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AMERICArBb^
HANDY BOOK OF
CAMP-LORE &

WOODGRART

^^t^mA^

ALBERT R. MANN
LIBRARY
AT

CORNELL UNIVERSITY

Cornell University Library

SK 601.B34
...

The American boys' handybook of camp

3 1924 003 708 843

The
tlie

original of

tliis

book

is in

Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright

restrictions in

the United States on the use of the text.

http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003708843

WOODCRAFT SERIES

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

FOURTH IMPRESSION

DAN BEABD'8 WOODCRAFT SERIES

American Boys' Handybook
of Camp-lore and Woodcraft
S77 lUustratums
Open* a new world of e^rt. Beginning with the making
of campfires, the author initiates the lover of outdoor life
into all the mysteries of woodcraft.

American Boys' Book of Bugs,

Butterflies and Beetles
$80 Illustrations
"Dan Beard has

invented

a new method of studying

natural hiatoiy.
He opens a door that will tempt ervery
live boy and his sister as well ^into this fascinating world."

American

forestry

American Boys' Book of Signs,

Signals and Symbols
S6S Illustrations
"Dan Beard has recognized the interest every normal boy
has in signs and signals. This is a boolE which should ba
popular with all boys, as it gives them much material that
can be introduced into their games and their excursions."
Springfield Republican

American Boys' Book of Wild Animals

Profusely illustrated
"Just what the boys ordered. It tells everything about the
animals and abounds with pictures. Every page is rich in
Uncle Dan's own experience."
Times Star^ Cincinnati

American Boys' Book of Birds

and Brownies of the Wood
Profusely illustrated

"No

is complete without this book."

Times Start Cincinnati
"Will cause a hike in the woods to be a joyful and everto-be-remembered event."
New York Post

boy's library

Do

it

Yourself

Profusely illustrated
Just the book boys who love hiking and camping hare
been waiting for. It will make any "tenderfoot" an accomplished

woodsman.

Wisdom

of the Woods
Sis Illustrations

Buckskin Book
for Buckskin

Men and Boys

Profusely Ulustrated

WOODCRAFT SERIES

THE AMERICAN BOYS'

HANDYBOOK OF CAMPLORE AND WOODCRAFT
BY

DAN BEARD
FOUNDBB OF THE FIRST BOY BCOUTB SOCIETY; AT7THOB OF "THB
AMBRICAN BOYS* BOOK OF SION8, BIQHAL8 AND BTUBOLB," XTC.

WITH

S77

ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR

PHILADELPHIA AND LONDON

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY

flOPTMGHT, 1920, BY BBATBICE ALTCK BEARD

TUB RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION ARE RESERVED

Co/

///^J

PRINTED IN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

TO

Geobge DtjPont Peatt

commissioner of conservation, state op new tobk
scout, sportsman and outdoor man

FOREWORD TO THE SECOND

EDITION
BoTS, if this foreword is too "highbrow" for your taste,
it, but the author don't beHeve you will, and even if
he has used some dictionary words he feels that you will
forgive him after he tells you that he did so only because of
the lack of time to think up more simple terms. What he
wants to say is that
Boyhood is a wonderful and invaliuble asset to the nation,

skip

for in the breast of every

rialists call it

boy there

is

a divine spark, mate-

the "urge of youth," others call

it

the "Christ

in man," the Quakers call it the "inner light," but all view
it with interest and anxiety, the ignorant with fear and the

wise with imderstanding sympathy, but also with a feeling

akin to awe.

Those of us who think we know boys,

feel

that this "inner

light" illuminating their wonderful powers of imagination,

is

the compelling force culminating in the vigorous accom-

plishments of manhood.

It

is

the force which sent Columbus

voyaging over the unknown seas, which sent Captain Cook

on his voyage around the world, the same force which carried Lindbergh in his frail airship across the Atlantic.
it is

Yes,

the sublime force which has inspired physicians and

laymen to

cheerfully risk

and

sacrifice their lives in search

of the cause of Yellow Fever, Anthrax, Hydrophobia and

other communicable diseases

no, not for science but

for

HUMANITY!

FOREWORD TO THE SECOND EDITION

As a boy, the author dreamed of wonderful municipal
playgroimds, of organizations giving the boys opportunity
to camp in the open, of zoological and botanical gardens
planned and adapted to the understanding of youth. His
busy life as a civil engineer, surveyor, and work in the open

gave him no opportunity to develop his dreams, but at the

of a five year tour of the United States and Canada,

end

made over fifty years ago, he drifted into New York City
and was shocked beyond expression by the almost total lack
of breathing spaces for our boys, in the greatest of American
True, it then had Central Park; but fifty years ago
cities.
Central Park was out among the goats, only t6 be reached
by a long and tiresome horse car journey.
This lamentable state of

much

real pain

affairs

caused the writer so

and concern that he then and there

in-

augurated a personal crusade for the benefit of the boys, a

crusade with the avowed object of winning for

them the

peoples' interest in the big outdoors.

The most diflicult part of

men of the swivel chairs that

his task

was to convince the

boys' leisure should be spent

in the open; that the blue sky is the only proper roof for a
normal boy's playground; also that the open spaces are the
places where God intended young people to live, work and

play.

No great crusade, no great movement of any kind is one

man's work, nevertheless, every successful movement must
have one enthusiast in the front rank, one who knows the
trail and comprehensively envisions the objective
objectum
quad complexum. Others may and will join him, and occaahead of the leader, like the hare in the fable,
but the enthusiast keeps right on just the same.
Ptay do not understand by this that the writer claims
sionally spurt

FOREWORD TO THE SECOND EDITION

that he alone

is

responsible for thfe bloodless revolution.

No, no, his propaganda work did however win for him the
moral support of the editorial staflP of St. Nicholas, Youth's
Companion and Harpers. Later he was openly backed and
encouraged by such distinguished sportsmen as President
Roosevelt, his chief forester Governor Pinchot, and his Chief

While the stalwart men of the

hand and glove with
him, all similar organizations failed not in voicing their
approval. Furthermore he was always helped by his loyal
friends of the daily press. Many famous writers lent their
influence, all working consciously or unconsciously to help
the great cause of boyhood.
of Staff

Camp

Major General

Bell.

Fire Club of America worked

The author only

claims that, in

all

these fifty long years,

he has never ceased to work for the boys, never wavered in

and now? ^well, when he marched at the head
of fifty thousand Scouts in the great muddy outdoor Scout
camp at Birkenhead, England, he realized that his ephemeral

his purpose,

had
Mother E^rth.
air castles

settled

down

to a firm foundation

upon

we have won a great victory for boyhoodl We

by iteration and reiteration, in other words, by

Yes, boys

have won

it

shouting hutdoors,

talking

outdoors,

picturing

outdoors,

and above all by writing about the ovidoors, and constantly hammering on one subject and keeping one purpose always in view. By such means we have
singing outdoors

at last, not only interested the people of the United States

stampeded the whole world to the forests

So let us all join in singing the old Methodist

in the open, but

and the

hymn:

fields.

FOREWORD TO THE SECOND EDITION

"Shout, shout,

we

are

gaming ground.

Glory, Hallelujah!

The

Devil's

kingdom

we'll

put down.

Glory, Hallelujah!"

The

kingdom in this case is the ill-ventilated

and courts.
It is well to note that the work in this book was not done
the library, but either in the open itself or from notes and
Devil's

school rooms, offices

in

made

sketches

cooking

fire,

in the open.

When

telling

how

to build a

for instance, the author preferred to

diagrams from the

fires built

by

himself or

by

make

his

his wilderness

than to trust to information derived from some other

man's books. It is much easier to make pictures of imprac-

friends,

than to build them. The paste pot and scissors

occupy no place of honor in our woodcraft series.
So, Boys of the Open, throw aside your new rackets, your
tical fires

croquet mallets, and your boiled shirts

^pull on your buckwar whoop and be what God intended

you should be; healthy wholesome boys. This great Republic belongs to you and so does this
Book of Camp-Lobe and Woodcbaft.

skin leggings, give a

Dan Beabd
Suffem,

New

December
1930.

York,

first,

FOREWORD
Hidden

in

a drawer in the antique highboy, back of the

moose head

in

my studio,

there are specimens of Indian bead

work, bits of buckskin, necklaces

made of the teeth of animals,

a stone calumet, my old hunting knife with its rawhide sheath

and carefully folded in oiled paper ^is the jerked tenderloin
of a grizzly bear!
But that is not all for more important still is a mysterious
wooden flask containing the castor or the scentgland of a
beaver, which is carefully rolled up in a bit of buckskin

embroidered with mystic Indian

The

flask

was given to

me

signs.

as "big medicine"

by Bow-

arrow, the Chief of the Montinais Indians. Bow-arrow said

and

I believe

him

^that

when one

inhales the odor of the

castor from this medicine flask one's soul and

body are then

and forever afterwards permeated with a great and abiding
love of the big outdoors. Also, when one eats of the mystic
grizzly bear's flesh, one's body acquires the strength and
courage of this great animal.

During the
of

my

boys,

^ven a

initiation of the

known

members of a Spartan band

Men, each candidate is
bear meat and a whiff of the

as the Buckskin

thin slice of the grizzly

beaver castor.

Of

course,

we know

that people with imromantic and

unimaginative minds will

call

this

sentimentalism.

We

people of the outdoor tribes plead guilty to being sentimentalists;

right,

but we

hum from experience that old Bow-arrow was

because we have ourselves eaten of the grizzly bear and

smelled the castor of the beaver!

FOREWORD

vi

While the writer cannot give each of his readers a taste

of this coveted bear meat in material form, or a whiflE of the
beaver medicine, direct from the wooden flask made by the
late Bow-arrow's own hands, still the author hopes that the
magical qualities of this great medicine will enter into and

form a part of the subject matter of this book, and through

that medium inoculate the souls and bodies of his readers,
purify

them and rejuvenate them with a love

AS God

Made

of the

World

It.

DAN BEARD
June, 1920

CONTENTS
Chapteb
I.

Page

PIKE MAKING BY FRICTION

How

TO Makb a Fibb-bojibd, Bow, Dbiu, asd Thdibls. Iicsiah

Lbgsmd of the Sodbce of Fibe. Recobd Fibe-uaksbs. RvBBisaBTICK Outfit. Eskimo Thimble. Bow, Bow-btbinq, Thimble, FibeBOABD, FlEE-PAN. TiNDEB, ChABBED KaOB, PdFF BaLLS. FiBE-MAEEBS
of the Balkait. Fibb Withodt a Bow, Co-li-li, the Fibb Saw.
Fibe Pumpinq op the iBoqnoia. Ptbopneumatic Appabatus

n. FIRE

MAKING BY PERCUSSION

21

Thh White Man's Method, How to Use Flint and Stsel. Whxbb
TO Obtain the Funt and Steel. Chuckhuceb, Pdnk Boxes, Spunks
AND Matches. Real Luciriai Matches. Slow Match.
Catch the Spabk. StrasTiTUTES fob Flint and Steel

ni.

HOW TO

How

to

BUILD A FIRE

38

How

to Lay and Light a Fibb. An Expebience with Tenderfeet.

Modern Fbab op DoiNa Manual Labob. Matches. Febe-uakebs
AND Babylonians. The Palpitating Heabt of the Camp. Gumuy
Fagots of the Fine. How to Make a Fibe in Wet Weatheb. Backwoodsmen's Fibe. The Necessity of Suall Kindling Wood. Good
Fibewood. Advantage of Split Wood. Fibe-dogs. How to Opebt
A Knife. How to Whittle, How to Split a Stick with a Knife.
BONFIBES AND CotJNCIL FlHES. CaMP MeETINO ToBCH FiBEB. EXPLODING Stones. Chabacteb in Fibb. Slow Fibes, Signal Fibes

AND SUUDGSS
IV.

HOW TO LAY A GOOD COOKING

FIRE

Peesonal Expebience ow Shobt Bationb. The Mobt PannTira

OF Cooking Outfits. Camp Po't-hookb, the Gallow-cbooe, the Potclaw, THE Hake, the Gib, the Spbygelia and the Sabteb. TbudOBAPH Wms Cooking Implements, Wibe Gbid-iboh, Skeleton Camp
Stove.
Cooking Fibes, Fihe-dogs, Roasting Fibe-lat, Campfibb Lay, Bblmobe Lay, Fbyino Fibe Lay, Baking Fibb Lay. Thb
AuBES Cbane

V.

CAMP KITCHENS

79

Cowboy Fibs-^ole. Chinook CookBabbeccb-pitb. The Gold Diggeb's Oven. Thb

Febouson Camp Stove. The Adobe Oven. The Altab CAUPrraa
Place. Camp Kitchen W>b Hccebb, Scouts, Explobebb, Subvetobs
AND Hitntbbs. How to Cook Meat, Fibh and Bbead Without Pots,
Fans ob Stoves. Dbessing Small Anoulb. How to Babbecue
Camp

Pit-fibes,

Bean Holes.

ing Fibe-hole.

Labgb Animals

VI.

CAMP FOOD
How

101

Make Abe

Cake, Pone, Cobn Dodgebb, Flapjacks, Johnnycake, Biscuits and Doughood. Making Dutch Ovens. Vehisom.
Banquets in the Open. How to Cook Beaveb Tail, Pobcupinsb
AND MUSEBATS. CaMP SteWB, BbUNSWICK StBWS AND BuBGOOS
to

Vn. PACKING HORSES

How TO Make a Pack

128
Hobsb or Youb Own.

How

to

Make an

Apabejo. How to Make a Cincha. How to Make a Latigo. How

TO liaow A Diamond Hitch. How to Thbow a Squaw Hitch. How
A' Hobse in Open Land Without Post, Tbee ob Stick ob
Stone. Use of Hobbles and How to Make Them. How the Tbavoib
Buffalo Bill and Genehal Miles. How to
IS Made and Used.
Thbow Down a Saddle. How to Thbow a Saddle on a Hobbi. How
to Mount a Hobsb. How to Know a Webtzbh Hobss

to Hitch

vii

CONTENTS

vui

Vm. THE USE OP DOGS. MAN PACKING

145

HiKiNo D008, Pack Doob. How to Pack a Doo. How to Tbbow

THE Doo Hitch. How to Make Dos Tsavoib. Doo as a Beabt or
BuBDEN nr EuBOPE AND ARCTIC AuEBicA. Man Packhto. Pack Rats.
Don't Fiobt Youb Pack. Fobtaob Pack. Gbeat Men Who Hath
Cabbied a Pack. Kjsdb of Packb. Alpinx Rucksack. Osiom ov
Bboas Bbbabt Stbapb. Make Youb Own Outfits

EX.

PREPARING FOR CAMPING TRIP

165

Pobtebb of the Pobtage. Olo-tiue IiniiAN Fiohtebs aus Wnj>

Animals. Modebn Stampede fob the Open. How to Get Ready
FOB Camp. Cdt Vodb Fjnqeb Nails. Go to Yodb Dentist. Get a
Haib Cot. A Bdckbkin Man's Pocket. Flt Dope. Pbotectioh
AoAiNBT Black Fuis, Mosquitoes, MiDOnns and No-see-cmb, The
Call op the Wild

X.

SADDLES

183

How

to Choose a Saddle. Evolution of the Mexican Saddle.

BntTH OF the Bluff Fronted Saddle. The Cowbot Age. Sawbuckb
OB Pack Saddles. Straight Leo and Bent Knee. Nauzs of Fabts
of Saddle. Centbb Fibe and Double Cinch

XI.

CHOOSING A CAMP SITE

196

'Ware Single Tbeeb or Small Gboups of Tbeeb. Safett in Woods

OB Forest. Keep Your Eteb Open for Good Camp Sjtbb. Cbobs
Stbeams While Crossing is Good. Keep to Windward of Mobquito
Holes. 'Ware Antb' Nestb. How to Tell when Wind Blows. EtoLUnoN OF THE ShaCK. HoW TO SwEEP. How TO MAKE CaMP BbDB.
How to Divide Camp Work. Tent Pegs. How to Pitch a Tent
Single-handed. Bow to Ditch a Tent, Use of Shsabs, Gins
AND Tripods

Xn. AXE

AND SAW

217

OuB Gbeatest Axeman. Impobtahob of the Axe. What Kind of

Axe to Use. How to Swing an Axe. How to Remove a Bbokbn
Axe Handle. How to Tighten the Handle in the Head. Accidents.
The Brains of an Axe. Etiquette of the Axe. How to Sharpen
AN Axe. How to "Fall" a Tree. How to Swamp. How to Make
A Beetle or Mall. How to Harden Green Wood. How to Make a
Firewood Hod. How to Make a Chopping Block. The Proper
Wat to Chop. How to Make Sawbucks for Loos. How to Ubb a
Pabbdoklb. How 10 Split a Loo. How to Use a Sawpit

Xm. COUNCIL GROUNDS AND FIRES

Chebokee Indian Council Babseoue.

245
Camp Mebtins Counch.

Ground. The Indian Pazjsaded Council Fibs. Indian Legends

OF THIS FtRE. StEALINO THE FiBE FBOM THE 8uN-MaIDENS OF THE
East. Mtths of the Mewan Indians. Totems of the Foub Winds,
Four Mountainb and Four Points of the Compass. Impractical
Council Fires. Advantages of the Oval Council Ground. How
TO Make an Ellipse. How to Divide the Council Ground in Four
Courts. Council Cebemonies. Ghost Walk and Path of Knowledge. What the Diffebent Colobs Stand fob. Patriotism, Poetrt
AND Americanism. Camp MEETrae Torch Fires

XIV.

