Inuvik (Oct 01/04) - A Hudson Bay calendar still hangs on its walls. The last date crossed off is Sept. 18, 1989 -- the day before Lucy Adams moved from the cabin her husband Jimmy Adams built in 1946.

"(Jimmy) finished the sod roof a year later and it never leaked," she said of the building's dependable construction.

While the cabin may have fared well against the elements, erosion of the shoreline has caused part of the structure to collapse into the river.

Moe Grant, who conducts boat tours on the river during the summer months, thinks an effort should be made to save and restore the structure.

"There isn't really any historic cabins on the river," said Grant during a boat trip with Lucy Adams aboard for the journey.

For Adams, who raised six children at the cabin, the place evokes pleasant memories.

"There were tiny little pine trees when we moved here and now they are all big," she remarked while passing the site.

As far as saving the old homestead, Adams wasn't convinced.

Nevertheless, Grant and Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development regional tourism officer Judith Venaas believe saving the place would be a worthwhile endeavour.

"I'm all for history and trying to hang on to (the cabin) if we can," said Venaas.

Unfortunately, she said, there was not any funding available through RWED for such a project right now.

"Whatever happens, it will have to be done in the winter time."

Grant explained that the frozen river would allow them to drive the heavy equipment out and pull the Adams cabin from the brink.

However, this winter could be the last chance to save the cabin.

"If we wait one more spring, it will be gone," said Grant while steering Adams and several sightseers back through the delta to Inuvik shores.

Similar pursuit

Five years ago in Tuktoyaktuk, Abraham Klenenberg spearheaded a successful project to preserve a sod house his father built.

In addition, Klenenberg and two assistants constructed a replica dwelling.

"The original was built by my father and other people in the 1960s," said Klenenberg. "(Preserving it) was very important as something for visitors to see."

With $30,000 in RWED funding, Klenenberg and his crew hauled logs from up river and set about the task of recreating the original.

History aside, Klenenberg says the warmth and durability of the old sod houses was much better than today's prefab units, which dot Tuktoyaktuk.

"(Sod houses) were very warm," he recalled. "And you couldn't even hear the wind blowing outside."