The American log house differs from the Canadian log house principally in
the shape of the roof. Our old settlers made steep gambrel roofs to shed
the rain.
"Gambrel! Gambrel? Let me beg
You'll look at a horse's hinder leg;
First great angle above the hoof,
That's the gambrel, hence the gambrel roof."
The Canadians put very flat roofs on their log cabins, usually composed of
logs laid over the rafters, making them strong enough to support the heavy
weight of snow. The American log cabins, as a rule, are built in a milder
climate, and the flat sod roof is peculiar to our Northern boundary and
the hot, arid parts of our country. We build the chimneys outside of our
log cabins because, as the old settlers would say, "thar's more room out
thar" (see Figs. 271, 273).