[Music] Fred Yates a native of Indiana came North to still water after the Civil War and built a career as a bookkeeper for the city's lumberman working for more than 20 years in the office of the surveyor general of logs the surveyor General was one of the city's most coveted jobs appointed by the governor the position held enormous power in the St Croy Valley after logs were cut in the forests of Northern Wisconsin and Northeastern Minnesota they were floated down the river and gathered at a site just north of Stillwater known as the boom here they were sorted by marks each company had a distinctive Mark registered with the surveyor's office and logging camps were issued a stamp Hammer a heavy Sledgehammer with a cast symbol on its face that was used to stamp the mark into both ends of the log once sorted at the Boom the surveyor's office measured the logs and calculated the number of board feet of lumber each contained those calculations were the Keystone of the industry logs were bought and sold logging contracts made Drive driving rafting and booming charges assessed and contract laborers paid all on the basis of the scale bill from the surveyor General's office it was also a lucrative job since the lumberman paid the surveyor General 10 cents a th000 for measuring the lumber and 5 cents a th000 for scaling logs in 1883 for example Stillwater's John Proctor collected more than $133,000 at the St Croy boom that made the job a prize political Plum but the trick was to hire a competent clerk to actually handle the detailed paperwork yates's reputation was so great it was said that he enjoyed the fullest confidence of the lumberman yates's reputation for good judgment opened the door to public service and in 1887 he was elected to the city council for the first time active in Republican politics he later served one term in the state legislature but that's not the whole story while Fred Yates kept his nose stuck in account books and logging registers during the day at night he wrote novels with two published in his lifetime glendover in 1880 and musetta in 1911 in 1889 with a stable income and secure in his social standing Fred and Mary Yates decided they wanted a new home they chose a house plan that uses elements of what is called the stick style of architecture popular in the 1870s and ' 80s this style emphasized the frame of a house the vertical and horizontal wood elements that frame the exterior walls and the cross bracing that supplied stability note the decorative truss at the apex of the front Gable as well as the horizontal and vertical bands raised from the wall the open front porch with spindle work is also characteristic of the style in this house Mary often hosted parties for neighborhood friends one can almost picture the warm June evening in 1894 when the Presbyterian ladies Aid Society held an ice cream social on the lawn while next door the borens provided Refreshments for the young people of the Swedish Lutheran Church here the Yates raised two children and here their daughter Flora a talented pianist died [Music] the [Music]