A Bite from the Barn by MagicvalleyTN

Sunday •

November 15, 2015

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DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS

A Bite from the Barn Despite Windstorm, Nonprofit Hopes to Save Century-Old Barn Significant in Idaho Ag History MYCHEL MATTHEWS mmatthews@magicvalley.com

MYCHEL MATTHEWS, TIMES-NEWS

The distinctive Tegan barn on 2300 East, just south of Pole Line Road, is leaning hard to the south, resting against an

Magic Valley Loses Barns to Weather, Neglect MYCHEL MATTHEWS mmatthews@magicvalley.com

BUHL • Barns once dotted the southern Idaho landscape. They were everywhere. But as farm sizes grew, the number of farms — and barns — shrank. Many barns became outdated and were torn down to make room for larger, more modern structures. Some were demolished for subdivisions. Others were victims of wind. Or rot. Later, barn wood came into vogue, and some barns were torn down to salvage the wood. “It’s interesting that the barn wood became more valuable than the barn,” said Katherine Kirk, executive director of the Idaho Heritage Trust. “We’ve lost some of our beautiful barns as the wood was repurposed.” With each barn we lose, the desire to save others intensifies. The Alfred Carlson dairy barn, built by Henry Schick in 1913 in the Northview area northeast of Buhl, is an example of a barn that was sold for salvage, but it was already on its way down, said Martha Busmann, who used to live on the dairy farm when she was young. Please see LOSS, A10

DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS

See more of the Times-News’ best work at Magicvalley.com/bigstory.

About this Project

Today’s stories are the first half of a special two-part project by reporter Mychel Matthews, photographers Stephen Reiss and Drew Nash, and Enterprise Editor Virginia Hutchins. Matthews’ experience in history and agriculture journalism made her a natural fit for writing about old barns. NEXT SUNDAY: The project’s second part is your guide to a driving tour of 13 notable Magic Valley barns that still stand. Watch for it Nov. 22 in the Times-News and Magicvalley.com, accompanied by more interactive digital features.

If You Do One Thing: Wood River Orchestra presents its “Impressions of France” concert at 4 p.m. at Wood River High School’s Performing Arts Theatre at Community Campus, 1250 Fox Acres Road, Hailey. Free.

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BUHL • Last Christmas, Mother Nature gave Tom Gilbertson the worst present he could receive. “My heart dropped when I saw it,” Gilbertson said. “It made me sick.” The century-old dairy barn with which he had fallen in love some 10 years before was nearly felled by a gust of wind. One corner of its magnificent roof was ripped from its concrete walls, toppling one of its two onion-domed cupolas and leaving a gaping hole in its silhouette against the cold winter sky. That the barn was left standing is a testament to the mastery of its builder, German-Russian immigrant Henry Schick. The barn was a landmark southeast of Buhl. It still is; it’s just not as majestic as it once was. Gilbertson is determined to change that. The retired banker from Twin Falls wants to turn the barn into a living museum, an experiential display of period farm life. He’ll need money and elbow grease to restore the historically significant symbol of early Idaho agriculture before it crumbles. ••• When Gilbertson spotted Schick’s dairy barn during a workday inspecting agricultural loan properties, it looked like someone had, decades before, sold the milk cows and walked away. That’s just about what happened, said Jim Musgrave, Schick’s grandson. Musgrave’s mother, Eleanor, was born at the Schick home. Her parents split up when she was young — and that’s where the story gets a little fuzzy. In any case, the dairy sat empty and not maintained for many decades, the 76-year-old Musgrave said. The dairy barn was never upgraded from its original 1914 design, making it a prime candidate for the National Register of Historic Places. With architectural

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Photographer Drew Nash spent a couple of hours documenting the Henry Schick barn. See a gallery of more photos at Magicvalley.com. See how the Schick barn has changed over time in a photo slider, embedded in this story on Magicvalley. com. The interactive feature compares 1978 and 2015 views of the barn. A second slider compares historical and new photos of the Gustave Kunze dairy barn. Tom Gilbertson, founder of the nonprofit that owns the Schick barn, talks about the group’s preservation efforts in a video at Magicvalley.com. Attached to this story on Magicvalley.com is the Schick barn nomination for the National Register of Historic Places, on which the barn was listed in 1983. The document provides more architectural details.

