Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 June 1918 — HOUSE STANDS 300 YEARS [ARTICLE]

HOUSE STANDS 300 YEARS

Fairbanks Home in Dedham, Mass., Is Oldest Frame Building in Country. Boston. —The enduring strength of wood is evidenced in the Fairbanks house in DedhaMi„ v in and believed to be the oldest tj-ame house now standing in the United States, where, some time ago, members of the Fairbanks family gathered for a reunion from all over the country. The famous house is open as a historic museum, but many builders, contractors and lumber mep have visited the structure and examined it for something more than a historic interest. The oak timbers Used in the old house were brought from England in about the year 1635. They are still solid and strong and supporting. The bricks came at that time as ballast. Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Fairbanks came from Sowerby, Yorkshire, ini 1623 and built the house in 1636. It is believed that nearly 30 per cent of Canada is still undiscovered, and if Indian reports are to be believed, there is in the basin of the '.Mackenzie river one of the largest ' of possible dil-bearing coun'try on the face of the earth. The : Indians report the existence of 1 lakes a hundred miles long in Yukon that no white man has ever I seen, while even the Indians apparently know nothing of the as ; yet untrodden Mackenzie mountains. Prosperous Chinese want brass and iron bedsteads,.and these form one of the Ijnes in which there has been a considerable increase in the imp'orts of China from America during the last few years. Iron bedsteads were imported last year to the value of 100,000 taels, and brass bedsteads to a value of about 37,000 taels. Of the iron bedsteads Shanghai took about one-fourth of the total quantity imported, while as regards brass bedsteads Shang- ' hai took nearly all, only a few having been re-exported to outports.