist Mill, said the dendrochronologists compared the tree ring growth and spacing in the log cabin logs with master tree-ring chronologies to see when the logs were cut.

The conclusion

According to the endrochronologist report completed in January by Michael Stambaugh and Richard Guyette, the trees the logs came from were cut in the winter of 1857 to 1858. Local history books offer the sad account of the murder of Benjamin Nye at the hands of his son-in-law in 1852, not far from Schneider’s home.

Schneider said he would have been delighted to know the cabin was Nye’s, but he and his fellow Friends members still see a great deal of value in the structure.

A new home for an old home

In order to continue landscaping and improving his property, Schneider needed to move the cabin, but he did so carefully. A team of volunteers helped him remove each hand-cut log as Schneider numbered each one to pinpoint its location in the structure.

The logs are being stored in a shelter on a nearby property, waiting for the day they will once again assume the shape of that early home.

And there are several people who are eager to participate in the project.

A love for legacy

Muscatine resident Kent Sissel and his cousin, Michael Sissel, a contractor who lives in Walcott, have been talking with the Friends group about participating in the reconstruction effort.

Kent first learned about the cabin when he offered the Friends group some family heirlooms to display at their historic site.

Like Bently, the Sissels have ancestral ties to the Wildcat Den area, and are devoted to maintaining its place in local history.

“My great-grandfather had a farm at the corner of Wildcat Den Road and the area where Iowa Highway 22 is now located,” said Kent.

The Sissels, Schneider and the Friends members hope the cabin will be rebuilt near the mill over the next several years and used as an educational tool.

“I just want people to enjoy it and learn more about how people lived in the 1800s,” said Schneider.

“I wish I could have been there when they built it the first time,” he said with a smile. “You might learn a thing or two.”

Reporter contact information

Cynthia Beaudette 563-262-0527

cynthia.beaudette@muscatinejournal.com

Online: Friends of the Pine Creek Grist Mill http://www.pinecreekgristmill.com/

People who are interested in joining or making donations to the Friends of the Mill or volunteering their skills and time to the log cabin restoration effort can contact Friends of the Mill President Tom Hanifan at 264-4818.