RITUAL OF THE COUNCIL FIRE

Fboobau of a Council Fibs.
F

Ali> Amzbicahb.

Afpzal

Ibvooatiob.

265

The Plxdsb and Cimm

CHAPTER

FIRE MAKING BY FRICTION

BOW

TO MAKE A FIBIX-BOARD, BOW, VSCLL AND THIUBLB

INDIAN IGBND OF THE SOUBCE OF FIBS

KBCOBD FERE-UAKEIBS
RTIBBINO-STICE OTPTFIT

E5EIUO TW TlfRT.TR
BOW, Bow-sTBiNG, thuible, hbe-boabd, firs-pan
TENDEB, CHABRED RAGS, PUFF BMJLB
FIBE-MAEERS OF THE BAIiKAN
FIRE WITHOUT A BOW, CO-U-LI, THE FIBE SAW
FIBE PUUEMNG OF THE IBOQUOIB
FXBOFNEmfATIC AFPARAXUS

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

CHAPTER

FIRE MAKING BY FRICTION

When the

"what-is-its" of Pithecantropus erectus age

men were moping aroimd the

rough sketch of an earth, there were no camp-fires; the

aad other
only

fire

like hob-goblin

volcanic

hearts

craters,

or

form of lightning.

upon

who

knew was that which struck

when it was vomited forth from
came crashing among them in the

that these creatures

terror to their

No wonder that the primitive men looked

as a deity, no doubt an evil deity at

fixe

later

When

first

but one

became good.
the vast

glacier period

and

fields of ice

covered Europe during the

men

to think or die, necessity

forced

developed a prehistoric Edison among the Neanderthal men,

who discovered how

to build and control a

his race from being frozen in the ice

fire,

thus saving

and kept on cold

storage,

and elephant of Siberia.

The fire of this forgotten and unknown glacier savage was
the forerunner of our steam-heaters and kitchen ranges; in
fact, without it we could have made no progress whatever,
for not only the humble kitchen range, but the great factories
and power-plants are all depending upon the discovery made
like the hairy rhinoceros

by the

shivering,

teeth-chattering

European

who was hopwarm among the

savage

ping aroimd and trying to keep himself

glaciers.

But we people

of the camp-fires are

primitive fires just as the Neanderthal

more interested

men

built

in

them, than
3

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

we

are in the roaring furnaces of the steel works, the volcano

any of the
and commerce.

blast furnaces, or
of factory

scientific,

What we love is the genial,

Homaday

old-fashioned camp-fire in the

on the mountainside, or

open, on the broad prairie,

dark and mysterious

conunercialized fires

forests,

in the

where, as our good friend Dr.

says.

We will pile on pine and spruce,

Mesquite roots and sagebrush

loose.

Dead bamboo and smelly teak.

And with fagots blazing bright

Bum a hole into the night

Not long ago the author was up North
lake country of Canada,

between two wild and lonely

himself a
burl,

lakes,

is

unmapped

2,

Van Vleck made

a thimble made of a

Scout Joe

fire outfit consisting of Fig. 1,

with which to hold Fig.

Fig. 3

in the

and while camping on the portage

the spindle

made

a bow cut from a standing bush; not an

of balsam.

elastic

bow.

FIRE MAKING BY FRICTION

such as one uses with which to shoot arrows, but a

bow with

a permanent bend to it. Fig. 4 is the fire -pan which is placed

under the fire-board to catch the charcoal dust as it falls
through the slot when the spindle is twirled.
Fig. 5 is the fire-board, made of a dead balsam tree which
was standing within three yards of the camp-fire.
In order to make his fire it was necessary for our Scout to
have some tinder, and this he secured from the bark of cedar
trees, also within a few yards of our camp. This indeed was
a novel experience, for seldom is material so convenient. The
fire was built in a few seconds, much to the wonderment of
our Indian guide, and the delight of some moose hunters
who chanced to be crossing the portage on which our camp
was located.
It was an American, Dr. Walter Hough of the U. S.
National Museum of Washington, who first proved that a
modern up-to-date civilized white man can make a fire with
rubbing-sticks, as well as the primitive man. But it was an
Englishman who popularized this method of making fire, introduced it among the Boy Scouts of England and America,
and the sister organizations among the girls.
According to the American Indian legend the animal

people

who

inhabited the earth before the

darkness in California.

Redmen

lived in

There was the coyote man, the vul-

man, the white-footed mouse man, and a lot of other

Away over East somewhere there was light
because the sun was over there, and the humming-bird man
ture

fabled creatures.

among the animal people of our Indians is the one, according

to Dr. Merriman, who stole the fire from the East and carried
The mark of it is still there. The next
it under his chin.
time you see a humming-bird note the
fire

under his chin.

brilliajit

spot of red

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

Now

you understand why the king-pin

ing at your

camp deserves the

title

of

in fire

mak-

Le-che-che (the

humming-bird).
If

and bow in
appromore
then the title of Le-chfrche is all the

one gets the

record time,

priate because it
fire in

fire

from a

fire-board, spindle

was the hiunming-bird man who hid the

the oo-noo tree, and to this day,

when the Indian wants

he goes to the oo-noo (buckeye) tree to get it; that is,

provided he has no matches in the pockets of his store clothes

fire,

and that some white boy, like the Scout previously mentioned,
has taught him how to make fire as did the Indian's own
ancestors. But even then the do-noo* wood must be
dead and dry.

made
Frederick C. Reed of

Austin Norton of Ypsilanti, Michigan, April, 1912,

fire

in thirty-nine

and

one-fifth seconds;

Washington, in December, 1912,

made fire in thirty-one

made fire in thirty

onds; Mr. Ernest MUler of St. Paul

sec-

sec-

was Mr. Arthur Forbush, one of the author's

Scouts of the Sons of Daniel Boone (the scout organization
which preceded both the English Boy Scouts and the Boy
Scouts of America) who broke the record time in making fire

onds, but

it

with "rubbing-sticks" by doing

it

in twenty-nine seconds at

Show at Madison Square Garden, New

York. Mr. Forbush made this record in the presence of the
author and many witnesses. Since then the same gentleman
reduced his own world-record to twenty-six and one-fifth
seconds
by this time even that record t may have been

the Sportsman's

broken.

The

"rubbing-stick"

is

a picturesque, sensational

* It is not the buckeye of the Ohio and Mississippi Valley, but

nut buckeye of California, iSsculus Califomica.

The

record

is

now

eleven seconds.

and
is

the

FERE MAKING BY FRICTION

interesting

method

of building a

but to-day

fire,

7
it is

of little

practical use outside of the fact that it teaches one to over-

come obstacles, to do things with the tools at hand, to think

and act with the vigor, precision and self-confidence of a
primitive man.

1D'5'^>^C.
"Rubbing-stick" Outfit

Ever since the writer was a small boy he has read about
making fire by rubbing "two chips " or " two sticks " together,
and he was under the impression then, and is under the impression now, that no one can build a fire in that maimer.

When we
slovenly

find reference to rubbing-sticks

manner

of describing the

other similar friction

one requires first a

fire

it is

bow and

implements.

probably a

drill

and the

For the bow and

drill

CAMP-LOBE AND WOODCRAFT

Thimble
(Figs. 1, lA, IB,

IC and ID). This

is

a half round stone

it

may be

inlay of a piece of stone.

In the

or pebble, a halt round burl or knot of wood, or

made

of soft

wood with an

bottom of the thimble there is always a shallow hole or socket;

see S on Figs. 1, lA, IB, IC, and ID. The thimble is an
invention of the Eskimos (Fig. IC); they keep the spindle

upright

by holding the pointed upper end

drilled into

of it in a hole (S)

a piece of serpentine, or soapstone.

The author has a thimble

personally

made

for

him by

Major David Abercrombie. This beautiful implement is

made of hard fine-grained wood carved into the form of a
beetle (Fig. IB).
It is inlaid with copper and semi-precious
stones. The socket hole was drilled into a piece of jade (B),
using for the purpose some sand and the drill shown in Fig. 23.
There was a piece of steel pipe set into the end of the wooden
drill

with which to bore a hole into the hard jade.

was then

inlaid or set into the

thimble,

and cemented

has a thimble

made

IB. The author also

him by Edmund Seymour of the

there, Fig.

for

Camp-fire Club of America.

with a hole drilled in

It

is

it,

not necessary to

bow for power,

The jade

middle of the bottom of the

This thimble

is

a stone

fossil

Fig. lA.
tell

the reader that

when using the

down with

the twirling spindle cannot be held

tho bare hand, consequently the use of the thimble for that

purpose

is

necessaiy.

fashioned that

it

Fig.

may be

IC shows an Eskimo thimble

so

held in the fire-maker's mouth.

The Bow
Is a stick or branch of wood (Figs. 3, 3E, 3F and 3G) about
a foot and a half long and almost an inch in diameter, which

FIRE
/

MAKING BY FRICTICM

has a pennanent bend in

have been made

the bend may be natural or may

it

artificially.

To

the

bow is attached a slack

The Eskimos, more

thong, or durable string of some kind.

made themselves beautiful bows

them from wahnis tusks, which they shaved

inventive than the Indians,

of ivory, carving

down and strung with a

loose strip of walrus hide.

The Bow String

The

objection to

whang

apt to be too greasy, so

if

string or belt lacing is that it is

one can secure a

strip of buckskin,

buckskin thong about two inches wide, and twist

string, it will

it

probably best serve the pm^jose (Fig.

into

6).

The Spindle
The
which

spindle

is

is

American Indians without the bow

stick or spindle

2, 2A, 2B and 2C)

and was used by our

the twirling stick (Figs.

usually about a foot long

may be

(Fig. 7).

three-quarters of

The

an inch

twirling

in diameter

at the middle; constant use and sharpening will gradually

shorten the spindle.

must be made.

When

The end

it

becomes too short a new one

of the spindle should not be

made

sharp like a lead pencil, but should have a dull or rounded

end, with which to bore into the fire-board, thus producing
fine,

hot charcoal, which in time becomes a spark: that

is,

growing ember.

The Fms-BOAKD
The

fire-board (Figs. 5

and 5A) should be made

of spruce,

cedar, balsam, tamarack, cottonwood root, basswood,

and

even dry white pine, maple and, probably, buckeye wood. It

should not be made of black walnut, oak or chestnut, or any

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

10

wood which has a gummy or resinous quality. The fire-board

should be of dry material which will powder easily.

Hough reconunends maple

it is called in the Boy Scout Handbook. Make

Dr.

for the fire-board, or "hearth, " as

the fire-board

about eleven inches long, two inches wide and three-quarters

of an inch thick.

Near the edge of the board, and two inches from the end,
begin a row of notches each three-quarter inch long and cut
down through the fire-board so as to be wider at the bottom.
At the inside end of each notch make an indenture only
sufficiently deep to barely hold the end of your spindle while
you make the preliminary twirls which gradually enlarge the
socket to

fit

the end of your spindle.

The FraE-PAN
The

wooden dust-pan used

to catch the charred dust as it is pushed out by the twirling
spindle (Fig. 4)
The use of the fire-pan is also an Eskimos
fire-pan is a chip, shiagle or

idea,

but they cut a step in their driftwood fire-board

(Fig. 8) to serve as

itself

a fire-pan.

TiNDEE

When you
linen

pose

make
is

can procure them, charred rags of cotton or

but the best fabric for that pup-

excellent tinder,

an old Turkish towel.

How TO Char a Rag

Find a flat stone

(Fig. lO) ,

a broad piece of board, a smooth,

hard, bare piece of earth; set your cloth afire

begins to blaze briskly, smother

it

and

after it

out quickly by using a

FIBE MAKING BY FRICTION

11

folded piece of paper (Fig. 9), a square section of birch bark

or another piece of board.

the flames will

charred portion (Fig. 10).

your

down quickly upon

them without disturbing the

This flapped

extinguish

Or with

feet quickly trample out the

Keep your punk or trader

a water-tight box; a tin tobacco
box is good for that purpose, or do
flames.

in

like

our ancestors did

punk horn
Very

^keep it in

(Fig. 30).

fine

dry grass

trader, also the

is
good
mushroom, known

as the puff-ball or DcatI's snuffbox.

The

puff-balls, big ones,

may

be found growing about the edges

of the woods and they make very good punk or tinder. They
are prepared by hanging them on a string and drying them

on the
the black dust ("snuff") is ham-

out, after \diich they are cut into thin slices, laid

board and beaten until

all

mered out of them, when they are in condition to use as

pvmk or tinder (Fig. 11). In olden times there was a mushroom, toadstool or fungus imported from Germany, and
used as punk, but woodcraft consists in supplying oneself
with the material at hand; therefore do not forget that
flying squirrels (Figs. 12 and 13), white-footed mice (Fig.
14)

and

voles, or short-tailed

meadow

mice, are

all

addicted

to collecting good

TlNDEB
with which to make their
the birds
vireos.

the

warm

nests:

sxmimer yellow bird,

So also do some of
humming-bird and

While abandoned humming-birds' nests are too

diffi-

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

12

cult to find, last year's vireos' nests are

more

easily discov-

ered suspended like cups between two branches, usually

within reach of the hand, and quite conspicuous in the

when the

Cedar bark, both red

bark of other
fine,

trees,

make good

(Fig. 15)

and white, the dry inner

dry birch bark, when shredded up very

Whether you use the various forms

and steel, it is necessary to
punk or tinder in order to develop

tinder.

of rubbing-sticks Or the flint

catch the spark in

the flame.

fall

leaves are off the trees.

FIRE MAKING BY FRICTION

How TO Make a Fere with a Drill

First find
fire-board,

make a

and Bow

on which to place your

level solid foundation

then

IS

bow

half turn with the string of the

around the spindle, as in

the diagram (Fig. 16)

now

grasp

the thimble with

the

hand, put one end

left

of the drill in the socket

hole of the thimble, the

other end in the socket

hole

on the

with your

left

fire-board,

foot hold-

ing the fire-board down.

Press your left wrist firmly against your

work by drawing the bow slowly and

left

Begin

shin.

horizontally back

forth until it works easily,

and
work

tJie bow as one does a fiddle bow

when playing on a bass viol, but

draw the bow

its

When

each time.

smoothly, speed

it

Or when you
drill

is

whole length
it is

running

up.
feel

that

the

biting the wood, press

harder on the thimble, not too

hard, but hard enough to hold

a'^^c^^^^M
JW^^'Am
niR

^lix

so that

the

drill firmly,

^JlM

^*

^^^P '^^^

^gj'

will

continue to bite the wood

ujitil

tiie

it

will

^ *^ socket

but

"sawdust" begins to

appear. At first it will show a brown color, later it will

become black and begin to smoke until the thickening smoke

14

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

announces that you have developed the spark.

At

this stage

you gently fan the smoking embers with one hand.

fan it too briskly, as often happens, the powder

If

you

will

be

blown away.

As soon as you are satisfied that you have secured a spark,

lift the powdered embers on the fire-pan and place carefully
on top of it a bunch of tinder, then blow till it bursts into
Or fold the tinder over the spark gently,
flame (Fig. 8A).
take it up in your hand and swing it with a circular motion
until the fiame flares out.

'

e^iani

Even to this day peasantry throughout the Carpathian

and Balkan peninsulas build their fires with a "rubbingstick."
But these people not being campers have a permanent fire machine made by erecting two posts, one to represent
the fire-stick and the other the socket thimble. The spindle
runs horizontally between these two posts and the pressure
by a thong or cord tied around the two posts, which
The spindle is worked
by a bow the same as the one already described and the fire
is produced in the same manner.
is

secured

tends to pull them toward each other.

FIRE MAKING BY FRICTION

Fire Without a

15

Bow

My pupils in the Woodcraft Camp built fires successfully

by using the rung

of a chair for the spindle, a piece of packing

and another piece for the socket wood

and the string from their moccasins for a bow string. They
used no bow, however, and two or three boys were necessary to make a fire, one to hold the spindle and two others
to saw on the moccasin string (Fig. 17).
case for a fire-board,

Co-Li-Li
is

made

of

two

pieces of

oldest instrument for fire

and

is

THE FraE Saw

bamboo, or

fish pole.

This

is

the

making used by the Bontoc Igorot

now seldom found among

the

men

Practically all Philippine boys, however,

of the Philippines.

know how

to

make

and so should our boys here, and men, too. It is

called "co-li-li" and is made of two pieces of dry bamboo.
A two-foot section of dead and dry bamboo is first split
lengthwise and in one piece, a small area of the stringy tissue
lining of the tube is splintered and picked until quite loose
(Fig. 18). Just over the picked fibres, but on the outside of the

and use

it

bamboo, a narrow groove

is

cut across

it (Fig.

18G). This

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

16
piece of

bamboo

is

now

the stationary lower part or "fire-

board" of the machine.

original tube
it is

is

sharpened

One edge
like

of the other half of the

chisel blade's

edge (Fig. 19)

then grasped with one hand at each end and

is

slowly and

heavily sawed backward and forward through the groove in

the board, and afterwards worked more rapidly, thus pro-

ducing a conical pile of dry dust on the

wad

of tinder picked

from the inside of the bamboo or previously placed there.

20 and 21).

(Figs.

Fig. 22 is the fire-pan.

