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PART TWO As Clergue indicated in his 1922 letter, LACAC discovered that the first level of the building had been divided by means of a brick wall creating a foyer and a kitchen area. Although Clergue hadn't mentioned the staircase which must have been constructed to access the second level and a suspended staircase that permitted access to the third floor, the LACAC report indicates that there are in fact such staircases and that neither staircase was damaged by the 1974 fire. The second level is bisected by a hallway, which has two large rooms off one side and three smaller rooms off the other. The two large rooms have been divided by means of cedar logs indicating that they date from Clergue's time. Cedar logs indicating that they, too, date from Clergue's construction originally divided the rooms on the opposite side of the hall. One of the rooms, however, has been subdivided using another type of material indicating that the subdivision ante-dated Clergue. This attic area is fitted with numerous built-in storage chests. Speculation is that the building was originally heated by means of a link with the heating system within the pulp mill. The building has been vacant since the 1974 fire. It was situate on property owned by St. Mary's Paper and, although the building was unused, the area surrounding the building was used as a parking lot. LACAC envisioned a time when the Block House would be not just another designated site but also an additional tourist attraction in the canal area. A feasibility study commissioned by LACAC in 1985 substantiated this position. However, a lack of funding then and in the foreseeable future meant that any hopes of restoring the Block House had to be put on hold. LACAC's plans for the Block House remained in abeyance until the fall of 1995 when St. Mary's Paper indicated that they needed the property on which the building was situate for expansion purposes. This placed LACAC and the Sault Ste. Marie Historic Sites Board in an awkward position a new home had to be found for the Block House and it had to found quickly. St. Mary's Paper requested that the building be moved or demolished by 30 July 1996. Although a number of sites in the immediate vicinity of the building's original home were suggested and investigated, at the end of the day none of them wanted the Block House. Parks Canada, which was considered to be an ideal spot, expressed the opinion that the Block House did not fit in with its master plan. After all other avenues had been exhausted, LACAC recommended to the Historic Sites Board that the Block House be moved approximately three (3) kilometres distant to the site of the Ermatinger Old Stone House. Since there was no other viable location, the geographic integrity of the site was sacrificed in order to ensure the survival of the building. The link between Charles Oakes Ermatinger and both the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company and the proximity of the new site to the St. Mary's River solidified the decision to move the Block House to the undeveloped parking lot east of the Ermatinger Old Stone House. The relocation of the Block House was a complex and highly technical operation undertaken by LACAC in conjunction with St. Mary's Paper, Heritage Sault Ste. Marie, Great Lakes Power, the Sault Ste. Marie Construction Association and numerous skilled local volunteers who each offered his or her professional expertise. Using specially designed steel cradles and two (2) cranes, the log portion of the Block House was lifted off the stone base and lowered onto a portable float. No sooner was the building lowered onto the float than the float began to sink unevenly into the soft ground surrounding the structure. There were a few anxious moments when the building appeared to shift as the float settled. The decision was immediately made to place the building directly on the ground in order to eliminate possible slippage. Once the upper level of the Block House was lifted off the base, the base was painstakingly dismantled stone by stone, appropriately marked and reassembled at the Ermatinger Old Stone House site.
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