Welcome to Alaska Log Structures!

MINNESOTA FORESTS - WINTER 1989

LIVING WITH LOGS

by Kathleen Preece

"Wood is universally beautiful to man. It is the most humanly intimate of all building materials. Man loves his association with it, needs to feel it under his hands." architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

Greg Anderson's hands are big. Palms outstretched, his fingers span the twelve inch diameter of the butt end of a Minnesota white cedar log.

They move slowly and thickly, as if absorbing the strength inherent in those trees which once made their stance filling a north woods horizon, some for over 200 years. Many would not consider those to be the hands of an artist. But in his own right, and with his own medium, Anderson builds pictures with them - pictures which have graced landscapes from Alaska to Minnesota.

Artisan log home craftsman, Anderson, is one of the few builders who custom designs and builds log homes by hand. Using mainly hand-held tools, the logs are cut, shaped and fitted to rest tightly against one another. While some tools such as power drills and chain saws assist him in some aspects of his work, most tools are those which have been used for centuries... hatchet, draw knife, scribe and cant hook.

Anderson began building log homes in Alaska, while also employed as a commercial mason. He worked with Sitka spruce, with logs averaging two feet in diameter. He returned to Minnesota in 1984 and since then has been commissioned to complete a number of log structures, most recently on Big Sandy Lake north of McGregor.

The Big Sandy corporate retreat, dream of Twin Cities residents Jerry and Cindy Sheffield, has been called the "Eighth Natural Wonder of the World" by many of the 3,500-plus folks who visited the retreat last summer. As a painter might combine the colors on his canvas to create an image and elicit an emotion, Anderson has taken the best of creation - its soundest white cedar, its straightest black ash and its striated rock - and woven the Sheffield's dream from the fabric of nature.

The 3,800 square foot home was built with cedar found in the forests 60 miles north of Grand Rapids. Over 100 cords of wood were sorted through to find the cedar that would meet Anderson's requirements for quality and size, as well as bring together the Sheffield vision and the reality of a log structure on Big Sandy.

Anderson flies over Minnesota north woods on a regular basis to locate his building blocks and, with the assistance of Effie state forester Steve Moberg, Anderson has built an inventory to see him through his building orders for a few years.

Anderson is one of the few builders working exclusively with cedar. Log homes may be built from many different tree species, from the common aspen to Minnesota's state tree, the Norway pine. But Anderson has found cedar to be his best medium. Its wood is soft and responds quickly to the knife. It settles less than other logs, holds a stain well and is highly resistant to decay. As well, the knots and burls characteristic of cedar give each home a uniqueness. Since cedar does not hold moisture, Anderson can skid the logs out of the woods during winter, peel them when the sap runs in May, and be ready to start construction immediately.

Anderson runs a "turn key" project; he controls all aspects of the building, from drawing floor plans to customer's specifications, to scribing the fit of the logs, coordinating the building of kitchen cabinets and laying of the hardwood floors. Such control is essential, Anderson maintains, not only because nearly 100 tons of logs are built into a log structure and the home must meet earthquake specifications, but importantly, the homes are Anderson's expression of an art. "With one floor plan, endless homes may be created - each with a different texture, a different atmosphere, a character of its own. To involve too many others is to put the paintbrush into another's hand."

Each home begins as an idea in his mind's eye and he knows what is to evolve. "Each building is a challenge in itself" - perhaps because of a unique fireplace, a special stairway or railing. For instance, the Sheffield retreat contains a stairway built from two curved white cedar. The logs were found independently from one another over the years and saved because of their unique beauty. It was found that their curvature complimented perfectly when running parallel to one another, and so were used to create the unique stairway to the loft. Also unique to the Sheffield home are seventeen pieces of trapezoid glass which have been placed to create a canopy to that woods retreat, breathing a northern sky into each room.

