HAYDEN LAKE - The old red barn on Gregg Mattson's property has been an area landmark for more than 80 years.

The barn, which is 40 feet by 60 feet, sits in the footprint of the previous two.

"An old-timer told me two predecessors burned down before this one was constructed," said Mattson, 59. "Lore says the first barn burned when Indians were sleeping there. The second succumbed to a hay fire."

Since he moved to what his family calls "The Farm" along Lancaster Road he has done a lot of historical research into the property. His family has spent the past decade there.

The humble shack currently used as a dry storage sits next to a 70-foot tall, 80-plus-year-old concrete water tower built for dairy farm operations on the farm.

That dry storage was the original dwelling built when the property was homesteaded in the late 1800s.

"The Caleb Roberts family called it home," he said. "Over the years, other buildings were constructed and removed, but this little house, the present farmhouse and the barn remain."

Much has changed since then, but not everything.

A creek still conveys its load and crackles alongside the property. And big families have continued to call it home.

Mattson said nine people were living in his family's home just two years ago. It was himself, his wife Caren, five children (all grown now), and his wife's grandparents.

The couple had a son, and thought they would have one more child, but had quadruplets (three more sons and a daughter). Only one child remains with them, a son who is attending North Idaho College.

Janna Scharf, a real estate agent helping the Mattsons sell the property, said the family is one of only a handful of previous owners in more than a century.

She said, "I love marketing a home with historical aspects. Buyers love to purchase a house that has a story."

The original property owners had seven kids, according to Mattson's research.

"Which I thought was interesting," he said. "They had nine people and we had nine people."

Past owners worked in the lumber industry, were farmers, and ran a small dairy.

"Children played with dolls and Russian tea sets in the attic and went to school in a local one-room schoolhouse," he said. "Some young woman lost her high-button shoes under the bedroom floorboards."

It all has added to the place.

"We're down to almost nothing now," as most of his large family has moved on, he said. "Now the house is just a lot. It's too much for us."

So they are selling the place, and hoping to head south, maybe to Colorado.

The property was 160 acres when first homesteaded. Today it has been cut down to five acres.

Construction of the farmhouse that's in use today began in the early 1900s not far from the tiny homestead dwelling, which is holding up, but looks every bit its age, especially inside.

The newer farmhouse started as a single story over the cellar, with a kitchen and two other rooms, and had no more than 500 square feet of floor space.

"Back then people lived in the kitchen," he said.

There was no electricity, bath, or inside water.

Newspapers served to keep cold winds from going through the Dutch-lap siding.

"This house had no insulation," he said. "This place froze up fast."

Large pines on the property were cut down and became the construction posts and beams, the kitchen counters, and a cutting board, all of which are still in use. The home also has the original potato and flour bins in the kitchen, too.

The family heated the house and cooked using a 1909 Monarch wood- and coal-fired stove. It still sits in its original place. A centrally located wood heating stove was added to the home later.

Earlier homeowners gathered water from hand-dug wells.

The concrete water tower and wells lead to indoor plumbing and hot water from a tank attached to the kitchen stove.

One family survived the Depression by converting the basement coal room into a corn storage room for making moonshine with their still. The concrete base for the operation is still in evidence today.

Modifications to the home later included the addition of a second floor, with stairs up to three bedrooms and stairs down to the cellar. An indoor bathroom eventually went in. (There are six now.)

With time, electricity replaced old oil lamps.

The newspapers were replaced by modern insulation. (The old newspapers, however, made for some interesting reading, he said.)

The farmhouse has grown with many additions to be 4,000 square feet, and includes all modern technologies, Scharf said.

Mattson said, "Through recent renovations, we found layer upon layer of the history of the people who once lived here."

See it for yourself

• Tour the homestead from

1-4 p.m. Sunday at a community open house. Address: 2203 E. Lancaster Road.