"After a dozen strokes," says our authority, Mr. Albert

Ernest Jenks, "the sides of the groove and the edge of the

down; presently a smell of smoke is plain

and before three dozen strokes have been made, smoke may
be seen. Usually before a hundred strokes a larger volume of

piece are burned

smoke tells us that the dry dust constantly falling on the pile
has grown more and more charred until finally a tiny spark
falls,

cariying combustion to the already hea,ted dust cone."

The
of dust

hand

fire-board
is

is

then carefully lifted and

smouldering

it

may now be

if

the pinch

gently fanned with the

until the tinder catches; then it

may be blown

into a

flame.

FiBE Pumping of the Iroquois

Fig. 23

shows another form of

drill.

For

this

one

it is

necessary to have a weight wheel attached

to the lower part of the spindle.

hole

made through its center and the drill

fitted to this. The one in Fig. 23 is fitted
is

out with a rusty iron wheel which I found

under the bam. Fig. 23 C shows a
pottery

many

weight wheel

which I

found

years ago in a gravel-pit in Mills Creek bottoms at

Cincinnati, Ohio.

It

was brick-red

in color

and decorated

FIRE MAKING BY FRICTION

17

For many, many years I did not

know for what use this unique instrument was intended. I
presented it to the Flushing High School (Long Island), where
I trust it still remains. The fire-drill is twirled by moving
with strange characters.

the

bow up and dbwn

instead of backward and forward.

The Twirling Stick

Fig. 7 is practically the

same

bow and thong

difference: the

spindle twirled between the

by the

practised

(American Indian)
as Figs. 16

and

17,

are dispensed with

palm

with this

and the

of the hands, as formerly

California Indians, the natives of Australia,

Caroline Islands, China, Africa and India.

Many

of the

American Indians made

They spun the

manner.

thin spindle

by

friction fire in this

rolling it

between

hands and as pressure was exerted the

the palms
hands gradually slid down to the thick lower end of the
spindle. To again get the hands to the top of the drill requires
practice and skill. Personally the writer cannot claim any
of their

success with this method.

The Plow Stick

The

simplest

(American Indian)

method of friction

requires only a fire-board with

gutter in

it

and a rubbing-stick

to push up and

down the

Captain

24).

(Fig.

gutter

Belmore

Mt. McKinley fame

made a Sie by this last method

Browne

when

of

his

matches were soaked

with water.
difficult to

It

way than with

2

is,

however, more

produce the

fire this

the thong and

is

that of the plow, which

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

18

bow. It

is still

used in the Malay Islands; the natives place

the fire-board on a stump or stone, straddle

pointed

drill

produce

it

and with a

plow the board back and forth until they

Time: Forty seconds.

fire.

Of course it is unnecessary to tell anyone that he can

start a fire with a sunglass (Fig. 25) or with the lens of a
camera, or with the lens made from two
n
old-fashioned watch crystals held together. But as the sun is not always
I

visible,

grow

as lenses

in the wild

are not supposed to

woods and were not to

be found in the camps and log cabins of

the pioneers, and as watch crystals have short lives in the

woods,

we

matches

will pass

as one

this

method

of fire

making without

which properly belongs in the classroom.

The Ptkopneumatic Apparatus

Before or about the time of the American Revolution some

gentleman invented a
ignited

pimk made

fire

piston (Fig. 26) with which he

of fimgus

sudden compression of the

by the heat engendered by the

air.

The ancient gentleman describes his invention as follows:

"The cylinder is about nine inches long, and half an inch in
diameter;

it

terminates in a screw on which screws the maga-

zine intended to hold a bougie,

and some fungus.

A steel rod

attached to a solid piston, or plunger, not shown in the

figure, it being within the tube. This rod has a milled head
is

and there
the piston

is
is

a small hole in the tube to admit the air, when

drawn up to the top, where a piece unscrews,

for the purpose of applying oil or grease to the piston.

found lard to answer the end best."

I have

FIRE MAKING BY FRICTION

19

Method op Usino It
" Take from the magazine a small piece of fungus, and
place it in the chamber, screw the piece tight on and draw the
piston

up by the end,

till it

stops.

Hold the

instrument with both hands in the manner

represented in Fig. 26, place the end on a
table or against

any firm body,

either in

perpendicular, horizontal or vertical direction,

and

force

the piston

down with

as

much

This rapid compression

rapidity as possible.

of the air will cause the fungus to take

fire.

Instantly after the stroke of the piston, un-

screw the magazine,

when the air will rush

in,

and keep up the combustion till the fungus

is

consumed. Observe, in lighting the tinder, the

fungus must be

lifted

up a

little

from the chamber, so as to

allow the tinder to be introduced beneath

will

it,

otherwise

it

not kindle.

may be remarked that the instrument thus cona decided advantage over the fire-cane, where the
fungus is inserted at such a depth as not easily to be reached."
But in Burmah they had the same idea. There the coolies
still light their cigarettes with a fire-piston.
The Philippinos
also use the same machine and ignite a wad of cotton stuck
on the end of the piston by suddenly forcing the piston into
air-tight cylinders, and when the piston is quickly withdrawn
"Here

it

structed has

the cotton

is

foimd to be aflame, so it may be that the Colonial

gentleman had traveled to the Indies and borrowed his idea

from the Burmahs, or the Philippinos.

not use it to-day in the woods, but

At any

rate

we do

it finds place here because it

belongs to the friction fires and may be good as a suggestion for

those

among my

readers of experimental and inventive minds.

CHAPTER

II

FIRE MAKING BY PERCUSSION

THE WHITE man's METHOD; HOW TO USE FLINT AND

WHERE TO OBTAIN THE FUNT AND STEEL

CHtJCKNUCKS, PUNK BOXES, SPUNKS AND MATCHES

REAL LUCIFER MATCHES

SLOW MATCH

HOW

TO CATCH THE SPARK

BXTBSTITUTES FOR

FUNT AND STEEL

STEBIi

CHAPTER
PffiE

II

MAKING BY PERCUSSION

The preceding methods of producing fire by friction are

not the white man's methods, and are not the methods
used by our pioneer ancestors.

The only

case the writer

can remember in which the pioneer white people used

rubbing-sticks to produce fire, is one where the refugees

from an Indian uprising and massacre in Oregon made

from rubbing-sticks made of the bits of the splintered
wood of a lightning stricken tree. On that occasion they
fire

evidently

left

home

in a great hurry, without their flints

and steels.
But this one instance

in itself

is

sufficient to

show to

all

outdoor people the great importance of the knowledge and

make

friction fires.
Like our good friend, the
and author. Captain Belmore Browne, one
may at any time get in a fix where one's matches are soaked,
destroyed or lost and be compelled either to eat one's food
raw or resort to rubbing-sticks to start a fire.
It is well, however, to remember that the flint and steel is

ability to

artist,

explorer

The White Man's Method

And

notwithstanding the

fire

canes of our Colonial dudes,

or the Pyropneumatic apparatus of the forgotten Mr. Bank,

fire

by

percussion, that

is, fire

by

friction of flint

and

steel,

was universal here in America up to a quite recent date, and

it is still in common use among many of my Camp-fire Club
friends,

and among many smokers

23

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

24

How

TO Use Flint and Steel

and steel, the guns were all fired by this

shows the gun-lock of an old musket; the
hammer holds a piece of flint, a small piece of buckskin is
folded around the inside edge of the flint and serves to give
a grip to the top part of the hammer which is screwed down.
In the age of

method.

To

fire

flint

Fig. 33

the gun the

hammer is pulled back at fuU cock, the

hammer and is joined to the top of the

steel sets opposite the

powder-pan by a hinge. When the trigger is pulled the hammer comes down, striking the flint against the steel, throwing
it back and exposing the powder at the same time to the
sparks which ignite the powder in the gun by means of the
touch hole in the side of the barrel of same.
of a

hammer and

lock used

time of the Civil War, and

by

it is

This

is

the sort

up to the
the sort of a hammer used by
all

of our ancestors

the Confederates as late as the battle of Fort Donaldson.

the olden times some people had
barrels, which
fire-building.

flint

In

lock pistols without

were used only to ignite punk for the piupose of

But when one starts a fire by means of flint

and steel one's hands must act the part of the hammer, the
back of one's knife may be the steel, then a piece of flint
or a gritty rock and a piece of punk will prdduce the
spark necessary to generate the flames.

In the good old pioneer days, when

we all wore buckskin

and did not bother about the price of wool, when we
wore coonskin caps and cared Uttle for the price of felt hats,
everybody, from Miles Standish and George Washington to
Abraham Lincoln, used flint and steel. Fig. 27 shows ten
different forms of steel used by our grandsires and
clothes

granddames.
Flint in its natural condition
but, as a

rule,

may be found in many states,

any stone which was used by the Indians

for

FIRE MAKING BY PERCUSSION

arrowheads

any

will

answer as a substitute for

flint,*

27
that

is,

gritty or glassy stone, like quartz, agate, jasper or iron

pyrites.

Soft stones, limestones, slate or soapstones are not

good for

this purpose.

The Steel
Most of
them while
oval

the old steels were so

made that one might grasp

thrusting one's fingers through the inside of the

28 (left handed). Some of the Scoutmasters

Boy Scouts of America make their own steels of broken

steel. Fig.

of the

pieces of flat ten-cent

files,

but

this is unnecessary

every outdoor man, and woman, too,

is

because

supposed to carry a

good sized jack-knife and the back of the blade of the jackknife, or the back of the blade of one's hunting knife is good
enough steel for anyone who has acquired the art of using
it

as a steel.

But

if

you must have

steels

manufactured at the machine

shop or make them yourself, let them be an inch wide, a

quarter of an inch thick, and long enough to form an ellipse
like

one of those shown in Fig.

roimded
in

any of

27.

Have

the sharp edges

you may have your steel twisted

the shapes shown in Fig. 27 to imitate the ones

off.

If

you

desire

used by your great granddaddies.

The Chucknuck
But the neatest thing in the way of flint and steel which
has come to the writer's attention is shown by Fig. 31. This
*

To-day

flint

may be

obtained at Bannennans, 501 Broadway,

New

City, where they also have ancient steels which were used by the U. S.
The flints may also be purchased from Wards Natural Science
soldiers.

York

Establishment at Rochester, New York, and the author found a plentiful

flints at one of the Army and Navy stores in New York.

supply of

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

28
is

a small

German

silver

original fimgus used for

piece of

still

pmik and an

contains some of the

ancient, well-battered

Around the box is fitted the steel in the form

and the whole thing is so small that it may be
one's vest pocket. This was once the property of

flint.

of a band,
carried in
Phillip

box which

Hagner, Lieutenant, of the City of Philadelphia at the

time of the Revolution, that

is,

custodian of city property.

He took the Christ Church bells from Philadelphia to Bethlehem by

ox-cart before the city was occupied by the British.

Hagner came from Saxony about 1700 and settled in
Germantown, Philadelphia. This silver box was presented
to the National Scout Commissioner by Mr. Isaac Sutton,
Scout Commissioner for Delaware and Montgomery CounPhillip

ties,

Boy

Scouts of America.

Punk Boxes
The cowhom punk box is made by sawing off the small
end and then the point of a cow's horn (Fig. 30). A small
hole is next bored through the solid small end of the horn to
connect with the natural open space further down, a strip
whang

of rawhide or

string larger

than the hole

is

forced

through the small end and secured by a knot on the inside,

which prevents
horn

is

thong,

closed

it

from being pulled out. The large end of the

by a

piece of thick sole leather attached to the

by tying a hard knot

in the

end and pulling the thong

through a hole in the center of the stopper imtU the knot

snug against the leather disk;

this should

wet leather

If

per are

is

made

allowed to dry.
to

fit

is

be done before the

the thong and leather stop-

the horn tightly, the dry baked rags, the

charred cotton, or whatever substance you use for punk,

when placed

in the

horn

moisture or dampness.

will

be perfectly protected from

FIRE MAKING BY PERCUSSION

29

Sulphur Headed Spunks and Matches

These old sulphur "spunks" were nothing more than
wood or tinder, because they would not ignite by
rubbing but were lighted by putting the sulphiu- end in the
kindling

flame.

According to our modern ideas of convenience they

appear very primitive.

They were

called

"spunks"

in

Eng-

land and "matches" in America, and varied in length from

three to seven inches, were generally packed in bundles

from a dozen to two dozen and tied together with bits of

straw. Some spunks made as late as 1830 are considered
rare enough to be carefully preserved in the York Museum
in England (Fig. 32 J^). The ones illustrated in Fig. 32 are a

Long Island product, and were given

by the
late John Halleran, the most noted antique collector on Long
Island. These are carefully preserved among the antiquities
in the writer's studio. But they are less than half the length
of the ones formerly used on the Western Reserve. With
the ancient matches in the studio are also two old pioneer
tinder boxes with flints and steels. The^tinder. boxes are
made of tin and contain a lot of baked rags. The inside lid
acts as an extinguisher with which to cover up the punk or
tinder in the box after you have lighted the candle in the tin
lid of the box (Fig. 32).

The matches we
sulphur spunks.

to the author

use today are evolved from these old

When

the writer was a

little

up in
he was

fellow

the Western Reserve on the shores of Lake Erie,

making sulphur matches.

Over the open fire she melted the sulphur in an iron kettle
The
iu which she dipped the ends of some pine slivers.
allowed
to
cool
was
then
sticks
sulphur on the end of the
and harden. These matches were about the length of a lead
pencil and could only be hghted by thrusting the sulphur
intensely interested in an old lady

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

so

into the flame.

So, although having been born in the age of

was yet fortunate enough to

and to remember the contemporary an-

Lucifer matches, the writer

see manufactured

cestors of our present-day "safety" match.

The Real Lucifek Match

That

the match which lights from friction,

is,

invention of Isaac Holden,

Gazette,

Mr. Holden

said,

M.

P.

the

is

According to the Pall Mall

"In the morning I used to get up

my studies, and I used at that

at 4 o'clock in order to pursue

and steel, in the use of which I found very great

Of course, I knew, as other chemists did,
the explosive material that was necessary in order to produce
instantaneous hght, but it was very difficult to obtain a
light on wood by that explosive material, and the idea occurred to me to put sulphur under the explosive mixture.
I did that and showed it in my next lecture on chemistry,
a course of which I was delivering at a large academy."
Because every real woodsman is a student, as well as a
sentimentalist, a brief histoiy is given of these fire implements to entertain him as we jog along the "trace." All
these things are blazes which mark the trail to the button
time the

flint

iiiconvenience.

in our wall

them,

like

which now produces the

electric hght.

Some

of

the clay cylinders found in the ruins of Babylon,

are only useful in a historical sense, but

many

of

them

are

essentially practical for woodcraft.

How
The slow match

TO

Make a

or

punk rope

Chuckntjck
to

fit

in the brass cylinder

may be made of candle

hardware

store;

in diameter.

wick or coach wick purchased at the

such wick is about three-eighths of an inch

Scout Commissioner John H. Chase of Youngs-

FIRE MAKING BY PERCUSSION

31

town, Ohio, suggests that the rope may be made from the
wastes of a machine shop or a garage; but one of the best

woodsmen

know

is Mr. Frederick K. Vreeland, and he

shown by Fig. 34, which is made of the
or punk rope, which may be purchased at

uses the apparatus

yellow fuse rope,

He fastens a cork in one end of the rope by a

he pulls the other end of the rope through the end of

cigar stores.
wire,

the brass cartridge shell which has been

The end

purpose.

filed

oflp

for that

must be charred, so as
to catch the spark. To get the spark he takes the back of the
blade of his knife (Fig. 35), and strikes the bit of flint as you
would with flint and steel, holding the charred end of the
punk against the flint, as shown by the diagram (Fig. 29).
Loose cotton and various vegetable fibers twisted into a
rope soaked in water and gunpowder will make good punk

when

of the fuse rope

dry.

To Get the Spakk

Place the charred end of the rope on the

flint,

the charred

portion about one thirty-second of an inch back of the edge

of the fliut

where the

latter is to

be struck by the

hold the punk in place with the thumb of the

left

steel;

hand, as fn

Hold the knife about six laches above

an
at
angle of about forty-five degrees from the fliut, turn
your knife so that the edge of the back of the blade wUl
strike, then come down at an angle about thirty-five degrees
the diagram (Fig. 29)

with a sharp scraping blow.

the

punk at the

until it is

first

This should send the spark into

or second blow.

aU aglow and you are ready to

Now
set

blow the punk

your tinder

afire.

Push the punk into the middle of a handful of tinder and

blow it until it is aflame, and the deed is done!
All these pocket contrivances for striking fire were formerly known as "striker-lights" or "chucknucks."

32

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

Substitute poh Flint and Steel

The Malays having

neither flint nor steel ingeniously

and for
by striking

substitute for the flint a piece of broken chinaware,

the steel a bamboo joint, and they produce a spark

the broken china against the joint of the bamboo, just as

we do with the

flint

and

steel.

CHAPTER
HOW TO

BUILD A FIRE

HOW

TO LAY AND LIGHT A ITOE

AN EXPERIENCE WITH TENDEKFBET
MODEBN rEAB OF DOING MANTTAL LABOR
MATCHES
fibe-makehh and babylonians
the palpitating heart of the camp
gbmmt fagots op the pine
how to make a pihe in wet weather
backwoodsmen's fire
the necessity op small eindlinq wood
good firewood
advantage of split wood
xtbe-dogs

how
HOW

to open a knife
TO whittle; how TO SPLIT A STICK WITH A KNIFE
BONFTRES AND COUNCIL FIRES
CAMP MEETING TORCH FTRKS
KXPLODtNG STONES
CHARACTER IN FIRE
SLOW FIBES, SIGNAL FIBE3 AND SMnDGBS

CHAPTER
HOW TO
"By

III

BUILD A FIKE

thy camp-fire they shall know thee."