Most of the log shells are constructed at his building yard. Logs are numbered, then disassembled, loaded on trucks and reassembled at customers' sites. It takes Anderson approximately 25 hours to reassemble a log structure.

Anderson is proud of the work he has done and suggests anyone interested in log homes should contact him for a list of previous clients, references as to his skills and for a tour of the homes he has built.

- Minnesota Forests (Winter 1989)

MALL OF AMERICA

December 18, 1991
 

Mr. Greg Anderson,

I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for your hard work and efforts throughout this past year. We have come a long way and it has been through your efforts that we are where we are today.  It is seldom in our careers that we have the opportunity to participate in a unique project such as the Mall of America. Each of us has an individual role in this project, but it is only through our collective efforts that the success of Mall of America can be achieved. Our success depends on one another.  Each of us are familiar with the saying "One Small Step for Man, One Giant Step for Mankind".  We can apply this to ourselves and our participation on this project.

I want to convey my heartfelt appreciation for all of your time and effort of this past year. I hope your Holidays are safe and happy and look forward to another challenging, fruitful year!

Sincerely,

Joseph R. Talentino
Vice President - Director of Construction
Melvin Simon & Associates, Inc
 

Builders: 'I'd say they're the best in the nation'

"These boys do some fine work; like they used to do at the turn of the century," said Tommy Avery, an on-site project manager for one of the mall's [Mall of America] owners. "It makes it all authentic. They're real log structures."

"I'd say they're the best in the nation. If they weren't, we wouldn't have them here."

- Duluth News Tribune

Mounted fish 'swim' in unique Chezzy's Bar

"I wanted to build a unique bar," he related. That desire led him to consult with Greg Anderson, owner of Alaska Log Structures whose company built Camp Snoopy at the Mall of America. Anderson had some good ideas for him.

The final result is a 54-foot hollowed out cedar log filled with 210 gallons of fiberglass resin. "Floating" in the resin are about 20 mounted fish, causing the whole thing to resemble a stream.

The manufacturers of the resin knew of 160 gallons used by an artist to make a sphere, but "this was the single largest pour the manufacturers of the resin ever heard of," Tjosvold said.

- Aitkin Independent Age

Just wanted to drop you a note to say how happy Fran and I are with our new home. Your dedication to quality and ability to make the changes along the way are very much appreciated. You can't imagine how many people pull up to the dock and want to take a tour of our house. If I charged admission, I could retire early and stay at the lake. I will be in Alaska on a hunting trip this fall and hope to see you then.

- Todd & Fran Boyce

 Sheila and I don't kid ourselves that you did us a great kindness when you built our retirement home. We know that you did it at a cost that was far below its value and made some sacrifices so we could see a dream that I have had since I was a small child come true, to own a beautiful log home. Our families, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, cousins and friends have had some wonderful times already in our house and plan many more in the future. Like Sheila and I, once people come and stay, they don't want to leave because the place just has a charm that begs you not to leave. People walking down the road still stop and gawk and compliment us on the house. I am happy to tell them who built the place and how much we enjoy having it.
        You will always have a special place in our hearts Greg. We wish you and your family nothing but the best in whatever you chose to do. Hopefully some day I will be e-mailing you asking for directions to Alaska and your place up there so we can get together again.

        Sincerely,
        Matt & Sheila Higgins
        Maple Grove, MN

Well, it has been three years (can you believe it?) since you completed the main structure of our log home on Big Sandy.  Things were added after that of course, like the deck and the fireplace etc.  Needless to say, we have been very happy with the results of this project, and each year have added some things also.  Mary Ann and I are sorry we did not get a chance to see you this summer.  However, as the summer rolls around, Mary Ann is going to retire from her job in June, and we will have much more time at the Lake and many more projects.  We hope to see you then.

The main purpose of this note is to ask you to advise us, after the three years, of any needed maintenance we should be doing.

Will appreciate any advice you have , and hope to see you next summer.

John and Mary Ann Muldoon