It's been said on this thread that Alaskans have been curiously silent on the
issue of outhouses.  Well, dawg my cats, maybe I'll speak up. . .

I grew up using outhouses of all shapes and descriptions in various camps across
Alaska.  For the last eight years I've lived in log cabins with no running water
and outdoor plumbing.  I only recall living in one cabin where the privy was
more than 10 meters away from the house; most of the privies were just right off
the corner, usually at right around the 10m (30ft.) mark.  As for that one privy
that was beyond the 10m barrier, I recall being really annoyed at the hike
needed to reach it.

Before my archaeology carreer took off, I worked as a contractor, specializing
in cabins with no running water, and I've built my fair share of outhouses.
Looking back, the one factor that, more than anything, seems to influence where
the client wanted their outhouse placed was pure aesthetics.  Some people wanted
the outhouse hidden behind some trees, some people wanted the outhouse in plain
view, treated as just another outbuilding.  However, the most common thing was
for the client to want the outhouse placed back at the edge of the clearing, in
a diagonal line back from one of the rear corners of the cabin.  Distance was
usually right about 10 meters.  Far enough to keep the flies and smell from
entering the cabin, but close enough that it's not a polar expedition to get
there in the middle of the winter.

I do agree very much with the previous post that we should be looking more at
measurement data of house-to-privy distances throughout the decades, and how
that correlates (or doesn't correlate) to historical understandings of health
and sanitation.  Ultimately I think that's more useful than current
interpretations of outhouse lore, my own included.  However, I think it's a
foolish archaeologist or historian who totally ignores things such as the
experiences of modern people with practical, day in, day out use of outhouses.
Human excrement didn't smell any sweeter in 1750 than it does now.


Kris Farmen
Northern Land Use Research, Inc.
Fairbanks, Alaska