A PAKTT of twenty or thirty men once called at the author's

and begged that he would go with them on a

studio

hike,

stating that they intended to cook their dinner out-of-doors.

We

went on the

hike.

The author asked

the gentlemen to

wood for the fire; they did so enthusiastically

and heaped up about a quarter of a cord of wood. There
collect the

was no stick in the pile less than the thickness of one's arm,
and many as thick as one's leg. A fine misty rain was falling
and everything was damp. While all the other hikers gathered around, one of them carefully lighted a match and
applied it to the heap of damp cord wood sticks. Match
after match he tried, then turned helplessly to the writer
with the remark, "It won't light, sir," and none there saw

humor

the

of the situation!

Had anyone told the writer that from twenty-five to

thirty men could be found, none of whom could build a fire,
he would have considered the statement as highly improbable,

he had been told that any intelligent man would tiy

wood sticks, wet or dry, by applying a match
to them, he would have branded the story as utterly beyond
belief.
It is, however, really astonishing how few people
there are who know how to build a fire even when supplied
but

if

to Kght cord

with plenty of fuel and abundant matches.

Matches
It

that

may be

it

well to call the reader's attention to the fact

takes very

little

moisture to spoil the scratch patch

35

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCEAFT

36

on a box of safety matches and prevent the match itself

from igniting. The so-called parlor match, which snaps
when one lights it and often shoots the burning head into
one's face or on one's clothes, is too dangerous a match to
take into the woods. The bird's-eye match is exceedingly
unreliable

on the

trail,

but the old-fashioned,

ill-smelling

Lucifer match, sometimes called sulphur match, the kind

may

one

secure at the

Hudson Bay Trading

that comes in blocks and

is

Post, the kind

often packed in tin cans,

is

the

match for woodcrafters, hunters, explorers, and hikers.

Most of the outfitting stores in the big cities either have these
matches or can procure them for their customers. When
one of these matches is damp it may be dried by running it
best

through one's hair.

Nowadays manual

labor seems to be looked

upon by

everyone more in the light of a disgrace or punishment than

as a privilege; nevertheless, it is a privilege to be able to
labor, it is a privilege to

and the abiUty to do

have the vim, the pep, the desire

Labor is a necessary attribute

things.

HOW TO BUILD A
of the doer

and those who

FIRE

37

no one need
and expect

live in the open;

attempt so simple a thing as the building of a

fire

to succeed without labor.

One must use the axe

fully

with regard to the wind and the inflammable material

adjacent: one

The

must collect and

is

joys of a

has no place

on the Great White Way among the

He does not even know the

he never sees a fire except when some building
His body is heated by steam radiators, his food

Babylonians of the big

is

select the fuel intelligently.

shirk, the quitter, or the side-stepper

in the open; his habitat

is

and 43)
must plan the fire care-

industriously (Figs. 39, 42

in order to procurefuel for the fire;one

cities.

fire;

burning.

cooked in some mysterious place beyond

brought to him by subservient waiters.

on

flowers growing

his grave

when the

just attaining the full vigor of their

his ken,

He will be

and

dead and

real fire-makers are

manhood.

Captain Belmore Browne says that the trails of the wilderwe may add that all trails proceed from

ness are its arteries;

camp

or lead to camp, and that the camp-fire

life-giving, palpitating

dead and

That

lifeless.

brotherhood
of burning

all

love the

wood

is

is

the reason that

fire;

that

is

we

the living,
it all

is

of the outdoor

the reason that the odor

incense to our nostrils; that

that the writer cannot help talking about

be

is

heart of the camp; without

it

is

the reason

when he should

telling

How
Do

TO Build a Fire

not forget that fighting a

fire in hot,

dry weather

is

it takes a real camper to perform the

damp, soggy woods on a cold, raw, rainy day,
or when the first damp snow is covering all the branches of
the trees and blanketing the moist ground with a slushy
mantle of white discomfort! Then it is that fire making

child's play,

same act

but that

in the

CAMP-LORE

38
brings out

the

all

skill

AIsTD

WOODCRAFT

and patience

of the woodcrafter;

nevertheless when he takes proper care neither rain, snow nor

hail

can spell

failure for

him.

Gummy Fagots of the Pine

In the mountains of Pennsylvania the old backwoodsmen,
of which there are very few left, invariably build their fires
with dry pine, or pitch pine

With
it

sticks.

their axe they split a pine log (Fig. 42), then cut

into sticks about a foot long

their

and about the thickness

own knotted thumbs, or maybe a trifle thicker

of

(Fig. 40)

deep

after that they proceed to whittle these sticks, cutting

shavings (Fig. 37), but using care to leave one end of the shavings adhering to the

wood; they go round and round the stick

with their knife blade making curled shavings until the piece

wooden trees one used

Ark on Christmas morning (Fig. 37).

of kindling looks like one of those toy

to find in his Noah's

When a backwoodsmanfinishes three or moresticks he sets

them up wigwam form

(Fig. 38).

been cut from the centre of a pine

The

three sticks having

log, are

dry and maybe

resinous, so all that is necessary to start the flame is to touch

a match to the bottom of the curled shavings (Fig. 38).

Before they do this, however, they are careful to have a
supply of small

slivers of pitch pine,

white pine or

split

pine

These they set up around the shaved

maybe adding some hemlock bark, and by the time

knots handy (Fig. 36).

sticks,

it is all

ablaze they are already putting on larger sticks of

yeUow birch, sugar maple or oak.

known that however handy pitch pine

ash, black birch,

For be
starting a
itself,

it

fire, it is

is

for

not the material used as fuel in the

fire

because the heavy smoke from the pitch blackens up

the cookiQg utensils, gives a disagreeable taste to the food,

HOW TO BUILD A
spoils

the coffee and

FIRE

41

not a pleasant accompaninient

is

even for a bonfire.

In the North woods, in the land of the birch
birch bark

fire;

is

trees,

green

universally used as kindling with which to start

bums

green birch bark

one starts the

fire

like tar paper.

But whether

with birch bark, shaved pine sticks or

miscellaneous dry wood, one must remember that

Split

Wood

Burns much better than wood in

its

natural form, and

that logs from twelve to fourteen inches are best for splitting
for fuel (Fig. 42); also one
fire

must not

wood are made, the

by the use of a single match

the smaller the sUvers of kindling

easier it is to obtain a flame

(Fig. 36) , after which the
fire

forget that in starting a

adding of fuel is a simple matter.

must have air to breathe in order to Kve,that is a draught,

consequently kindling piled in the

little

wigwam shape

is

frequently used.

Fire-dogs

For an ordinary, unimportant fire the "ttirkey-lay"

handy, but for camp-fires and cooking fires we
use andirons on which to rest the wood, but of course in the
(Fig. 54) is

forests

we do not

call

them

to

They are not made of

wood or stones and known

andirons.

iron; they are either logs of green

woodsmen by the name of "fire-dogs."

While we are on the subject of fire making

it may be
worth while to call the reader's attention to the fact that
every outdoor person should know how to use a pocket
knife, a jack-knife or a hunter's knife with the greatest effi-

ciency and the least danger.

To those of us who grew up in the whittling

seem odd or even funny that anyone should deem

age, it
it

may

necessaiy

CAMP-LOEE AND WOODCRAFT

42

how to open a pocket

But today

I fail to recall

to

tell

to

my mind a single boy of my acquaintance who knows how

knife.

to properly handle a knife or

any degree of

skill,

with a larger acquaintance

Not only

who can

whittle a stick with

and yet there are few men

in this world

among the boys than

myself.

but I spend two months of each year

in the field with a camp fuU of boys, showing them how to
do the very things with their knives and their axes described
is

this true,

in this book.

How
It

is

TO Open a Ejjifb

safe to say that

when

the old-timers were boys

themselves, there
-

riRSTWOVE

lad

was not a

among them who could

not whittle with considerable

skill

and many a twelve

year old boy was an adept

at the art. I remember with

the
iCCONOMOVr

keenest

pleasure the

charms and knickknacks which I carved with

a pocket knife before I had
rings,

reached the scout age of

twelve. Today,however,the

boys handle their knives so

awkwardly as to make the
chills

43

an

run down the back of

onlooker.

f^KTniMMt.

Inorder taproperly open

knife, hold it in

your

left

hand, and with the thumbnaO of your right hand grasp the
blade at the nail notch (Fig. 45) in such a manner that the line
of the nail

makes a very

slight angle; that

is, it is

as near per-

HOW TO BUILD A
may be

pendicular as

your thumbnail until

FffiE

(Fig. 46), otherwise

it

hurts or breaks.

43

you

bend back

will

Pull the blade

away

from your body, at the same time drawing the handle of the
knife towards the body (Figs. 47 and 48). Continue this

movement

until the blade is fully

from your body

Practise this

open and points directly

(Fig. 49).

and make

it

a habit; you

will

then never

be in danger of stabbing yourself during the process of opening your knife

by what

^you

will

open a knife properly and quickly

generally termed intuition, but

is

what

is

really

the result of training and habit.

How
The age

TO Whittle

of whittling began with the invention of the

pocket knife and reached

its

climax about 1840 or

'50,

dying

out some time after the Civil War, probably about 1870.

AU the old whittlers of the whittling age whittled away from

the body.

If

you

practise whittling that

way

it will

become

a habit.
Indians use a crooked knife and whittle towards the body,
but the queer shape of their knife does away with the danger
of an accidental stab or slash. Cobblers use a wicked sharp
knife and cut towards their person and often are severely
slashed

by

it,

and sometimes dangerously wounded, because

a big artery runs along the inside of one's leg (Fig.

41^^ near

where most of the scars on the cobbler's legs appear. When

you whittle do not whittle with a stick between your legs
as in Fig. 41, and always whittle away from you as in Fig. 44.

How

TO Split with a Jack-knife

Fig. 40 shows the proper

stick, so that

it will

way

to use the knife in splitting

not strain the spring at the back of the

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

44

handle of the knife, and at the same time

guide the knife blade and tend to

make a

it will

help you

Do

straight split.

not try to pry the stick apart with a knife or you will sooner
or later break the blade, a serious thing for a wilderness

man

to do, for

leaves

it

him without one

of the

most

useful tools.

Remember that fine slivers of wood make a safer and more

certain start for a fire than paper.

dry leaves and dry

grasfe

All tend,erfeet first try

to start their

This they do

fires.

because they are accustomed to the use of paper and naturally

But experience
make a nasty smudge

seek leaves or hay as a substitute for paper.

soon teaches them that leaves and grass

or a quick, unreliable flame which ofttimes

wood, while, when proper care

wood never

fail

There are

is

to ignite the

to give satisfactory results.

many

sorts of fires used

dependent upon the local supply of

districts of

fails

used, small shvers of dry

by campers and
fuel; in

all

are

the deforested

Korea the people use twisted grass

for fuel,

on

our Western plains the hunters formerly used buffalo chips

and now they use cow chips, that is, the dry manure of cattle,
with which to build their fires for cooking their meals and
boiUng their coffee. In the Zum belt, in Tartary and Central
India cattle manure is collected, piled up like cord wood and
dried for fuel. A few years ago they used com on the cob
for firewood in Kansas.

It goes without saying that buffalo

chips are not good for bonfires or any fire where a big flame

or illumination

is

an

object.

Bonfires and Council Fires

Are usually much larger than camp-fires, and may be
made by heaping the wood up in conical form (Fig. 50) with
the kindling

all

ready for the torch in the center of the

pile,

HOW TO
or the

wood may be

piled

BUILD A FIRE
up log cabin

the kindling underneath the

45

style (Fig. 51)

with

first floor.

In both of these forms there are air spaces purposely left

between the sticks of wood, which insure a quick and ready
draught the moment the flames start to flicker in the kindling.

The best form

known as the

of council fire

is

shown by

Fig. 52,

and

Camp Meeting Torch

Because it was from a somewhat similar device at a camp
meeting in Florida, that the author got the suggestion for

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

46

The platform

his "torch fire."

and

is

is

made

of anything

handy

covered with a thick flooring of sod, sand or clay for

the fire-place.

The tower

is

built exactly similar to the

Boy Scout signal

towers but on a smaller scale (Fig. 52).

Dangee of Exploding Stones

However tempting a smooth rock may look as a conmay be built, do not fail to spread
a few shovels of sand, earth or clay on the stone as a fire bed,
for the damp rock on becoming heated may generate steam
and either expand with some violence or burst like a bombshell and scatter far and wide the fragments, even endangervenient spot on which a fire

ing the lives of those gathered aroimd the

fire.

Chabacteb in Fibe

The
length,
fire in

more in
them on
meet them from

natives of Australia take dry logs, 6

and laying them down 3

several places.

ft.

or 4

ft.

ft.

or

apart, set

Letting shorter logs

the outside, and placing good-sized pebbles around them, they

then stretch themselves on the ground and sleep between

and when the wood is consumed the

some time to radiate the heat they have
previously absorbed.
Many tribes of American Indians
have their own special fashion of fire building, so that a
deserted camp fire wiQ not infrequently reveal the identity
of the tribe by which it was made.
the two lines of

fire,

stones continue for

Slow Fiees
The camper's

old

method

of

making a slow

used by housekeepers for their open

fire-places,

fire was also

and consisted

of placing three logs with their glowing ends together.

HOW TO

BUILD A FIRE

47

As the ends of the logs burned off the logs were pushed
forward, this being continued until the logs were entirely
consumed.
or

all

Three good logs thus arranged will burn all day

someone must occasionally push them so that

night, but

come together, when they send their heat from

one to the other, backwards and forwards, and thus keep the
embers hot (Fig. 53). But who wants to sit up all night
their ends

watching a

I prefer to use the

fire?

modern method" and

sleep all night.

Sharpen the ends of two strong heavy stakes each about

in length, cut a notch in the rear of each near the top,

ft.

back to key into, drive the stakes into the

ground about 6 ft. apart. Place three logs one on the other,
making a log wall for the back of your fire-place. Next take
for the support or

two shorter

logs

and use them

for fire-dogs,

and on these lay

another log and the arrangement wiU be complete.

fire

of this kind will burn duriag the longest night

made will

cause

little

trouble.

between the front log and the

The

fire is

and if skillfully
fed by placing fuel

fire-back.

Signal Fihes

When
smoke

the greatest elevations of land are selected the

signals

fifty miles.

may

be seen at a distance of from twenty to

Signal fires are usually

made with dry

leaves,

grass and weeds or "wiry willows," balsam boughs, pine

and cedar boughs, because such material produces great
volumes of smoke and may be seen at a long distance.
The Apaches have a simple code which might well be
adopted by all outdoor people. According to J. W. Powell,
Director of U. S. Bureau of Ethnology, the Indians use

but three kinds of

of smoke.

signals,

each of which consists of columns

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

48

Alarm
Three or more smoke columns reads impending danger
from flood, fire or foe. This signal may be communicated
from one camp to another, so as to alarm a large section of

The greater the

number of smokes used. These
fires are often so hastily made that they may resemble puffs
of smoke caused by throwing heaps of grass and leaves upon
the country in remarkably quick time.

haste desired the greater the

the embers again and again.

Attention
"This signal

is

uous column and

generally

made by producing one

contin-

signifies attention for several purposes,

when a band had become tired of one locahty, or the

grass may have been consumed by the ponies, or some other
cause necessitated removal, or should an enemy be reported
viz.,

which would require further watching before a decision as

to future action would be made. The intention or knowledge
of anything imusual would be communicated to neighboring
bands by causing one column of smoke to ascend."

Establishment of a Camp, Quiet, Safety

"When a removal of camp has been made,

Attention has been

after the signal

and the party have selected

a place where they propose to remain until there may be a
necessity or desire for their removal, two columns of smoke
are made, to inform their friends that they propose to remain
at that place. Two columns are also made at other times
for

given,

during a long continued residence, to inform the neighboring

bands that a camp

and quiet."

still

exists,

and that

all

is

favorable

HOW TO BUILD A
Three

Therefore,

or

more flames at

more smokes

or

night,

signal for attention,

is

Two

FIRE

49

smokes

'Three

in daylight, or

a signal of alarm.

One smoke a

us that

tells

all is well,

peaceful and happy.

Smoke Signals
The

make a

usual

way

smudge

fire of

browse or grass and use a blanket as an extin-

guisher.

By

removing

it,

appear, and

of signalling with

covering the

fire

smoke

certain to attract the

happens to be looking toward the

How

to

with the blanket and suddenly

made to suddenly
attention of anyone who

a large globular puff of smoke

is

is

site of

is

the

fire.

TO Build a Fire on the Snow

If it is practical it is naturally better to shovel

away the

snow, but personally I have never done this except in case

of newly fallen snow. Old snow which is more or less frozen

may be tramped down until it is hard and then

to the groimd

covered with a corduroy of sticks for a hearth (Figs. 55 and

and on top of this flooring it is a

simple matter to build a fire. Use the turkey-"lay" in which
56) or with bark (Fig. 57)

one of the sticks acts the part of the fire-dog

Don't
(Fig. 58)

The

fail

and then

reader will note that in

is

these illustrations (Figs.