Please see BARN, A9

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Sunday, November 15, 2015 • A9

DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS‌

Braces stabilize the wind-damaged second story of the Henry Schick barn near Buhl.

“There’s still a lot of mystery about the barn, and I never get tired of discovering more things about it.” Tom Gilbertson

Barn Continued from A1

significance as well, it was listed in 1983. ••• Schick played a key role in the development of Idaho’s early dairy industry, as did Gustave Kunze, the Tillamook, Ore., dairyman who brought Schick to the Magic Valley. Kunze visited the Buhl area in 1910 and decided to stay. He bought a section of land southeast of Buhl, and he and Schick built the largest dairy barn in the state in 1912. They also built a cheese factory, which attracted Kunze’s Tillamook neighbors — dairymen Alfred Carlson, Riley Maxwell, T.P. Bowlby and A.A. Stauffacher. They eventually moved to Buhl, built barns and sold their milk to Kunze’s Clover Leaf Cheese Factory. Schick built or was involved in the building of many Buhl barns. The main portion of each is a rectangular, two-story, balloonframe structure with a gambrel — double-sloped — roof. Schick’s barns can be distinguished by their concrete walls. Although Schick’s barns exhibit similarities in materials and workmanship, two distinct dairy barn types emerged: one more squat and the other narrower and taller. While barns of many styles graced the southcentral Idaho landscape, the Kunze barn was the first in the area built specifically for dairying. The architectural transition that followed is significant, said Fred Walters, a historical architect with years of experience in the influences of technology on Idaho’s agricultural buildings. A rapid succession of roof styles emerged between 1912 and 1914 as dairymen asked for barns with more and more space in the second-story loft to store hay. Kunze’s barn was enormous. It had to be in order to house, feed and milk 100 cows. A ramp from the outside to the second story allowed hay wagons to drive into the loft’s 70-by-120-foot expanse to stack 200 tons of hay. Twelve heavy, 25-foothigh posts were needed to support the 32-foothigh gambrel roof, which obstructed much-needed space and maneuverability in the loft and below. Midway through construction of the Kunze barn, Schick began a similar barn

Tom Gilbertson gives a tour Oct. 8 of the Henry Schick barn near Buhl.

DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS‌

Get Involved

The Historic Barn Society of Magic Valley, founded by Tom Gilbertson, is looking for members. If you are interested in joining, just curious, or would like to donate time, money or materials, call Gilbertson at 208-308-3906.

STEPHEN REISS, TIMES-NEWS‌

The former Gustave Kunze cheese factory in Buhl once played an important role in drawing Oregon dairymen to the Magic Valley. for Bowlby. That one rested the weight of the roof on the loft, rather than the ground, which opened up more room on the ground floor. Schick’s third barn, built for Carlson, was similar to but smaller than the Bowlby barn. The main difference in the Carlson barn was its lack of a ramp to the hay loft. Hay was unloaded outside the building under the gable end of the barn. A

hay sling hung from the hay hood extending from the roof which protected the hay door at loft level. Hay was raised in the sling to the loft and stacked, using a track-and-pulley system. Then Schick’s barn designs began to take a dramatic departure from the first three, as the barns became significantly narrower but proportionately taller.

Reporter Mychel Matthews appreciates history as much as Tom Gilbertson does, and she found this assignment particularly inspiring. Matthews plans to join the Historic Barn Society of Magic Valley at its next meeting.

The upward-stretched gambrel roofs, flared at the eaves, were topped with uniquely handcrafted cupolas, creating a striking appearance, even from a distance. Schick built the Max Dau barn in 1913, then followed it with his own barn of nearly identical construction, but on a grand scale — and with the grace that would claim Gilbertson’s heart nearly a century later. ••• As bar n builders experimented to get the most efficient use of space and materials, their designs also revealed the cultural influences and origins of builders and dairymen. Schick came to North America from Russia as an infant. His family had left

