text: The U.S. put the first man on the moon, but in a strange twist of history it appears the Russians may have beat America in settling Oregon. Experts proposed this new theory in a recently released 200-page report on the Molalla Log Cabin, a structure they believe could have been built as early as 1795 - ten years before Lewis and Clark reached the Pacific Ocean. Historic building repairer Gregg Olson and architectural historian Pam Hayden have been analyzing the log cabin for seven years and say it is unlike anything else found in Oregon. Secrets hidden in wood: Experts believe the Molalla Log House (above) was constructed as early as 1795 - a decade before Lewis and Clark reached the Pacific Ocean . One of a kind: The construction of the log cabin is unlike pioneer building methods at the time - suggesting it was instead made by foreigners . Russians in America: Historic building repairer Gregg Olson and architectural historian Pam Hayden believe the house could have been used by a small settlement of Russians sent to the Willamette Valley as farmers to feed fur traders in Alaska . Passion project: Gregg Olson (pictured), of Historic Building Repair, has spend seven years working on the Molalla Log Cabin . The cabin's intricate construction is not consistent with pioneer building methods, suggesting it was created by foreigners, and more specifically Russians. The way the logs are tightly interwoven, secured without nails and leaving no gaps to fill, is similar to Russian log cabins of the same time period, when Catherine the Great was sending envoys to Alaska to boost the fur trade. Olson and Hayden hypothesize that the 18-foot-wide cabin could have been a home for a small group of 10 to 50 Russian settlers sent to Oregon's Willamette Valley as farmers to feed the fur trappers on Alaska's Kodiak Island. Looking for a home: Above, a view of the cabin before its roof collapsed and it was moved indoors in 2008. Olson and Hayden are currently trying to find a permanent place to house the cabin . The first mobile home: Olson discovered that the original builders of the cabin wrote numbers into the boards, so that the structure could be disassembled and reassembled . Expert craftsmanship: The boards fit perfectly together so that nothing is needed to fill in the gaps and winterize the structure for winter . Many uses: Throughout its storied life, the Molalla Log Cabin has been used as a home, animal shelter, machine shed and granary . Preserved: The structure was made a historical landmark in 1991 and moved in doors in 2007 when the wood was starting to succumb to the elements . Current home: Above, the structure as it sits today in a storage facility where Olson has been working to preserve the cabin . 'The unique construction and extraordinary craftsmanship of the Molalla Log House offer fascinating clues to a mystery that we didn't even know existed about the earliest white exploration and settlement of the Pacific Northwest,' Peggy Moretti, executive director of Restore Oregon, a non-profit helping fund the research, told the Oregonian. 'It may well add a new chapter to our history and we hope more evidence will be uncovered to further substantiate Pam and Gregg's very compelling theory,' Moretti added. Olson and Hayden are now hoping to find a permanent location to house the structure, as well as someone with a deeper knowledge of European construction to analyze the cabin. Russian expansion: Russian merchant Grigory Shelikhov founded a fur trading settlement on Kodiak Island in 1784. Above, a rendering of the port . Business on the Alaska frontier: Above, a 1794 drawing of the Russian fur trading post in Kodiak, Alaska . Tsarina: Russia's Catherine the Great encouraged the expansion of her empire to Alaska for fur trading . Above, a map shows where Russian traders set up fur trading business in Alaska, and their possible farming settlement near Molalla Oregon . Throughout its storied life, the Molalla Log Cabin has been used as a home, animal shelter, machine shed and granary. It was made a historic landmark in 1991 and moved to a storage facility in 2008 to protect it from further erosion. The oldest evidence of habitation in are the Fort Rock and Paisley Caves in Lake County, Oregon, which date back 13,200 years. By 8,000 BC there were settlements throughout the state. The first Europeans to venture to Oregon were led by Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo in 1543. By the 1770s, Oregon had become a valuable port for trading to Asia. In the wake of Lewis and Clark's expedition, which reached the Pacific Ocean in November 1805, French Canadian trappers and missionaries started arriving in the eastern part of the state. Their presence in Oregon's early pioneer history is evidence in the many French names throughout the state including Malheur Lake, the Grade Ronde and Deschutes rivers and the city of La Grande.
target: New report says Molalla Log Cabin could have been built as early as 1795 .
  Lewis and Clark reached the Pacific Ocean in 1805 .
  The construction of the log cabin is not representative of pioneer building methods at the time - suggesting it was made by foreigners .
  Report's authors propose the cabin could have been used by Russian settlers farming in the area to support fur traders in Alaska .