When everything

other occasions the log

may

is

a bank for a

covered with snow

back

(Fig. 56)

but on

smoulder for a week and then

fire.

one but an arrant, thoughtless, selfish Cheechako

use a live growing tree against which to build a fire.

No
will

all

either a log or stone or

perfectly safe to use a log for a

start a forest

wood

start the fire as already directed (Fig. 58).

55, 56 and 57), there

back to the fire-place.
it is

(Fig. 56).

to collect a generous supply of small

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

50

A real woodcraft knows that a fire can ruin in a few minutes

a mighty forest tree that God himself cannot replace inside
hundred years.

of from forty to one

While we are talking of building fires in the snow, it may

be well to remark that an uninhabitable and iuaccessible
swamp in the summer is often the best of camping places in

The water freezes and falls lower and lower,

the winter time.

leaving convenient shelves of ice (Fig. 57) for one's larder.

The dense woods and brush

Fig. 59

winter winds.

oflFer a splendid barrier to the

shows an arrangement for a winter

camp-fire.

How

TO

Make a

Fihe in the Rain

Spread a piece of bark on the ground to serve as a hearth

on which to start your fire. Seek dry wood by spUtting the
log and taking the pieces from the center of the wood, keep
the wood under cover of your tent, poncho, coat or blanket.
Also hold a blanket or some similar thiag over the fire while
yoil are lighting

logs to

bum

to extinguish

it.

After the blaze begins to leap and the

freely, it will
it.

practically take

a cloud-burst

BLBVATJOH

CHAPTER

IV

HOW TO LAY A GOOD COOKING

FIRE

A febsonaIj experience on sbort rations

THE MOST PHmmvE OP COOKING OUTFITS
CAMP POT-HOOKS, THE GAIiLOW-CBOOK, THE POT-CLAW, THE HAXE,
THE OIB, THE SPETGEUA AND THE SASTER
TELEGRAPH WIRE COOKING mPLBMENTS, WIRE GRID-IRON, SKELETON CAMP STOVE
COOKING FIRES, FIRE-DOGS, ROASTING FIRE-LAT, CAMP-FIRE LAT,
BELUORE LAT, FETING FIRE LAT, BAEINQ FIBE LAT
THE AXnXBB CRANE

CHAPTER IV
HOW TO LAY A GOOD COOKING

No matter where the old

long a time

camper may

may have elapsed

since last

FIRE

be,

no matter how

he slept in the open,

no matter how high or low a social or official position he

may now occupy, it takes but one whiff of the smoke of an
open fire, or one whiff of the aroma of frying bacon, to send
him back again to the lone trail. In imagination he will
once more be hovering over his little camp-fire in the desert,
under the shade of the gloomy pines, mid the snows of Alaska,
in the slide rock of the Rockies or

Alleghenies, as the case

That

may

mid the pitch pines

of the

be.

faint hint in the air of burning firewood or the deli-

cious odor of the bacon, for the

moment, will not only wipe

from his vision his desk, his papers and his office furniture,
but also all the artificiahties of life. Even the clicking of the
typewriter will turn into the soimd of clicking hoofs, the

become canyons, and the noise

of the mountain torrent!
There is no use talking about it, there
streets will

about
all

it,

of traffic the roar

is

no use arguing

there is witchcraft in the smell of the open

fire,

and

the mysteries and magic of the Arabian Nights dwell in

the odor of frying bacon.

Some

years ago Mr. Arthur Rice, the Secretary of the

Camp-fire Club of America, and Patrick Cleary, a halfbreed Indian, with the author, became temporarily separated
from their party in the Northern wilds. They found themselves on a lonely wilderness lake surrounded by picture
moimtains, and dotted with tall rocky islands covered with
Christmas trees, giving the whole landscape the appearance
55

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

56

of the scenery one sometimes sees painted

for the theatre.

was

on drop-curtains

Everything in sight was grand, everything

beautiful, everything

was

built

on a generous

scale,

everything was big, not forgetting the voyagers' appetites!

Unfortunately the provisions were in the missing canoe;

bottom of Patrick Cleary's

ditty bag disclosed three small, hard, rounded lumps, which
weeks before might have been bread; also a handful of tea
mixed with smoking tobacco, and that was all! There was
no salt, no butter, no pepper, no sugar, no meat, no knives,
no forks, no spoons, no cups, no plates, no saucers and no
cooking utensils; the party had nothing but a few stone-like
lumps of bread and the weird mixture of tea and tobacco
with which to appease their big appetites. But in the lake
the trout were jiunping, and it was not long before the
hungry men had secured a fine string of spotted beauties to
add to their menu.
Under the roots of a big spruce tree, at the bottom of a
cliflp on the edge of the lake, a foimtain of cold crystal water
spouted from the mossy ground. Near this they built
a fire while Mr. Rice fashioned a little box of birch bark,
filled it with water and placed it over the hot embers by
resting the ends of the box on fire-dogs of green wood. Into
the water in the birch bark vessel was dumped the tea (and
diligent search, however, in the

also tobacco)

To

the amazement and delight of the Indian half-breed,

the tea was soon boiling.

some

trout until the fish

Meanwhile the half-breed toasted

were black, this being done so that

the charcoal or burnt skins might give a flavor to the

and in a measure compensate for the lack

of salt.

fish,

The hunks

of bread were burned until they were black, not for flavor
this time,

but

in order that the

bread might be brittle enough

HOW TO LAY A GOOD COOKING

to allow a

man

to bite into

it

FIRE

57

with no danger of breaking his

teeth in the attempt.

To-day it seems to the author that that banquet on that

lonely lake, miles from the nearest living human being, was

more

delicious

and more

satisfying than

any of the feasts

wonder city of

of Belshazzar he has since attended in the

New York.
Therefore, when taking up the subject
and camp kitchen, he naturally begins with

The Most

of cooking fire

Pbimitive of Cooking Outfits

Consisting of two upright forked sticks and a waugan-stick

to lay across from fork to fork over the

fire.
Or maybe a
ground in front of
the fire, or perhaps a saster-pole on which to suspend or from
which to dangle, in front of the fire, a hunk of moose meat,
venison, mountain sheep, mountain goat, whale blubber,

speygelia-stick thrust slantingly into the

beaver,

skunk, rabbit,

whatsoever fortune

may

muskrat, woodchuck, squirrel or

send.

Camp Pot-hooks
Are of various forms and designs, but they are not the
S shaped things formerly so famiUar in the big open fire-

S
of
yesterday
were
marks
with
which
the
boys
wont
shaped
to struggle and disfigure the pages of their writing books.
If any one of the camp pot-hooks had been drawn in the
old-time writing book or copybook, it would have brought
down the wrath (with something else) of the old-fashioned
school-master, upon the devoted head of the offending pupil.
For these pot-hooks are not regular in form and the shape
places of the old homesteads, neither are they the hated

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

58

largely depend upon the available material from

which they are fashioned, and not a little upon the individual
fancy of the camper. For instance the one known as

and designs

The Gallow-cbook
name might

Is not, as the

imply, a

human

crook too

inti-

mately associated with the gallows, but on the contrary it is a

rustic

and useful

made

of a sapling.

bit of forked stick (Figs. 60, 61,

and where to cut

Fig. 60

how

shows

below a good sturdy fork. Fig. 61 shows

it

the bit of sapling trimmed

down

to the proper length

On

with two forks, one at each end.

will

note that one prong

shows how this switch

made

string or tape

main stem as

62 and 63)

to select the sapling

a slender

is

may

and

the upper fork you

elastic switch.

Fig. 62

be bent down and bound with a

of green bark,

and so fastened to the

to form a loop which will easily sKp over the

waugan-stick as in Fig. 63.

Fig.

62A shows a handy hitch

with which to make fast the bark binding.

When

the waugan-stick has been thrust through the loop

of the gallow-crook, the former

of the

two forked

pail or bucket, is
note

main

replaced in the crotches

and the pot or kettle,

hooked on to the lower fork. You will

sticks, as in Fig. 63,

that the lower fork

stick

is

is

upon the opposite

side of the

from that from which the switch prong of the

upper fork springs.

This arrangement

make the pot balance

holds good for

all

properly over the

is

not necessary to

fire;

the same rule

the other pot-hooks.*

The Pot-claw
by inspecting the diagrams (Figs.
which
show
its evolution or gradual growth.
64,
66),
By these diagrams you will see the stick is so cut that the
Will be best understood

65 and

The pots

will

balance better

if

the notches are on the

same

side.

HOW TO LAY A GOOD COOKING

fork

may

FIRE

61

be hooked over the waugan-stick and the cooking

may be hmig over the fire by slip-

utensils, pots or kettles

ping their handles into the notch cut in the stick on the side
opposite to the fork and near the lower end of the pot-claw.
This is a real honest-to-goodness Buckskin or Sourdough
pot-hook;

it is

one that requires httle time to manufacture

and one that is easily made wherever sticks grow, or wherever

"whim" sticks or driftwood may be found heaped upon
the shore.

The Hake
Is easier to

make than

like the pot-claw,

end a

the pot-claw. It is a forked stick

but in place of the notch near the lower

nail is driven diagonally into the stick

hung on the

67 and

nail (Figs.

disadvantage of making

a supply of

it

68).

necessary

nails in his kit.

No

and the

kettle

The hake possesses the

for the camper to cany

Sourdough on a long and

down with nails. A hake, however,

is a very good model for Boy Scouts, Girl Pioneers, and hikers
of all descriptions who may go camping in the more thickly
perilous trip loads himself

settled parts of the country.

The Gib
Is possibly

a corruption of gibbet, but it is a much more

It requires a little more time and a little
gib (Fig. 69) than it does to fashion the

humane implement.
more skill to make a

a useful hook

camps
where one has time to develop more or less intricate cooking
equipment. Fig. 69A shows how the two forked sticks are
cut to fit together in a splice, and it also shows how this splice
preceding pot-hook.

is

It

is

for stationary

nailed together with a couple of wire nails,

shows how the wire

nails are clinched.

and

Fig.

70

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

62

In a book of this kind the details of

given not because any one camper

is

all

these designs are

expected to use them

but because there are times when any one of them

the thing required.
practicable

It

well,

is

camp pot-hooks

all,

may be just

however, to say that the most

are the pot-claw

and the hake.

In making a pot-claw care should be taken to cut the

notch on the opposite side of the forked branch, and at the
other end of the claw, deep enough to hold the handle of the

cooking utensils securely.

While the author was on an extended trip in the blustering

North land his party had a pot-claw as crooked is a yeggman,
and as knotty as a problem in higher mathematics. While
there can be no doubt that one of the party made this hoodoo
affair it

belongs

has never yet been decided to

whom

the credit

^because of the innate modesty of the men no one

This misshapen pot-claw was responsible

claims the honor.

for spilling the stew

losing the boiled rice.

on several occasions, not to speak of

Luckily one of the party was a stolid

Indian, one a consistent

member

of the Presbyterian church,

one a Scout and one a member of the Society of Friends,

consequently the air was not blue and the only remarks

"Oh my!"

made

my soul!"

and "Gee willikens!"

The coot^ in despair put the wicked thing in the fire with
muttered hints that the fire might suggest the region where
such pot-hooks belong. While it burned and its evil spirit
were,

"Bless

dissolved in smoke, the Indian

made a new pot-claw, a respec-

table pot-claw with a straight character,

notch.

good

This one by

will to

the

its

and a more secure

benign presence brought peace and

camp and showed

the necessity of taking

pains and using care in the manufacture of even so lowly a

thing as a pot-claw.

The camp pot-hooks should be

of various lengths; long

HOW TO LAY A GOOD COOKING

ones to bring the vessels near the

fire

FIRE

where the heat

intense; short ones to keep the vessels further

is

for

more

from the

fire

warm;

so that their contents will not cook but only keep

and medium ones

63

simmering or slow cooking.

i

The Speygeua
Is

not an Italian, but

The

speygelia

is

is

a long name for a short implernent.

a forked stick or a notched stick (Figs. 71,

is either propped up on a forked stick (Fig.

and the lower end held down by a stone ia such a manner
that the fork at the upper end offers a place to hang things

72 and 73), which

71)

over, or in front of the

fire,

sometimes a notched stick

used in the same manner as Fig. 73.

soft to permit

which

may

speygeKa

is

it,

hold

the stick
it

in place without other support.

is

is
is

driven diagonally into the earth,

much used by cow-punchers and

where wood

in places

is

Where the ground

The

other people

scarce.

The Saster

roast (Figs.

a long pole used in the same manner as the

is suspended from it in front of the fire to
74j^ and 75), or kettles are suspended from it

over the

to boil water (Fig. 74).

The

saster

speygelia.

is

Meat

fire

Telegraph Wire Cooking Implements

Many campers are fond of making for themselves cooking

utensils improvised

from ordinary telegraph wire.

In the

old time open fireplaces of our grandsires' kitchen there were

trammels consisting of chains hanging down the chimney on

which things were hooked by short pot-hooks to hang over

fire; there were also rakens made of bands of iron with
holes punched in them for the attachment of short iron potthe

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

64

hooks

(Fig. 76).

With these ancient implements

in their

some ingenious campers manufacture themselves

minds,

rakens and short pot-hooks from telegraph wire (Fig. 77).

By twisting the

wire in a series of short loops, each loop can

be made to serve as a place for attaching the pot-hooks as

did the holes in the old-fashioned rakens.

The advantages

they claim for the telegraph wire raken are lightness and

its

possibility of being readily packed.

On

one of these rakens one

may hook

the pail as high or

one may
where later

as low as one chooses (Fig. 78) ; not only that but

(Fig. 79)
it is full

put a small

pail inside the larger one,

of water, for the purpose of cooking cereal without

danger of scorching

it.

The disadvantage

of all these

implements

is

that they

must be toted wherever one goes, and parts are sure to be

lost sooner or later, whereupon the camper must resort to
thin^ "with the bark on 'em," like the gallow-crook, the
pot-claw, the hake, the gib, the speygelia, or the saster, or

HOW TO LAY A GOOD COOKING

he

may

FIRE

67

go back to the first prmciples and sharpen the forks

wand and impale thereon the bacon, game or fish

of a green

that

it

may be

thus toasted over the hot embers (Fig. 80)

We do not put meat over the fire because it will bum on the
outside before

it

cooks and the fumes of the smoke will

spoil its flavor.

According to Mr. Seton, away up in the barren lands they

use the saster with a fan

made of a shingle-like piece of wood,

fastened with a hitch to a piece of wire and a bit of string;

^when

the wind

it is

good-natured

^will

cause the cord to

and round. But the same result is secured with

a cord which has been soaked in water to prevent it from
biuning, and which has also been twisted by spinning the
meat with one's hands (Fig. 75). Such a cord will unwind
and wind more or less slowly for considerable time, thus
causing the meat to expose all sides of its surface to the heat
of the roasting fire in front of which it hangs. You wiU
note we say in front; again let us impress upon the reader's
mind that he must not hang his meat over the flame. In
Pig. 75 the meat is so drawn that one might mistake its
position and think it was intended to hang over the fire,
whereas the intention is to hang it in front of the fire as in Fig.
74. In the writer's boyhood days it was his great delight to
hang an apple by a wet string in front of the open fire, and
spin round

it spinuntil the heat sent the juices bubbling through

the skin and the apple gradually became thoroughly roasted.

to watch

The GBmiBON
Campers have been known to be so fastidious as to
demand a broiler to go with their kit; at the same time
there

was enough of the

real

camper

in

them

to cause

them to avoid carrying unwieldy broilers such as are used

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

68

Consequently they compromise by pack-

in our kitchens.

ing a

handful of telegraph wires of even length with

their duffel (Fig. 81), each wire

bent in the form of a hook

having

(Fig. 82),

its

ends carefully

which

may

be ad-

upon two log fire-dogs

so arranged, meat and fish

justed over two green sticks resting

and upon the

(Fig. 83),

may be
This
little

wires,

nicely broiled.

not a bad scheme, but the campers should have a

is

canvas bag in which they

may pack

the wires, other-

them away rather

one every now and then. Figs.

wise the camper will sooner or later throw

than be annoyed by losing

87 and 88 show a

84, 85, 86,

little

Skeleton Camp Stove

Ingeniously devised

by a Boy

Pioneer.

Two

pieces of tele-

graph wire are bent into a triangular form (Figs. 84 and 85),
and the ends of the triangle at A are left open or unjoined,
so that they

may

readily be slipped through the loops in the

B and C

and thus form a take-a-part

fellow from whom this
device was obtained was at the time usiug an old tiu kerosenelamp (Fig. 88A) which he forced into the lower triangle of the
stove (Fig. 86), and which the spring of the wire of the triupright wires,

(Fig. 87),

The young

skeleton stove (Fig. 86).

angle held in position (Fig. 88B).

But
there

is

so that

weight
is

if

one

going to use the telegraph wire

is

no necessity
it

may

of carrying a lamp.

The

camp

stove

is

stove

made

be taken apart and packed easily and the

is trifling,

but a lamp of any kind, or even a lantern,

a nuisance to carry.

The

telegraph wire

by bending the wires

in so doing

is

as

camp

stove, however,

shown

in Fig. 90,

may be made

but the only object

to develop one's ingenuity, or for

economy sake.