Germany in a large migration, then left Russia when the Germans were persecuted in late in the 1870s, Musgrave said. Eventually, the family landed in Chicago, where Schick and his older brother were raised. Schick became a homebuilder. His brother taught him how to pour concrete, and he picked up the art of forging iron. After Schick came west, Kunze got him started building barns and eventually got him interested in starting his own dairy. Schick’s laborious construction of his own barn may seem like overkill, considering he milked such a small herd of Guernseys; his barn holds only 10 stanchions. But the precision of Schick’s work and attention to detail reveal a true love of barn-building. He built a house at the corner of the property, but the bathroom was in the barn. The handcrafted cupolas on top of Schick’s roof and grain silo give a Kremlinesque reminder of his family roots. It was the striking

appearance and excellent craftsmanship of Schick’s work that attracted Gilbertson to the barn. In 2013, he founded a nonprofit group, Historic Barn Society of the Magic Valley, with the idea of restoring the barn. Musgrave and the two other heirs to the Schick property split off the barn and an acre of the farm and donated it to Gilbertson’s group, with certain stipulations about its preservation. The group began some work on the barn, with a grant from the Idaho Heritage Trust. Then tragedy struck. ••• While the concrete walls remain solid, the wind took a bite out of the southwest corner of the barn’s roof, leaving the remaining timber perilously tottering 38 feet up. Gilbertson braced the walls with scaffolding and cable in an attempt to stabilize what is left. “Tom has a huge job ahead of him,” Walters said. Walters visited the barn before the Christmas Eve 2014 windstorm, when the barn was still in decent shape. He hasn’t seen it since the windstorm. Restoring the barn won’t be impossible, he said. But it will be expensive. Gilbertson estimates the restoration project will cost a minimum of $30,000. It has turned into a bigger project than he first planned, but for Gilbertson it’s a labor of love. “I’m not getting frustrated,” he said, “but I’m discouraged that it will take more time now.” Preservation groups such as the Idaho Heritage Trust have money for restoration projects. Gilbertson is a member of the National Barn Alliance, which also has money for preservation. Next on the plan is taking measurements and making drawings next spring for a major rebuilding. Those are first steps for a grant application. “We won’t have to rebuild the whole barn, Gilbertson said, “but we will have to start at the core of the hayloft.” The nonprofit will have to hire a contractor. “The major work can’t be done by volunteers,” he said. Meanwhile, Gilbertson continues to putter around in Schick’s barn. “There’s still a lot of mystery about the barn, and I never get tired of discovering more things about it,” he said. “I wish Schick were still here.”

A10 • Sunday, November 15, 2015

Loss Continued from A1

“My stepfather, Ralph Skinner, rented the 80-acre farm for many years. I was lucky enough to grow up there,” Busmann said. “The barn had fallen into such sad shape that it had to be destroyed. Some of it was salvaged, and the rest was burned and hauled away.” As a result, the Carlson dairy barn was removed from the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. “Our barns are being threatened by decay,” Kirk said. “There is high cost to maintain the barns, unless they are being used.” If maintained and used, many barns could last several hundred years, Kirk said, especially the barns built with concrete walls. Sometimes, even a concrete-based barn loses its battle with the weather. The Art Maxwell barn, south of Buhl on 1700 East, was demolished by a microburst in about 2000. Gustave Kunze hired Schick to build the dairy barn for his daughter Frieda and her new husband, Art Maxwell, in 1915. The Blaehr family operated the dairy farm for several generations, and Diana Blaehr owned the barn when it went down. “I do miss the place,” Blaehr said. The barn’s concrete walls still stand. Although nearly destroyed, it will probably remain on the National Register. “The Maxwell barn will likely not be removed from listing unless the owner asks us to de-list it,” said Belinda Davis, historic sites registrar with the Idaho State Historic Preservation Office. “Our policy in recent years is that our office does not instigate removal unless requested to do so.” A few miles east, visible from Twin Falls’ Pole Line Road, stands a wooden dairy barn that is going down fast. Painted white with striking red details, the Tegan barn is a prominent landmark. But it’s leaning hard to the south, its roof and eaves warped into waves, its red paint

STEPHEN REISS, TIMES-NEWS‌

The Maxwell barn owned by Carlos Cortes was largely demolished in a microburst. Photographed Oct. 20 in Buhl.

“It’s so sad. It was a good old barn.” Arlee Tegan, about a wooden dairy barn now resting against an old truck scale

You can watch the months-long demise of a Buhl barn in our gallery of amateur photographer Cathy Wilson’s images, at Magicvalley.com. See barns old and new in a gallery of readers’ photos from around southern Idaho, at Magicvalley.com.

