Thanks all for the posts, I thought that no one was interested but I guess that one justs needs to be patient.
Rolland, I believe that vertical plank construction was more wide spread than I previous believed, and may have came up into Canada with the UEL's during the 1780's wave of emigration. For many years the belief was that it was of French origin, but from what you are saying it seems that it is appearing down in the Central States area. I know that examples of plank construction appear here in Dundas County Ontario, which was settled by German\Dutch UEL's. I am particularly interested in its use by those that constructed the small barn on the Samuel Schwertfeger Property here in Dundas County. The planks are used exclusively on the exterior walls with the interior brick filled. It is alittle mind boggling how they erected the building without any vertical timbers in the corners or anywhere, just a ring of timbers at the mud sill level, and at the upper plate level. I do believe that plank construction has its merits, and may be an expedient and quick way of putting up a good substantial building. There is a school house not that far away built about 1867 that uses vertical timber for the frame, with the exterior wall clad with 2" vertical planks, covered with vertical 1" pine boards to cover the breaks between the planks. Once again thanks for the comments, I am inviting more discussion on the technique of raising the small plank barn--any ideas? NH