HOW TO LAY A GOOD COOKING

otherwise one

camp

may

broilers for

with legs which

the

purchase at the outfitter's folding

trifle,

may

made on

-wire

the same principle and

and

89, and, after the broiler is folded

in the middle, the legs

may be

make a

But leaving the

flat

69

be thrust into the ground surrounding

as in Figs. 88

fire,

FIRE

package.

folded back so that

it will all

artificialities of tele-

graph wire

let us go back to the real thing again and talk

about laying and lighting a genuine

Camp Cooking Fibe

The more

is planned and built the more

be accomplished. The first thing to
be considered in laying one of these fires is the

carefully the fire

easily will the cooking

FlHE-DOGS

Which in camp are the same as andirons in the open fire-places

and used for the same purpose. But domestic

of our homes,

andirons are heavy steel bars usually with ornamental brass

and they would be most unhandy for one

upon a camping trip, while it would be the height
absurdity to think of taking andirons on a real hunting or

uprights in front
to carry
of

ei^loring expedition.

Therefore,

we use

stones for fire-dogs in the wilderness.

green logs, sods or

Frequently

we have a

back-log against which the fire-dog rests; this back log

shown

in Fig. 91.

back log and a

there are

two

In this particular case it

In the plan just above

fire-dog.

logs side

is

acts both as a

by

side

it (Fig.

92),

which serve the double pur-

pose of fire-dogs and for sides of the kitchen stove (Fig. 93),
Fig. 94

shows

The Lay of a Roasting Fire

Sometimes called the round fire. The back is laid up logcabin style and the front is left open. In the open enclosure

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

70

the fire is built by sticks being laid up like those in Fig. 91.
The logs on all three sides radiate the heat and when the meat
is hung in front of this, suspended from the end of the saster
(Fig.

it is

74 J^),

and thoroughly

easily

roasted.

The Camp-fibe
with an eye to two purposes one

Is built

into the open tent in front,

it

that

it

may

last

and the other

roll

up

camp-fire

fire will last imtil

Two

tion for the camp-fire.

in

(Fig. 95),

stick at

upright green sticks

the logs

(Fig. 95)

and supported by other

the top ends of which rest in notches cut

E (Fig.

95),

and the bottom ends of which are

Against the upright sticks C, and

thrust into the ground.

is

morning.

made with two fire-dogs pushed back

(Fig. 95A and B), which form the founda-

are placed in a slanting position

a camp-fire

and sleep with

is

against a back log

sticks,

to so construct

in one's blanket

the comforting conviction that the

The

is

When one builds

a long time.

one wants to be able to

to reflect heat

is

are heaped to form the back of the

fire.

The

then built on the two fire-dogs AA, and agaiost the

fire

F logs,

the latter will burn slowly and at the same time reflect the

This same

heat into the open tent front.

used for a baking

made by

fire,

but the

fire is

real fire for this

sometimes
purpose

is

the

Belmore Lay
Figs. 96

and

97.

The

first

sketch shows the plan and the

second the perspective view of the

by two

fire.

The

stove

is

made

which the fire is built and

after it has fallen in, a mass of red hot embers, between the
fire-dogs, two logs are laid across the dogs and one log is
placed atop, so that the flame then comes up in front of them
side logs or fire-dogs over

(Fig. 97)

and sends the heat against the bread or bannock.

HOW TO LAY A GOOD COOKING

At a convenient
waugan-stick

is

FIRE

7S

distance in front of the fuel logs,

placed,

from one fire-dog to

reaching

the other.

In wilderness work the frying pan

domestic utensil carried and

broiler,

Buckskin

is

is about the onfy

used as a toaster, a baker,

a fryer, and a stew pan

man and

all

the Sourdough

combined.

make

In

it

their bread,

the

and

bread has been baked over the coals on the bottom,

browned nicely on its top by tilting the pans in front of
the fire and resting their handles against the waugan-stick
(Fig. 97). I have seen the baking fire used from British Columbia to Florida, but it was the explorer. Captain Belmore
Browne, who showed me the use of the waUgan-stick in connection with the baking fire, hence I have called this the
Belmore Lay.
after the
it is

Feytng FntB

between two logs, two rows of stones, or sods

(Figs. 98, 99 and 100) ; between these logs the fire is usually
built, using the sides as fire-dogs, or the sticks may be placed
Is

built

in the turkey-lay (Fig. lOO), so that the sticks themselves

make a
fire is

fire-dog

and

allow, for

a time, a draught until the

it settles down to hot

burning briskly, after which

embers and

is

For be it
the grease or bacon

in the proper condition for frying.

known

that too hot a griddle will set

which may be fuimy under ordinary circumstances,
but when one is shy of bacon it is a serious thing. The
afire,

Oedinart Baking Fibb Lay

Is

shown by Fig.

In this instance, the frying pans being

ovens are propped up by running sticks

101.

used as reflector
through the holes in their handles.

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

74

The
Is

made

rustic crane

Axtkes

exactly of the

same form

as are the

cranes of the old-fashioned open fire-places, but ingeniously

fashioned from a carefully selected green stick with two forks

(Fig. 102).

The long end

(Fig. 102), care being

(Fig. 102).

stub,

of the

main branch

is

severed at

taken not to cut through the green bark,

The bark

of the latter, B,

then bent over the

is

A (Fig. 102), forming a loop, C (Fig. 103), which is lashed

with green bark to the main stick and sKpped overtheupright,

(Fig. 104). The fork at E braces the crane and holds it in

a horizontal

position, resting

How

purpose.

on a stub

practicable this thing

left

on

for that

may be depends

al-

upon the time and skill one has at one's disposal.

One would hardly use the Aures for a single night camp, but
if one were to spend a week in the same camp, it would be
well worth while and at the same time very interesting work
together

to manufacture a neat Aures crane for the

The next

step in

camp

kitchen

fires will

camp

include

kitchen.

what might

be termed the pit fires, which will be described in the following

chapter.

You have been

told

how

to select the firewood,

make

the

kindUng and start a fire in the preceding chapter on how to

build a fire; all you have to remember now is that in certain
particulars all fires are aKke; they all

&nd food to eat or they

In the case of the

we

give

it

fire

not

with indigestion

is

fire

we do not

eats

fire

must have air to breathe

live.

a free circulation and

the food that the

lessly

will

and

call

call it
it

the air breath, but

a draught.

must be

fed with punky,

Wood

digestible,

damp wood

is

fire

care-

thrown together in place of well-selected diy split

fire can consume cleanly, digest evenly, and

wood which the

at the same time give out the greatest

amoimt

of heat.

HOW TO LAY A GOOD COOKING

FIRE

7T

To produce a draught the fire must, of course, be raised

from the ground, but do not build it in a careless manner like
a pile of jack-straws.

Such a

fire

may

start all right,

but

when the supporting sticks have burned away it will fall in a

heap and precipitate the cooking utensils into the flames,
upsetting the coffee or teapot, and dumping the bacon "from
the frying pan into the fire."
Be it man, woman, boy or girl, if he, she or it expects
to be a camper, he, or she or it must learn to be orderly and
tidy aroimd camp.

No

matter

how

soiled one's clothes

may

no matter how grimy one's face may look, the ground

aroimd the camp-fire must be clean, and the cooking utensils
and fire wood, pot-hooks and waugan-sticks, all orderly and
as carefuUy arranged as if the military oflBcer was expected
the next minute to make an inspection.
All my readers must remember that Bt Theeb Camp-fire
Thet Will be Known and "sized up" as the real thing or
as chumps, duffers, tenderfeet and cheechakos, by the first
Sourdough or old-timer who cuts their trails.
be,

CHAPTER V
CAMP KITCHENS
CAMP PIT-FtRES, BB^N HOI^BS
COW-BOT FIBB-HOU!
CHINOOK COOEINQ FIBE-HOLB
BARBECCIi-PITS

THB GOLD DIGGEb's OTEN

THE FEBGTTSON CAMP STOVE
THJE! ADOBE OTEN
TBE ALTAB CAMFFIBE PLACE
CAMP KITCHEN FOR HIKEBS, SCOUTS,
EXPLOREBB, STTSVETOBS AND BUNTEBB
HOW TO COOK MEAT, FISH AlilD BBEAD
wiTHOtrr POTS, pans ob stoves
DBESSING SMALL ANIMAIfi
HOW TO BABBECUE LABQE ANOIAId

CHAPTER V
CAMP KITCHENS
Real camp

kitchens are naught but well arranged

fire-

places with rustic cranes

and pot-hooks as already described,

but in deforested countries, or on the plains and prairies,
pit-fires are

much

on the windswept

in vogue.
plain,

The

which

is

pit itself shelters the fire

doubly necessary because

camping places, and because

Buffalo-chips were formerly used

of the unprotected nature of such

of the kind of fuel used.

on the Western plains, but they are now superseded by cattle

chips. The buffalo-chip fire was the cooking fire of the Buckskin-clad long-haired plainsmen and the equally picturesque
cowboy; but the buffalo herds have long since hit the trail
over the Great Divide where all tracks point one way, the

away forever, as
the painted Indians. The romantic

soiuid of the thunder of their feet has died

has also the whoop of

and picturesque plaiasmen and the wild and rollicking cowboys have followed the herds of buffalo and the long lines
of prairie schooners are a thing of the past, but the pit-fires
of the himters are

still

in use.

The Most Simple

Is a shallow trench

two

dug

Pit-fibe

in the ground,

logs are placed; in the pit

on each

side of

between the logs a

which

fire is built

(Kg. 105), but probably the most celebrated pit-fire is the

fireless cooker of the camp, known and loved by all under
the

name of

The Bean

HoiiE

shows a half section of a bean hole lined with

The bean hole may, however, be lined with clay or

Fig. 106
stones.
6

81

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

82
simply the
place

is

damp

earth left in

its

natural state.

This

pit-fire

used differently from the preceding one, for in the

and bums until the sides are heated

removed and the bean pot put
which the whole thing is covered up with ashes

bean hole the fire

is

built

good and hot, then the

in place, after

fire is

and earth and allowed to cook at

its leisure.

The Cowboy Pir-pmB

The cowboy pit-fire is simply a trench dug in the earth
(Kg. 107), with a basin-shaped hole at the beginning. When
obtainable, sticks are laid across the trench

upon the top

of the pit-fire

and sods

laid

shows a section of view

and trench chimney, and Fig. 108 shows the
Fig. 107

of the sticks.

top view of the same.

In removing the sod one should be careful not to break

them, then even though there be no sticks one may be able

by
them to bridge the trench. At the end of the trench
the sods are built up, making a short smokestack.

to cover the draught chimney with the sods themselves

allowing

The Chinook
The chinook

FraE-pir

one which

fire-pit is

is

used in the north-

western part of the United States, and seems to be a combina-

camp

tion of the ordinary

cowboy

fire-pit.

fire-dogs

with cross logs and the

shows a perspective view of this

Pig. 109

Fig. 110 shows the top view of plan of the lay. Fig. Ill
shows a steeper perspective view than that of Fig. 109, and
Fig. 112 shows a sectional view. By examining the sectional
lay.

view and also the deeper perspective view, as well as the plan,

you will note that the two

with space between.
of another back-log

logs are placed across the fire-dogs

The

back-log

A and B

is

placed upon the top

(Fig. 112).

The

fire-dogs

have

CAMP KITCHENS
their ends

shoved against the bottom back-logs B, the two

back-logs are kept

two top
or

split

85

m place by the stakes C, C.

D and A

logs

wood

is

(Figs. 112

and

Between the

110), the smaller fuel

placed.

As the fire burns the hot coals drop into the pit, and when
sufficient

quantity of embers are there they

may be

raked

forward and the frying pan placed on top of them (Fig. 112).

The chinook
and

is

an

fire is

good for baking,

frying, broiling, toasting,

excellent all-around kitchen

camp

stove.

The Hobo
Is carelessly built, a fire-place usually surrounding a shal-

low

pit,

the sides built up with sods or stones.

The hobo

answers for a hasty Gie over which to boil the kettle (Fig. 113).

At the

old-fashioned

barbecue where our ancestors

roasted whole oxen, the ox was placed on a huge spit, which

was turned with a crank handle, very

similar to the old-

fashioned well handle as used with a rope or chain and bucket.

The Baebecce-pit
where they broil or roast a
whole sheep, deer or pig. At a late meet of the Camp-fire
Club of America they thus barbecued a pig.
The fire-pit is about four feet wide and four feet deep and
Is used at those feasts (Fig. 114),

is

long enough (Fig. 114) to allow a

end of the

pit,

there being no

fire

fire

to be built at each

under the meat

itself for

the very good reason that the melted fat would drop into
the fire, cause it to blaze up, smoke and spoil the meat.

Homer Davenport (the old-time and famous

some years ago gave a barbecue at his wild animal
farm in New Jersey. When Davenport was not drawing
cartoons he was raising wild animals. At the Davenport
The

late

cartoonist)

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

86

barbecue there was a

(Fig. lis);

fire-pit

dug in the side

is known as

of the

bank

such an arrangement

The Bank-pit
In the diagram
to a spit

be seen that the carcass is fastened

of green wood, which runs thru a hole in a cross log
it will

114

116

116

117

and fits in the socket D in the bottom log; the spit is turned
by handles arranged like A, B or C. The pit is lined with
either stones or bricks, which are heated by a roaring big
fire until

hot enough to bake the meat.

The Gold Digger

bank pit, and one that I have seen used in Montana
by Japanese railroad hands. It is made by digging a hole
in the bank and using shelves either made of stones or old
pieces of iron. Fig. 116 shows the cross section of the Gold
Is another

CAMP KITCHENS

87

Digger with the stone door in place. Fig. 117 shows a perspective view of the gold digger with the stone door resting
at one side.

We next come to the ovens, the first of which is known as

The
It

is

made by

(Fig. 118),

building a roimded hut of stones or sod

and covering the same with branches over which

sod, or clay, or dirt

by

Ferqitson Camp Stove

building the

is

heaped

fire inside

of

(Fig. 119).
it,

The oven

and when

it is

is

heated

very hot and

the fire has burned down, the food is placed inside and the
opening stopped up so as to retain the heat and thus cook
the food.

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

88

The Adobe
Is

one that the soldiers in Civil

to build.

The boys

War

days taught the author

in blue generally used

the two heads knocked out (Fig. 121).

an old barrel with

This they either set

bank or covered with clay (Fig. 120), and in it they

built their fires which consumed the barrel but left the baked
clay for the sides of the oven. The head of the barrel (Fig.
121A) was saved and used to stop up the front of the oven
when baking was being done; a stone or sod was used to
cover up the chinaney hole. Figs. 122, 123, 124 and 125
show how to make an Adobe by braiding green sticks together
and then covering the same with clay, after which it is used
in the same manner as the preceding barrel oven.
in the

The Matasiso
Is

a camp stove or fire-place, and a form of the so-called Altar

Fire-place, the object of

cooking.

The matasiso

and used

like

is

which
built

is to save one's back while

up of stones or sods (Fig. 126)

any other campfire.

The Bank Lick

Is

a camp stove which the boys of the troop of Boone Scouts,

who

frequented

build

and on

it

Bank Lick

in old

Kentucky, were wont to

to cook the big channel catfish, or Httle

pond

Bank Lick is made of flat stones and is

one or two stories high (Figs. 127 and 128). The Boone Scouts
bassorotherfood. The

flourished in

Kenton County, Kentucky,

fifty

odd years ago.

The Altak Fibe-place

Is built of logs (Fig. 132), of stones, of sod, or of logs filled with

sods or stone (Fig. 131), and topped with clay (Figs.

and

132).

130

The clay top being wider at one end than the other.

CAMP KITCHENS

on the plan of the well-known campfire

91

(Fig. 129), is

with stones and sometimes used when clay

is

made

imobtainable.

The Altab Camp Fieb-Placb

The 'advantage

and the matasiso is that

the cook does not have to get the backache over the fire
while he cooks. All of these ovens and fire-places are suitable
of the altar fire

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

92
for

more or

less

permanent camps, but it

is

not worth while to

build these ovens and altar fire-places for quick and short camps.

Cooking Without Pots, Pans or Stoves

It

is

proper and right in treating

camp cooking that we

For when one

should begin with the most primitive methods.

Pebhtive Cooking Utensils

has no cooking utensils except those fashioned from the

material at hand, he must, in order to prepare appetizing
food, display a real knowledge of woodcraft.

by spearing the meat on a green twig

some similar wood, and toast it before the
or pinch the meat between the split ends of a twig (Fig.

Therefore, start
of sweet birch, or
fire

133) or better

still

Fork
In order to do this select a

It

wand with a

fork to

it,

trim

them rather long (Fig.

134), then sharpen the ends of the prongs and weave them in
and out near the edges of the meat (Fig. 135), which is done
off

the prongs of the forks, leaving

CAMP KITCHENS

93

by drawing the prongs slightly together before impaling the

meat on the second prong. The natural spring and elasticity
of the branches mil stretch the meat nice and flat (Fig.
135), ready to toast in front of the flames, not over the Hame.

A very thick steak of moose meat or beef may be cooked

Remember to have fire-dogs and a good
wiU then be hot coals imder the front log and
flame against the back log to furnish heat for the meat in
front. Turn the meat every few minutes and do not salt it
until it is about done. Any sort of meat can be thus cooked
it is a favorite way of toasting bacon among the sportsmen,
and I have seen chickens beautifully broiled with no cooking
implements but the forked stick. This was done by splitting
the chicken open and running the forks through the legs and
in this

back

manner.

log; there

sides of the fowl.