MYCHEL MATTHEWS, TIMES-NEWS‌

The door to a cellar that probably housed a still back in Prohibition days is seen in the Tegan barn on 2300 East, west of Twin Falls.

emphasizing the distortion. D.F. Detweiler built the home and barn on 2300 East prior to 1917. Arlee Tegan and her husband, Howard, bought the property in 1939. “The barn was built to milk cows, but we raised feeder cattle,” Tegan said. The barn, now in other ownership, has sagged against a large truck scale that the Tegans installed.

The scale appears to be all that’s holding it up. “It’s so sad,” Tegan said. “It was a good old barn.” The Tegan barn has a large basement where grain was stored, said her daughter, Sandy Vickers. It has been suggested that the basement may have been used to hide a still during Prohibition. “Oh, I can’t say if there was a still,” said Tegan, 96.

“That was before my time.” Local lore is part of the appeal of the Magic Valley barns that still survive from a century ago. So is their beauty, and their symbolism of a life connected to the land. On Magicvalley.com, a gallery of reader-contributed photos of southern Idaho barns was among the most-viewed galleries this year. And over the past year, amateur photographer Cathy Wilson made a series of images of a deteriorating barn, at 3800 N. 1400 E. in Buhl, capturing the structure in various natural lighting as it crumbled to the ground. By August it was a pile of rubble. O n e m o re ca s u a l ty of time.

Tahoe Vacation-home Owners Burdened by New Permit Rules ‌ OUTH LAKE TAHOE, CALIF. S (AP) • New policies for vacationrental permits are creating headaches for some South Lake Tahoe homeowners.‌ The Tahoe Daily Tribune reported Friday that some homeowners say they will have to spend thousands of dollars to make sure their properties are compliant to get their permits renewed.

“I certainly didn’t see this coming,” said Sara Cummings, a California-based second homeowner. She said she has owned her 1950s-era South Lake Tahoe home since 2008. South Lake Tahoe passed new policies this year surrounding permits for vacation rentals in residential neighborhoods. They include enforcement of

building-code requirements, new permit fees and fines. Cummings realized she would need to update the property when she went to renew her vacation rental permit. Cummings says she went to renew her vacation rental permit and learned the deck needs to be replaced earlier than next summer as was originally planned. She’s

been told to move her hot tub, and Cummings says the changes would cost thousands of dollars. A coalition of homeowners is currently suing the city over the new fees, calling it an illegal tax. City officials say there are more than 1,700 permitted vacation rentals in South Lake Tahoe. Building official Dave Walker says his inspectors are trying to be as

lenient as possible but not at the expense of safety. Walker said select code books, one dating as far back as 1955, are helping to inform inspections. “A lot of our calls aren’t fun because we know the burden it puts on the owner,” Walker said. “But the whole intent is to make sure the homes are safe for people who stay in them.”

Sunday, November 22, 2015 • A1 • $3.00 www.magicvalley.com • $3.00

TODAY: OUR HUGE ‘HOLIDAY IDEA BOOK’ Sunday • November 22, 2015 INSIDE Inside: Our Huge ‘Holiday Idea Book’ www.magicvalley.com Sunday •

November 22, 2015

STEPHEN REISS, TIMES-NEWS PHOTOS

Owner Nancy Tyrrell runs her framing business out of the Max Dau barn in Buhl.

THOSE BIG OLD BARNS

Wright Barn

Stories by MYCHEL MATTHEWS mmatthews@magicvalley.com

t one time, those big old barns scattered across the countryside were part of the fabric of a community. Neighbors helped each other raise them. They danced in them. Granges met in them.

For centuries, barns were essential to man’s survival. Today, they are enduring See more of the reminders of this agrarian Times-News’ best heritage, tangible links to the work at Magicvalley. past, reminders of a former com/bigstory. closeness to the land. The barn was the center of farm life, the central component in the circle of life on the farm. Even the smallest barn might house six horses that worked the land to grow the feed for themselves, a few pigs and a dozen dairy cows. And in those barns lived barn owls, barn swallows, barn cats — and mice. Today, there’s a “romantic notion” associated with barns, said Katherine Kirk, executive director of the Idaho Heritage Trust. Perhaps barns now represent traditional values that many feel have been lost in today’s society. “They are the iconic symbol of the American past,” Kirk said. “They represent living off the land and what that meant to us. Freedom. Exploration. Immigration. To build a new life.”

