A Slice of History in the Rental House

In an exploration of the crawl space of the rental house, I discovered the following items that lend a view into the past. 

Notes about the land and house: The original structure was built in 1955, four years before Alaska became a state. Don and Amy Irwin, Ina Belle Boss, and Mary Estella Cdsather purchased the land in 1951 from George and Elizabeth Bennett for $1 plus "other good and valuable considerations." There were two notable covenants in the Deed of Sale, the first was, "The premises hereby conveyed shall never be used for obnoxious trade or business" (this was forward thinking because Spenard would become a center for bars and brothels in the '70s). The second interesting covenant was, "No residences shall be erected, placed or maintained upon the real property hereby conveyed unless the same, when completed will have a minimum value of $4,500, the same must be completed within three years after construction has been started, and the temporary housing used during construction shall be removed on completion of the residence." That last one must have been an effort to get people to build not-quite-but-close-to-total-crap buildings. Both covenants seem to have been taken in good faith.

As you will see in the following pictures there are several things that indicate the structure was built in two phases, even though it is only 600 square feet total. One factor may have been the winter of 1954 - 1955 when there was 11 feet of snow (almost twice the average and the second snowiest year on record). The snowiest year was 2011 - 2012.

Does anyone know what this is? It about a foot and a half in diameter and cast iron. Update: This fascinating hunk of cast iron is part of a coal fired furnace that likely was the original source of heat for the house. Burning coal would heat a heat exchanger that would push warm air into the house by natural convection. 

Antique fuse.

New drain pipe into old.

Another cast iron metal piece about a foot and a half in diameter. It probably weighs 300 pounds. Update: This is the heat exchanger section of the coal furnace.

End view.

Another huge cast iron piece. Update: This is where the coal was burned in the furnace. 

Peg and tube wiring (not in use).

Stop sign! Good advice, apparently crawl spaces are the second highest cause of work injuries after trips and falls according to OSHA.

It is hard to see in the pictures, but the floor boards on one side are wider and run a different direction than the boards on the other side. This is one indication that the house was built in phases.

The floor boards on the other half of the building.

There is a gap that runs up inside the wall between the two halves. Also indicating a break in construction.

This is the join in the foundation in the middle of the house. One half of the crawl space was dug considerably deeper than the other side.

A burned (non-structural) beam and undercutting below the footing.

New drain pipe and old water lines for the bath tub.

Antique light fixture.

Old jar holders for fasteners presumably.

Tillie checking behind the oven upstairs.