Pulled Fikebeead ok Twist

Twist
twist

is

is

made

Boy

Scout's

name

and

of dough

for this sort of bread.

rolled

The

between the palms of the

hands

until it becomes a long thick rope (Fig. 138), then it is

wrapped spirally aroimd a dry stick (Fig. 139), or one with
bark on it (Fig. 137). The coils should be close together but

without touching each other.

The

stick

is

now

rested in

the forks of two uprights, or on two stones in front of the

roasting
fire.

fij^ (Figs.

140 and 141), or over the hot coals of a pit-

The long end of the stick on which the

used for a handle to turn the twist so that

browned on

all sides,

or

it

may

twist
it

is

coiled

may be

is

nicely

be set upright in front of lie

flames (Fig. 142).

A Hoe Cake
May

be cooked in the same manner that one planks a shad:

that is, by plastering it on the flat face of a puncheon or

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAPT

94

board, split from the trunk of a tree (Fig. 145), or flat clean
stone,

and propping

when cookiug
is

in

it

up

in front of the fire as

a reflecting

cooked on one side

it

oven

(Fig. 146).

one would

When

the cake

can be turned over by using a hunting

knife or a little paddle whittled out of a stick for that purpose,

and then cooked upon the opposite side. Or a flat stone may
be placed over the fire and used as a frying pan (Figs. 116 and
128). I have cooked a large channel catfish in this manner
and found that it was unnecessary to skin the fish because,
there being no grease, the skin adhered firmly to the hot stone,
leaving the white meat flaky and delicate, all ready to be
picked out with a jack-knife or with chopsticks, whittled

out of twigs.

Meat Hooks

May be made of forked branches

(Figs. 151, 152, 153, 154

hook meat may be suspended before

the fire (Fig, 15S) by a piece of twine made from the twisted
green bark of a milkweed or some other fibrous plant stalk
or tree bark, or a wet string will do if you have one.
and

155).

Upon

this

How

TO Dress Small Ajotmals

Dressing in this case really means undressing, taking

and removing their insides. In order to prepare

any of the smaU fur-bearing animals,
make yourself a skinning stick, using for the purpose a forked
branch; the forks being about an inch in diameter, make the
their coats off

for broiling or baking

length of the stick to suit your convenience, that

is,

long

enough to reach between the knees whether you are sitting

on a camp stool or squatting on the groimd, sharpen the
lower end of the stick and thrust it into the groimd, then
take your coon, possimi, squirrel or muskrat, and punch the

pointed ends of the forked stick thru the thin place at the

CAMP KITCHENS
point which corresponds to your

own

95

heel, just as

the stick

punched through the thin place behind the

heels of the small animals there sketched. Thus hung the

in Fig. 155

animal

one

is

may be

dressed with comfort to the workmen.

is squaitting,

ground.

the nose of the animal should just clear the

First take off the fur coat.

To do

this

you

split

the skin with a sharp knife, beginning at the center of the

throat and cut to the base of the

tail,

being careful not to

cut deep enough to penetrate the inside skin or sack which

contains the intestines;

when the base

use your fingers to roU back the skin.

pelt, follow directions

of the tail is reached,

If skinning for the

given later, but do not destroy any

useful for many purposes aroxmd camp.

removed and all the internal organs taken
out, remove the scent glands from such animals as have them,
and make a cut in the forearms and the meaty parts of the
thigh, and cut out the little white things which look like
nerves, to be found there. This will prevent the flesh from
having a strong or musky taste when it is cooked.

skin as the hide

After the coat

How

is

is

TO Bakbecue a Deeh, ok Sheep

First dress the carcass

and then

of black birch sticks, for this sweet

stretch it

on a framework

wood imparts no disagree-

able odor or taste to the meat.

Next build a big

fire

at each end of the pit (Fig. 114), not

bodyof the animal, but so arranged that when

the melted fat drops from the carcass it wUl not fall on the
hot coals to blaze up and spoil your barbecue. Build big
fires with plenty of small sticks so as to make good red hot
coals before you put the meat on to cook.
right under the

First bake the inside of the barbecued beast, then turn

it

over and bake the outside.

To be well done, an animal the

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

96

a sheep should be cooking at least seven or eight hours

over a charcoal fire. Baste the meat with melted bacon fat
mixed with any sauce you may have or no sauce at all,
size of

bacon fat

for

good enough

itself is

for anyone, or use

hot

salt water.

Of course, it is much better to use charcoal for this purpose,

but charcoal

is

not always handy.

Make

One's

One

can, however.

Own Chabcoal

A day or two ahead of the barbecue day, by building big

After the
fires of wood about the thickness of one's wrist.
fire has been burning briskly for a while, it should be covered
up with ashes or dirt and allowed to smoulder all night, and
turn the wood into charcoal in place of consuming it

How

TO

Make Dough

Roll the top of your flour bag back (Fig. 136), then build

a cone of

flour in the

make a

middle of the bag and

crater

in the top of the flour mountain.

In the crater

dump

a heaping teaspoon

or, to use

Mr.

Vreeland's expression, put in "one and a half heaping tea-

add a half spoonful

mix these together with the dry flour, and when this
is thoroughly done begin to pour water into the crater, a
little at a time, mixing the dough as you work by stirring it
spoonfuls of baking powder," to which

of salt;

Gradually the flour

aroxmd inside your miniature volcano.

will
is

sUde from the sides into the lava of the center, as the water

poured in and care taken to avoid lumps.

Make
soft

the dough as soft as

dough,

stiff

may

be, not batter

but very

enough, however, to roU between your well-

floiu^d hands.

Baked Potatoes
Put the potatoes with

their skins

on them on a bed of

hot embers two or three inches thick, then cover the potatoes

CAMP KITCHENS

97

with more hot coals.

If this is done properly the spuds will

cook slowly, even with the fire burning above them. Don't
be a chump and throw the potatoes in the fire where the outer

bum

rind wUl

to charcoal while the inside remains raw.

Mud

Cooking

In preparing a small and tender

point under the head, where the

fish,

gills

where

meet,

is

possible, the
cut, fingers

and the entrails drawn through this opening; the fish

then washed, cleaned and wrapped in a coating of paper

thrust in
is

or fallen leaves, before the clay

upon a pancake

appKed.

Place the fish

the edges together, thus making a clay

fish (Fig. 148), press

dumpling

is

of stiff clay (Fig. 147), fold the clay over the

(Fig. 149)

cook by burying the dumpKng in the

embers of an ordinary surface

fire,

or in the embers in a pit-

fire (Fig. 150).

brace of partridges

may

be beheaded, drawn, washed

out thoroughly and stuffed with fine scraps of chopped bacon

or pork, mixed with bread crumbs, generously seasoned with
if you have any of the latter.
The birds
on them are then plastered over with clean
clay made soft enough to stick to the feathers, the outside is
wrapped with stiffer clay and the whole molded into a ball,
which is buried deep in the glowing cinders and allowed to
remain there for an hour, and at the end of that time the clay
will often be almost as hard as pottery and must be broken
open with a stick. When the outside clay comes off the

salt,

pepper and sage,

with the feathers

feathers will

the bird

all

come with

it,

leaving the dainty white

Woodchucks, raccoons,

had

opossums,

of

porcupines, rabbits

better be barbecued (see Figs. 114, 115

squirrels

meat

ready to be devoured.

and

small creatures

and

155),

but

may be baked by first removing

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

98

the insides of the creatures, cleaning them,

the hollow

filling

with bread crumbs, chopped bacon and onions, then closing

the opening and plastering the bodies over with

and baking them

^M-X.iuM

in the embers.

JHF-^^-

L^^ HI
I

of the

clay broken

off,

clay

jg

mud wrapper and when

leaving the juicy

stiff

This seals the meat inside

it is

cooked and the brick-like

the skin comes off with the broken

meat exposed to view.

clay,

To Plank a Fish
Cut

off

the head of the fish and clean by splitting

through the back, in place of the usual

the belly.

To

salt red

dry and tough, but the

with

its

own

way

meat before you cook

fish

of sphtting
it is

should be salted while

to

it

up

make

it is

it

damp

juices.

Heat the plank in front of the fire and then spread your
fish out flat on the hot puncheon or plank, and with your
hunting knife press upon it, make slit holes through the fish
(Fig. 145) with the grain of the wood; tack your fish on with

CAMP KITCHENS

99

wooden pegs cut wedge shape and driven in the slits made
by your knife blade (Figs. 143 and 144). Prop the puncheon
up in front of a fire which has a good back-log and plenty
of hot coals to send out heat (Kg. 146).*

Heating Watek
Water may be boiled in a birch bark vessel made by foldup a more or less square piece of bark, bending in the
comer (Kg. 157) folds and holding them in place by thorns
or slivers (Kg. 156). Or the stomach of a large animal or
piece of green hide may be filled with water and the latter
made hot by throwing in it hot stones (Fig. 158). Dig a hole
ing

in the ground,

up so
fill

fit

the rawhide in the hole, bringing the edges

as to overlap the sod,

weigh down the edges with stones,

the hide with water and heat with hot stones.

Figs. 159

and 160 show how to make tongs with which to handle the
stones.

*The best plank is made from the oaks grown on the hanmiocks of
Southern Florida and the peculiar flavor this plank gives to shad has
made Planked Shad famous.

CHAPTER

VI

CAMP FOOD
HOW

TO MAKE ASH CAKE, PONE, CORN DODOEBS, TLKPIACESS,

JOHNNY-CAKE, BISCUITS AND DOUGHGOD

MAKING DUTCH OVENS

VENISON
BANQUETS IN THE OPEN
HOW TO COOK BEAVER TAIL, PORCUPINES AND MUBKBATB
CAMP STEWS, BRUNSWICK STEWS AND BUR600S

CHAPTER

VI

CAMP FOOD
Pabched Corn as Food

When

it

America gave Indian com to the world she gave

a priceless gift full of condensed pep. Com in its various

is a wonderful food power; with a long, narrow buckskin

bag of nocake, or rock-a-hominy, as parched cracked com
was called, swung upon his back, an Indian or a white man
could traverse the continent independent of game and never
suffer hunger. George Washington, George Rodger Clark,
Boone, Kenton, Crockett, and Carson all knew the sustaining
value of parched com.

forms

How
The

TO

Dkt Corn

pioneer farmers in America and

many

descendants up to the present time, diy their Indian

of their

com by

the methods the early Americans learned from the Indians.

The com drying season

naturally begins with the harvesting

com, but it often continues until the first snow falls.

Selecting a number of ears of com, the husks are pulled
back exposing the grain, and then the husks of the several
ears are braided together (Kg. 165). These bunches of com
are himg over branches of trees or horizontal poles and left
of the

for the

On

winds to dry

(Fig. 166).

account of the danger from com-eating birds and

beasts, these drying poles are usually placed near the kitchen

door of the farmhouse, and sometimes in the attic of the old

farmhouse, the woodshed or the bam.
103

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

104

owned no com mills, but they used

com and stone pestles like
crudely made potato mashers with which to grind the com.
The writer lately saw numbers of these stone com-mills in
Of

course, the Indiaius

bowl-shaped stones to hold the

the collection of Doctor Baldwin, of Springfield, Mass.

rLlTjT CORTC
tKllllllllltlliMltmilllUllrmiunililMiui
;f^Mllllllltllll llllliiiMliniiiiirfiiiifim'

'NWiiiliiiii ""'""iiiiiiiifu"'^

How

TO Prepahe Cobn to Eat

In the southwest much

grit from the stone used is uninmixed with the com, and hence all the elderly
Indians' teeth are worn down as if they had been sandpapered.

tentionally

But the reader can use a wooden bowl and a potato masher
with a piece of tin or sheet iron nailed to its bottom with
which to crush the com and make meal without grit. Or he
can make a pioneer mill like Figs. 163 or 164, from a log.
The pestle or masher in Fig. 164 is of iron.

Sweet Corn
There
still

is

a way to preserve corn which a few white people

it from the Indians.
First

practice just as they learned

CAMP FOOD
they dig long, shallow trenches in the ground,

105
fill

them with

and small trngs with which they make a hot fire

and thus cover the bottom of the ditch with glowing embers.
The outer husks of the fresh green com are then removed
and the com placed in rows side by side on the hot embers
(Kg. 167). This practice gave the name of Roasting Ear
Season to July and August.
dried roots

As the husks become scorched the ears are turned over,

and when browned on all sides they are deftly tossed out of
the ditch by means of a wand or stick used for that purpose.
The bmut husks are now removed and the grains of com
are shelled from the cob with the help of a sharp-edged, fresh
water "clam" shell; these shells I have often foimd in the
old camping places of the Indians in the half caves of
Pennsylvania.

The com

is then spread out on a clean sheet or on pieces

and allowed to dry in the sun. It is "mighty" good
as any Southern bom person will tell you. One can

of paper

food,

keep a supply of

it all

winter.

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

106

Pakched Field Cobn

When

was a

little

shaver in old Kentucky, the children

were very fond of the Southern

pan (Kg.

field

com parched

in

a frying

and then buttered and salted while it was still

hot; we parched field com, sugar com and the regular pop
com, but none of us had ever seen cracked com or com meal
parched and used as food, and I am inclined to think that the
161),

old pioneers themselves parched the

com as did their direct

com was crushed or

descendants in Kentucky, and that said

groimd after it had been parched. Be this as it may, we know

that our bordemien traveled and fought on a parched

com

and that Somoset, Massasoit, Pocahontas, Okekankano,

Powhatan, all ate com cakes and that it was either them or
the squaws of their tribes who taught bold Captain Smith's
people on the southern coast, and the Pilgrims further north,
the value of com as an article of diet. The knowledge of how
to make the various kinds of corn bread and the use of com
generally from "roasting-ears" to com puddings was gained
from the American Indians. It was from them we learned
diet

how

to

make the

Ash Cakes
This ancient American food dates back to the fable times

when the sun came out of a

up overhead and then dove
the western sky and disappeared. The sun

which existed before

history,

hole in the eastern sky, climbed

through a hole in

no more plays such

who once

tricks,

stole the sun,

and although the hummingrbird,

still

carries the

mark under

his chin,

no longer a humming-birdman but only a little buzzing

bird; the ash cake, however, is still an ash cake and is made
in almost as primitive a manner now as it was then.
Mix half a teaspoonful of salt with a cup of com meal, and
add to it boiling hot water until the swollen meal may be

he

is

CAMP FOOD
worked by one's hand into a
of

ball,

bury the

hot ashes (glowing embers) and leave

107
ball in
it

a nice bed

there to bake

a potato. Equalling the ash cake in fame and simplicity is

like

Pone
Pone

made by mixing

is

the meal as described for the

ash cake, but molding the mixture in the form of a cone and

baking

it

in

an oven.

Johnny-cake

same way as the pone or ash cake, but it is

is it the same shape; it is more in
the form of a very thick pancake. Pat the Johnny-cake into
the form of a disk an inch thick and four inches in diameter.
Have the frying pan plentifully supplied with hot grease and
Is

mixed

in the

not cooked the same, nor

drop the Johnny-cake carefully in the sizzling grease.

When

browned on one side turn it and brown it on

the other side. If cooked properly it should be a rich dark
brown color and with a crisp crust. Before it is eaten it may
be cut open and buttered like a biscuit, or eaten with maple
syrup like a hot buckwheat cake. This is the Johnny-cake
of my youth, the famous Johnny-cake of Kentucky fifty
years ago. Up North I find that any old thing made of com
meal is called a Johnny-cake and that they also call ashcakes "hoe-cakes," and com bread "bannocks," at least they
call camp com bread, a bannock. Now since bannocks were
known before com was known, suppose we call it
the cake

is

well

Camp Corn Bread and Corn Dodgers

In the North they also
cake," but whatever
ing.

it is

call this

called

camp com bread "Johnny-

it is

wholesome and nourishflour and mix them

Take some com meal and wheat

fifty-fifty; in

other words, a half pint each; add a teaspoon

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

108
level full

and a teaspoon heaping

full

of baking

powder and

about haK a teaspoonful of salt; mix these all together,

while dry, in your pan, then add the water gradually. If you

have any milk go fifty-fifty with the water and milk, make the
flour as thin as batter, pour it into a reflector pan, or frying
pan, prop it up in front of a quick fire; it will be heavy if
allowed to cook slowly at the start, but after your cake has

you may take more time with the cooking. This is a

bread to stick to the ribs. I have eaten it every
day for a month at a time and it certainly has the food
power in it. When made in form of biscuits it is called
risen

com

fine

"com

dodgers."

Camp Biscuit
Take two cups full

of flour

and one level teaspoonful and

one heaping teaspoonful of baking powder and half a teasalt, and mix them together thoroughly while dry.
you add milk and water, if not milk straight water,
mixing it as described for the flapjacks. Make a dough soft
but stiflf enough to mold with well floured hands, make it
into biscuits about half an inch thick, put them into a
greased pan, bake them in any one of the ovens already
described, or by propping them up in front of the fire. If the
biscuits have been weU mixed and well baked they will prove

spoonful of

To

this

to be good biscuits.