“As the main structures of farms, barns evoke a sense of tradition and security, of closeness to the land and community with the people who built them. Even today, rural barn raising presents a forceful image of community spirit,” Michael J. Auer wrote in “The Preservation of Historic Barns,” on Oldhouseweb.com. Those big old barns were made to last. Many that escaped the march of development or the appetite for salvaged barn wood have stood so long they became part of the landscape, if not landmarks themselves. Some of the Magic Valley’s best vintage 1910s barns still stand, and today’s stories are your guide to a driving tour of 13 notable barns.

The Wright barn, now home to the Hargrove family’s pigs, stands on 1700 East in Buhl. Built: 1914 Location: 3943 N. 1700 E. (west side of road), Buhl Size: 50 feet long, 30 feet wide, 30 feet tall Its past: The Wright family operated a 300-cow feedlot on its ranch just north of the Low Line Canal. The two-story livestock barn was built for shelter and feed storage. 1

Its status: This one is still a working barn. Tim and Jasmine Hargrove have raised pigs in it for the past four years. They own “two boars, 30 sows, a handful of feeder pigs and piglets running everywhere,” Tim Hargrove said. “We also have rescue animals,” Jasmine Hargrove said, pointing to several dozen fowl and two llamas.

The Barn Tour Continues on A4-5

Old Barn Tour

Take a drive to see some of the Magic Valley’s best vintage 1910s barns, starting with the Wright barn south of Buhl. Each of these barns is visible from a road. But the buildings – some of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places – are on private property. Please do not trespass.

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1. Wright barn 2. Gustave KunzeSandmeyer barn 3. Schick barn 4. Rudolf Kunze barn 5. Maxwell barn 6. T.P. Bowlby barn 7. Vierstra barn 8. DauWuebbenhorst barn 9. Tegan barn 10. Eslinger barn 11. Uhlig barn 12. Gettert barn 13. Heidemann barn

About this Project

Cemetery Road

Today’s stories are the second half of a special two-part project by reporter Mychel Matthews, photographers Stephen Reiss and Drew Nash, and Enterprise Editor Virginia Hutchins. Matthews’ experience in history and agriculture journalism made her a natural fit for writing about old barns.

DIGITAL INTERACTIVE: On Magicvalley. com, today’s stories are presented as an interactive map. It’s a rich digital experience incorporating video and lots of additional photos.

CATCH UP: Last Sunday’s stories featured a new nonprofit’s effort to restore the Henry Schick barn — a structure with particular significance in Magic Valley’s early dairy development — and remembered notable barns that have been lost to weather or neglect. High

If You Do One Thing: A community dance and potluck will be held from 2-5 p.m. at Twin Falls Senior Center, 530 Shoshone St. W., featuring music by The Shadows Band. $5 per person.

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A4 • Sunday, November 22, 2015

R. Kunze Barn ‌ uilt: 1915 B Location: 3960 N. 1700 E. (west side of road), Buhl Size: 57 feet long, 36 feet wide, 36 feet tall Its past: Gustave Kunze’s son Rudolf helped run the Clover Leaf Cheese Factory. The younger Kunze settled a half-mile down the road from his father’s dairy, operated his own 120-acre dairy farm and hauled his milk to the cheese factory. Apparently, Henry Schick had no hand in building Rudolf Kunze’s dairy barn, a decision Kunze

may have regretted. The barn is missing the concrete walls typical of a Schick-built barn. Without concrete walls, the barn began to lean with the wind. To stop the barn’s northward tilt, concrete was later poured in through the wooden floor. Its status: Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. Used for storage. “It’s still leaning, but it’s not going anywhere,” said Sharie Freeman, who has owned the barn for the past 30 years.

STEPHEN REISS, TIMES-NEWS‌

The Gustave Kunze barn, now owned by the Chuck Petterson family, is still part of a working dairy in Buhl.

G. Kunze-Sandmeyer Barn ‌ uilt: 1912 B Location: 1705 E. 4000 N. (at southeast corner of intersection), Buhl Size: 120 feet long, 70 feet wide, 45 feet tall Its past: Gustave Kunze, a dairyman and cheese maker from Tillamook, Ore., owned the first barn in the Buhl area built specifically as a dairy by master barn builder Henry Schick. Other barns

were multipurpose structures meant to house livestock and to store feed and farm equipment. Kunze visited the newly irrigated tract in 1910 and liked the idea that alfalfa could be grown in great quantities in southern Idaho. Alfalfa had to be shipped to dairies in Tillamook. He bought a section of uncleared land, and, in the next two years, built a 100-cow dairy, cheese

factory and home. Kunze’s dairy barn was the largest in Idaho and held 200 tons of hay in the loft. His Clover Leaf Cheese Factory took in milk from surrounding dairies, and his cheese won a medal at the Panama/Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. Its status: Formerly listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but inadvertently removed in 1994.

