By Lawrence Haugen
Franklin, Wis.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was previously published in Our Wisconsin Magazine and has been republished in the Tomahawk Leader with permission.
With many years and a whole lotta physical labor behind me, you could say my thoughts have “turned to stone.”
You see, my grandfather, Engel Haugen, built twin fieldstone homes that are landmarks in Tomahawk. They’re often noticed as people drive down 4th St. – the old Hwy. 51.
Grandpa’s work inspired my dad when he built our house in the historic part of the city in the 1950s. I was a kid at the time and old enough to help.
It was hard work, and I didn’t like it, but I now have a great appreciation for Grandpa’s masonry mastery.
Grandpa was born in 1876 and came to the United States from Norway looking for a better life.
They Settled In
He built the first house on the corner in the early 1900s and lived in it until my grandmother, Elfrida, arrived from their homeland to marry him. For reasons no one understands, Grandma didn’t want to live in that house.
So…he built another one right next door. It’s the house Dad grew up in.
It also was a convenient location for my sister, Karen, and me. That house was only steps away from school. The gym was available for my grade at 12:20 p.m. Thursdays.
After getting out for lunch at 11:55 a.m., I’d head over to Grandma’s and she’d have potato dumplings ready. Each one was about four inches in diameter and filled with a large hunk of salt pork fat.
I could down four or five of them and be back at school and first in line to get in the gym. Full belly, fully ready!
Those times together – and our cribbage- playing days – make for special memories, along with the summer I worked with Grandpa. As we built our home on Forest Place, I discovered he knew everything there was to know about fieldstone.
Aluminum Siding?
Since Grandpa was an expert mason, it came as a surprise when I overheard Dad telling Mom that he was only going to use stone on the front porch and exterior fireplace chimney.
“I got an offer to make our home a display for people who want to use aluminum siding,” he said. “I can get a great deal on it.”
It proved to be an effective sales pitch! Funny, I don’t remember anyone ever coming to our house to look at our aluminum siding.
If they did, they would’ve seen a large dent in it from a bat that slipped out of my hands while playing Wiffle ball.
“Geez, Dad, I don’t know how that could have happened,” I said.
Which was followed by Karen saying, “He did it with a bat!”
When it eventually came time to build the fieldstone porch, Dad told me to be ready to follow directions, pay attention and do what Grandpa says!
At that time, Dad worked for the Wisconsin Conservation Department, now the Department of Natural Resources. He’d get a trailer to attach to our Willys car, and we’d go to farmers’ fields and pick stone.
But not just any stones. Grandpa wanted ones with personality – an unusual shape or color. We’d unload them in the driveway. Grandpa would take his time examining each rock and then separate them into four to five piles.
He’d be up on the ladder or scaffolding yelling down to me, “Over on the far-left pile about halfway down, there’s a rock, kinda round with a red fleck in it. Get it and bring it up to me.”
I’d do as I was told. I’d be up and down that thing 30 times a day.
I also had to mix the “mud” by hand. As I added water, I’d run a sample up to Grandpa until he deemed it just right.
It’s no surprise, given Grandpa’s skill, that the porch and the two houses he built look fantastic to this day.
They’ve stood the test of time, as have my memories of that summer with Grandpa…etched in stone.