The Idaho State Historic Preservation Office is trying to correct the error to have the barn relisted. Kunze retired and in 1918 sold the property to Ted Sandmeyer, who owned it for many years. Still known as the old Sandmeyer place, the property is now owned by 90-year-old Chuck Petterson. His son, Brent Petterson, runs the dairy, which still includes the original barn.

STEPHEN REISS, TIMES-NEWS‌

The Rudolf Kunze barn, photographed Oct. 15 in Buhl.

You can take a virtual barn tour of the past, too, thanks to early Twin Falls photographer Clarence E. Bisbee. He arrived in 1906 to document city life as well as life on the farm, including many barns. See a gallery of Bisbee’s historical barn photos at Magicvalley.com.

3 Barns You Met

Last Sunday, the first installment of this special project introduced Times-News readers to three of the barns featured in today’s driving tour: The Henry Schick barn, at the southwest corner of 4006 N. 1700 E. in Buhl, lost a big bite of its roof to a 2014 windstorm. But a local nonprofit still hopes to restore it. 3

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The Howard Tegan barn, built by D.F. Detweiler on the east side of road at 4077 N. 2300 E. in Filer, is leaning hard to the south, its roof and eaves warped into waves. 9

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The Art Maxwell barn, on the east side of the road at 4088 N. 1700 E. in Buhl, was nearly destroyed by a microburst in about 2000. But the barn’s concrete walls still stand. 5

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Sunday, November 22, 2015 • A5

Bowlby-Freeman Barn

Vierstra Barn

‌ uilt: 1912 B Location: 1744 E. 4300 N. (north side of road), Buhl Size: 110 feet long, 70 feet wide, 45 feet tall Its past: Henry Schick built the T.P. Bowlby barn soon after finishing the Gustave Kunze barn. Although the barns were similar in size and construction, the floor plans were very different. Bowlby used more space for feed storage and stock pens and less for milking cows. A ramp driveway was constructed to haul feed to the loft. Despite its great size, the dairy barn held only 22 milking stanchions. Its status: Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. The concrete walls were reinforced with large

The Norman Vierstra barn in Buhl, photographed Nov. 3.

STEPHEN REISS, TIMES-NEWS‌PHOTOS

The T.P. Bowlby barn in Buhl is now owned by Kay Billington. rocks, rebar and fencing materials, said Kay Billington, daughter of Orlin and Veda Freeman. The Freemans bought the place in 1958 from

Harlan and Florence See, and Billington bought it from the Freeman estate after her parents died. The barn is empty for

now, but Billington wants to restore it. “I grew up here,” said Billington, who lives in Shoshone. “It’s a real landmark.”

Dau-Wuebbenhorst Barn

‌ uilt: 1913 B Location: 1553 E. 4000 N. (south side of road), Buhl Size: 52 feet long, 32 feet wide, 34 feet tall Its past: Henry Schick built Max Dau’s barn as a smaller version of his own. The barn is narrower than Schick’s previous barns and was the first in the area with outwardfacing stanchions and a central alley to give a manure spreader more room to maneuver in the barn. 8

The Max Dau barn, where owner Nancy Tyrrell runs her framing business. Dau sold his barn in 1919 to Henry

Wuebbenhorst, who passed the property to

his sons. Its status: Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. The barn is now owned by Nancy Tyrrell, who operates in it a frame shop and antique business called The Nehemian for Fine Framing. Tyrrell said her barn has fared better than others against Idaho’s wind, because it’s one of the few oriented west-east rather than north-south.

Eslinger Barn

Uhlig barn

The Eslinger barn, on 3100 East outside of Twin Falls, is still in use.

The Uhlig barn near Murtaugh, photographed Oct. 19.

‌ uilt: about B 1920 Location: 3424 N. 3100 E. (west side of road, south of canal), Twin Falls Size: about 57 feet long, 36 feet wide, 36 feet tall Its past: Oscar Eslinger was born in 1890 near Cedar Springs, Mo. Eslinger and his wife, Edna, moved to southeastern Colorado, then followed his brother-inlaw, Linn Mills, to Idaho. Mills had been impressed by the area while traveling to Oregon and moved

‌ uilt: about 1915 B Location: 3484 E. 3500 N. (north side of road), Murtaugh Size: 60 feet long, 35 feet wide, 35 feet tall Its past: German immigrants George and Elsie Fisher settled in the Murtaugh area in 1914. They made their home one mile south of Murtaugh, where they farmed and grew apples. Their orchard saved their farm during the Great Depression. A barn sat behind their home for nearly 70 years at U.S. 30 and 4550 East.

‌ uilt: about B 1915 Location: 4044 N. 1600 E. (west side of road), Buhl Size: 54 feet long, 38 feet wide, 48 feet tall Its past: The Vierstra family doesn’t know whether Henry Schick built the barn, or for whom it was built. The barn does, however, have the tall concrete walls common in Schick’s work. The home, said Norman Vierstra’s 7

to Twin Falls in 1917. Eslinger moved his family to Twin Falls in 1919 and settled along the Low Line Canal south of town, where he farmed and ranched for many years. Its status: The barn is still being used for livestock shelter and hay storage. Jerry Dickard, who has owned the farm and Eslinger’s livestock barn for about 20 years, grew up just down the road. “I remember the Eslingers owning it when I was about 8,” Dickard said, “and that was a long time ago.”

Joffre Jensen bought the Fisher place and later sold the barn to Ed Uhlig, once Jensen’s boss and owner of a large farm and feedlot east of the Hansen Butte. Its status: In 1982 or ‘83, house movers lifted the barn to get planks under it, then placed wheels under the planks, said Dan Graff of Murtaugh, who worked on Uhlig Ranch at the time. A truck pulled the barn about four miles to the ranch, where Uhlig transformed the barn into his office. The barn is still used as an office today.

daughter Helen Werner, was built in about 1905, and the dairy barn followed. Vierstra bought the 40-acre dairy farm in 1971 and built a new dairy. The family raised calves in the old barn for a time before retiring it. Its status: The family no longer dairies but still owns the barn. It’s now used for storage, but when the Vierstra children were in school they used the loft as a basketball court.

“It’s still leaning, but it’s not going anywhere.” Sharie Freeman, who has owned the R. Kunze barn for the past 30 years.

Gettert barn ‌ uilt: 1910 B Location: 4111 E. 3800 N. (north side of the road), Hansen Size: 40 feet wide, 40 feet long, 18 feet tall Its past: Gettert was a schoolteacher, possibly in the now-defunct community of Bickel between Hansen and Murtaugh, said Daniel Norris. 12

Norris couldn’t recall Gettert’s first name. He bought the property, including the Gettert home, six or seven years ago from Lloyd Dodson, who inherited it from his parents. Its status: The house and barn sit along a seldom-traveled gravel road near the Snake River. Norris uses the barn for equipment storage.

The Gettert barn northeast of Hansen, photographed Oct. 19.

Reporter Mychel Matthews found owners current and past are eager to share memories about their old barns. “Life was hard back then, it was hard work, but they still look at it in a loving way,” she said.

Fonley-Heidemann Barn ‌ uilt: about 1920 B Location: 3810 N. 3800 E. (west side of road), Kimberly Size: about 57 feet long, 36 feet wide, 36 feet tall Its past: Ingwall Fonley farmed the ground at Idaho 50 and 3800 East. The family lived on the northwest corner of the intersection and built the livestock barn near the house. 13

The farm, home and barn eventually landed in the hands of Everett Alldritt, who sold it to his sister, Aileen, and her husband, Robert Heidemann. The Heidemanns farmed the land and rented out the house and barn. Its status: Not long ago, the Heidemann property was subdivided

into residential lots. The Rock Creek Fire Department burned down the old farmhouse, but the barn still stands. “They thought someone would want to buy a lot with the barn on it,” Aileen Heidemann said. Now the barn holds groundskeeping equipment for the Rockledge Estates subdivision.

The old Heidemann barn outside Kimberly now holds groundskeeping equipment for the Rockledge Estates subdivision.

“(Barns) represent living off the land and what that meant to us. Freedom. Exploration. Immigration. To build a new life.” Katherine Kirk, executive director of the Idaho Heritage Trust