The Vreeiand Bannock

tells me that he makes this the same as he would
and bakes it in a frying pan. The frying pan is
heated and greased before the dough is dropped into it,
making a cake about a half inch thick. The frying pan is

Fred

biscuits

then placed over the slow

to rise

fire

to give the

and harden enough to hold

its

bannock a chance

shape, then the frying

CAMP FOOD
pan

is

109

propped up with a stick and the bannock browned by

must be cooked slowly and have "a nice

made bannocks but I have
Vreeland's, and they are fine.

reflected heat, it

brown

crust."

eaten some of

I have never

Flapjacks

A fellow who

cannot throw a flapjack

is

sadly lacking in

the skiU one expects to find in a real woodcrafter.

greasy flapjack
joy to

is

an abomination, but the

make and a

A heavy,

real article is

joy to eat.

add halt a
teaspoonful of salt, also one heaping teaspoonf ul and one level
teaspoonful of baking powder mix the salt and baking powder

Put a

large tin cupful of flour in the pan,

dry. Then build your little

mountain or volcano of flour with its miniature crater ia the
middle, into which pour water little by Kttle; making the
lava by mixing the dough as you go. Continue this process
until all the flotu* is batter; the batter should be thin enough
to spread out rapidly into the form of a pancake when it is

well with the flour while

it is

poured into the skillet or frying pan, but not watery.

Grease the frying pan with a greasy rag fastened to the
end of a stick or with a piece of bacon rind. Remember that
the frying pan only needs enough grease to prevent the cake

from sticking to the pan; when one fries potatoes the pan
should be plentifully supplied with very hot grease, but
flapjacks are not potatoes and too much grease makes the
cakes unfit to eat. Do not put too much batter in the pan,
either; I tried it once and when I flapped the flapjack the
hot batter splattered all over my face, and that batter was
even hotter than my remarks.
Pour enough batter into the pan to spread almost but
not quite over the bottom; when the bubbles come thickly

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

110

and the edges begin to smoke a bit, it is time

to flap the flapjack. Do so by loosening the edges with a knife
blade, then dip the far side of the pan downward and bring

in the middle

it

up

quickly, sending the cake somersaulting in the air;

catch the cake as

cook that

it falls

batter side

down and proceed

to

side.

The penalty of dropping a flapjack in the

made to eat it without wiping off the ashes.

fire is

to be

DOUGHGOD
First fry

some bacon or

boil it until it is soft,

then chop

Save
up the bacon
the grease and set the bacon to one side; now take a pint of
flour and half a teaspoon of salt, a spoonful of brown sugar
and a heaping spoonful of baking powder and mix them all
into small pieces quite fine, like hash.

while they are dry, after which stir ia the water as already

described until it is in the form of batter now add the chopped

bacon and then mix rapidly with a spoon; pour it into a
Dutch dven or a pan and bake; it should be done in thirty;

five or forty minutes, according to the condition of the fire.

When your campfire is built upon a hearth made of stones,

you brush the ashes away from the hot stone and place
your doughgod upon it, then cover it with a frying pan or
some similar vessel, and put the hot cinders on top of the
frying pan, you will find that it will bake very nicely and
satisfactorily on the hearthstone.
if

In the old-fashioned open fire-places where our grand-

Dutch oven was considered

The Dutch oven is still used by the guides and cowboys and is of practically the same form as that used by
Abraham Lincoln's folks; it consists of a more or less shallow
parents did their cooking, a
essential.

dish of metal, copper, brass or iron, with four metal legs

CAMP FOOD
that

may

which

is

is

a metal top

so as to cover the bottom dish, and the edges

of the cover are turned

up

turned up.

made

are

Over that

be set in the hot cinders.

made

111

This

is

dumped on top

so
of

it,

all

around

a hat with

like

its

brim

to hold the hot cinders which

but a

Dutch Oven May be Improvised

From any combination of two metal dishes so made or selected
that the large one wiU

fit

over the top and snugly overlap

the smaller dish, so as not to admit

food inside.

In this oven bread,

bakes, meat,

fish,

dirt,

dust or ashes to the

biscuits, cakes, pies, stews,

fowl and vegetables

may be cooked

with

In camp two frying pans are frequently

made to act as a Dutch oven. A Dutch oven is sometimes
delightful results.

used in a bean hole (Fig. 106) . Firsfcbuild a fire, using sufficient

small wood, chips and dry roots to

which to fill your bean hole.

the cook prepare to cook

make

While the

enough with
doing its work

cinders
fire is

let

l^E Soubdough's Jot

Slice bacon as thin as possible and place a layer over the
bottom and around the sides of the Dutch oven like a piecrust. Slice venison, moose meat or bear steak, or plain beef,
medium thinand put in to the depth of 2j^ inches, salting each
layer. Chop a large onion and sprinkle it over the top, cover
with another layer of bacon and one pint of water and put

on the lid. Fill the hole half full of hot embers, place the
Dutch oven in the center and fill the space surrounding the
oven full of embers. Cover all with about 6 inches of dirt,
then roll yourself up in your blanket and shut your eyes
your breakfast will cook while you sleep and be piping hot
when you dig for it in the morning.

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

112

The bean

hole

is

far

from a modern invention and the

dried droppings of animals, like "buffalo chips," were used

for fuel

away back

in Bible times; in ancient Palestine

stewed their meat in a pot set in a hole

over which burned a

filled in

they

with stones

of "chips" gathered where the

fire

flocks pastured.

When

the

wood

is

of such a nature that

it is difficult

to

obtain a bed of live coals for toasting, meat may, in a pinch,

be cooked upon a clean

Be

flat

certain that the stone

burst

it.

is

stone (Figs. 116, 117 and 128).

a dry one, otherwise the heat

If satisfied that it is dry,

spread your thick

slice of venison,

heat

it

may

good and hot and

moose, bear or sheep or

even beef upon the very hot stone; leave it there about twenty
minutes and allow
then turn

it

it

over and

to singe, sizzle

bum

and

bum

on one

side,

the other side until the charred

is one-quarter or even a half inch deep. Now remove the

meat and with your hunting knife scrape away all the charred
meat, season it and toast some bacon or pork on a forked
stick and, after scoring the steak deeply and putting the
pork or bacon in the cuts, the meat is ready to serve to your
hungry self and camp mates.

part

How

TO Cook Venison

you want to know how real wild meat tastes, drop a

buck with a shot just over the shoulderno good
sportsman will shoot a doe dress the deer and let it hang
for several days; that is, if you wish tender meat.
Cut a
steak two inches thick and fry some bacon, after which put
the steak in the frying pan with the bacon on top of it, and
a cover on the frying pan. When one side is cooked, turn the
meat over and again put the bacon on top, replace the cover
and let that side cook. Serve on a hot plate and give thanks
If

sleek

CAMP FOOD

113

'Aat you are in the open, have a good appetite and you are
privileged to partake of a dish too good for any old king.

my word! the recollection of it makes me

have eaten moose meat three times a day for
weeks at a time, when it was cooked as described, without

The

gravy, oh

hungry!
losing

my

desire for more.

Pekdix au Choux
a great dish in Canada; the bird is cooked this way: Chop
fine and highly spice it, then stuff the bird with the
cabbage and nicely cover the partridge or grouse with many
Is

cabbage

and put bacon also in the baking pan.

baked and well basted a more delicious
game dinner you wiU never eat. Try it; it is an old French

thin slices of bacon,

When

this is well

way of

cooking the partridge or pheasant.

When you need a real warm fire for cooking, do not forget
that dry roots
for

them

make an intensely hot fire with no smoke;

are light as a cork

No

and porous as a sponge, and bum like

one with truth

unless he

is

may

say that he

a good camp cook.

error to think that the outdoor

trencher
ancient

look

in driftwood piles, as they are sure to be there; they

men

is

coke.

a real woodcrafter

At the same time

men Kve

it is

an

to eat like the

of old England, or the degenerate epicures of

Rome.

Neither are the outdoor

men

in

sympathy

with the Spartans or Lacedemonians and none of them would

willingly partake of the historic

Lacedemonia.

and disgusting black broth of

Woodcrafters are really more in sympathy

with cultured Athenians

who

strove to

make

attractive with interesting talk, inspiring

and

delightful recitations

campfire

man would

he might add that

say:

like all

by poets and
"That's

me

their banquets

and

patriotic odes

As a
Mable" and

philosophers.

all

good things on

over,

this earth

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

114

Banquets

The word itself is from the French

and Spanish and means a small bench, a httle seat, and when
spelled banqueta, means a three-legged stool. It has reference

Originated in the open.

to sitting while eating instead of taking refreshments in

"stand up" fashion.

The most enjoyable banquets

in the

author's experience are those partaken in the wilderness,

prominent among the wildwood dishes

is

and

the

Ltjmbehman's Baked Beans

Wash

the beans

first,

then half

fill

a pail with them, put

them over the fire and parboil them until their skins are ready
to come off; they are now ready for the pot. But before putting them in there, peel an onion and slice it, placing the
sKces in the bottom of the bean pot. Now pour half of the
beans over the onions and on top of them spread the slices
of another onion. Take some salt pork and cut it into square
pieces and place the hunks of pork over the onions, thus
making a layer of onions and pork on top of the beans. Over
this

pour the remainder of the beans, cover the top of the

beans with molasges, on the top of the molasses put some more

himks of pork, put in enough water to barely cover the beans.

Over the top of all of it spread a piece of birch bark, then
force the cover down good and tight.
Meanwhile a fire should have been built in the bean hole
(Fig. 105).
When the fire of birch has been burnt to hot
cinders, the cinders must be shoveled out and the bean pot
put iato the hole, after which pack the cinders around the
bean pot and cover the whole thing with the dead ashes, or
as the lumbermen call them, the black ashes.
If the beans are put into the bean hole late in the afternoon
and allowed to remain there all night, they will be done to a

CAMP FOOD

115

turn for breakfast; the

juicy

neict morning they will be wholesome,

and sweet, browned on top and delicious.

A bean hole is not absolutely necessary for a small pot of

I have cooked them in the wilderness by placing the
pot on the ground in the middle of the place where the fire

beans.

had been burning, then heaping the hot ashes and

over the bean pot imtil

it

made a

covered with the black ashes and

little hill

left until

was a wonderful

cinders

which I

morning.

the same experiment on the open hearth to

it

there,

my

I tried

studio and

success.

The Etiquette of the Woods

Requires that when a porcupine has been killed
ately thrown into the

have been singed

may

fire,

off of

there to remain until

it

be immedi-

all

the quills

the aggressive hide, after which it

be skinned with no danger to the workmen and with no

danger to the other campers from the wicked barbed

which otherwise might be waiting

for

them

just

quills,

where they

wished to seat themselves.

may

This

tentionally,
assiure

sound funny, but I have ejqperimented, uninseating myself upon a porcupine quill. I can

by

the reader that there

is

nothing humorous in the ex-

perience to the victim, however funny

who

it

may appear to those

look on.

After thoroughly singeing the porcupine you

grass to

make

skin, then

belly

with a sharp knife

from the

and peel

roll it in

the

certain that the burnt quills are rubbed off its

tail

it off.

Broiled porcupine

slit

him up the middle

of the

to the throat, pull the skin carefully back

When you come

is

to the feet cut

them

off.

the Thanksgiving turkey of the Alaskan

and British Columbia Indian, but unless it has been boiled

in two or three waters the taste does not suit white men.

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

116

Method

PoKctJPiNE Wilderness
After

it

has been parboiled, suspend the porcupine by

coals,

and

if

is

most savory;

meaty

tail

tongue

it is filled

with fine bits

and take out the bone, then roast the

part.

Porcupine
the

The

like beef

Split the tail

of fat.

fire,

well seasoned it will be as

found in the wilderness.

and

or over a bed of hot

good meat as can be
particularly is very meaty

good roasting

forelegs in front of a

its

fia-e is

stuflFed

with onions and roasted on a spit before

good, but to get the perfection of cooking

it really

should be cooked in a Dutch oven, or a closed kettle or an

improvised airtight oven of some sort and baked in a bean

baked by being buried deep imder a heap of cinders

and covered with ashes. Two iron pans that will fit together,

hole, or

that

is,

one that

smaller one

answer

all

may

is

trifle

larger than the other so that the

be pushed down into

it

to

the purposes of the Dutch oven.

some

extent, will

Also two frying

pans arranged in the same manner.

Always remember that

dressed and cleaned,

it

after the porcupine

is

skinned,'

should be jmt in a pot and parboiled,

changiug the water once or twice, after which

cooked in any way which appeals to the camper.

it

may

be

The

North Method
Dutch oven with a few hunks of fat pork;
upon some hard-tack, hard biscuit
any kind, which has been slightly softened

Is to place it in the
let the porcupine

or stale bread of

itself rest

with water.

On top of the porcupine lay a nice slice or two of fat pork

and place another layer of soaked hard biscuit or hard-tack
on the pork, put it in a Dutch oven and place the Dutch oven

CAMP FOOD
on the hot

117

put a cover on the Dutch oven and heap

coals,

it and the ashes atop of that;

bake slowly untU the flesh parts from the bones. Thus
cooked it will taste something like veal with a suggestion of

the Uving coals over the top of

let it

The

sucking pig.

tail of

the porcupine, like the

Tail of the Beaveb

Is considered

men hang
two

a special delicacy.

the

in the

Many of

flat trowel-like tails of

the old wilderness

the beaver for a day or

chimney of their shack to allow the oily matter

it, and thus take away the otherwise strong

to exude from

taste; others parboil it as advocated for porcupine meat,

after

which the

skin removed

tail

may

be roasted or baked and the rough

before eating.

Beaver Tail Soup

Is

made by

stewing the

tails

with what other ingredients one

may have in camp aU such dishes should be allowed to simmer

;

a long while in place of boiling rapidly.

A man who was himting in North Michigan said, "Although I am a Marylander, and an Eastern Shore one at that,
and consequently know what good things to eat are, I want
for

to

tell

you that

camp cook

I'll

have to take

off

my

as the discoverer, fabricator

hat to the lumber

and dispenser of a

dish that knocks the Eastern Shore cuisine

dish

is

beaver-tail soup.

When the

silly.

And

that

beaver was brought into

camp the camp cook went nearly wild, and so did the lumbermen when they heard the news, and all because they were
pining for beaver-tail soup.

"The cook took that broad appendage of the beaver, mailed

like an armadiQo, took from it the imderlying bone and meat

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

118

and from

it

made such a soup

stock, at the

as never

came from any other

beck of the most expert and

scientific

chef that

ever put a kettle on."

MUSKBAT
Is valuable also for his flesh.

Its

name and

ance have created a prejudice against

sands of persons eat

it

it

rat-like appear-

as a food, but thou-

without compunction.

For those to

whom the name is a stumbling-block the euphemism "marsh

has been invented, and imder this name the
muskrat is sold even in the Wilmington market and served
on the tables of white country folk. In Delaware, especially, the muskrat is ranked as a delicacy, and personally
rabbit"

the author ranks this rodent with the rabbit as an article

of food.

At Dover the

writer has

had

it

served at the hotel under

own name;^the dish was "muskrats and toast." For the

benefit of those who revolt at the muskrat as food, it is well
its

to state that

it is

one of the cleanest of

carefully washes all its

own food and

all

creatures, that

in every

it

way conducts

so as to recommend its flesh even to the most fastidious.

As a matter of fact the flesh of the muskrat, though dark,
is tender and exceedingly sweet.
Stewed hke rabbit it looks
and tastes like rabbit, save that it lacks a certain gamy flavor
that some uneducated persons find an unpleasant characteristic of the latter. But to the writer's way of thinking, while
the muskrat is good to eat, there are many things much
itself

better; the point

good and
its

is

is,

however, that everything which tastes

not indigestible

name may

is

good to eat no matter what

be.

The Burgoo
Of all the camp stews and hunters' stews of various names
and flavors, the Kentucky burgoo heads the list; not only is

CAMP FOOD

119

its intrinsic qualities, its food value and

romance and picturesque accompaniment,
but also because of the illustrious people whose names are
linked in Kentucky history with the burgoo.
One such
feast, given some time between 1840 and 1850, was attended
by Governor Owlsley (old stone-hanuner). Governor Metcalf,
Governor Bob Letcher, Governor Moorhead, General George
Crittenton, General John Crittenton, General Tom Crittenton, James H. Beard, and other distinguished men.
All Kentuckians will vow they understand the true meaning of the word "burgoo." But an article in the Insurance
Field says, "It is derived from the low Latin burgus, fortified
(as a town) and goo-goo, very good." Hence the word, "burgoo," something very good, fortified with other good things, as
will be found in "Carey's Dictionary of Double Derivations"
"Burgoo is literally a soup composed of many vegetables
and meats delectably fused together in an enormous caldron,
over which, at the exact moment, a rabbit's foot at the end of
a yam string is properly waved by a colored preacher, whose
salary has been paid to date. These are the good omens by

it

distinguished for

delicious flavor, its

which the burgoo

is fortified."

How

TO

Make the Burgoo

Anything from an ordinary

caldrons, according to the

pail to

number

one or

many

big

of guests expected at the

which to serve the burgoo. The

more upon the manner of
depends
excellence of the burgoo
cooking and seasoning it than it does on the material used
camp,

will serve as vessels in

in its decoction.

To-day the burgoo is composed of meat from domestic

beasts and barnyard fowls with vegetables from the garden,
but originally it was made from the wild things in the woods,

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCBAFT

120

bear, buffalo, venison, wild turkey, quails, squirrels

splendid

game animals

and all the

that once roamed through Kentucky.

As this book is for woodcrafters we will take it for granted

we are in the woods, that we have some venison, moose,

that

bear meat, rocky mountain goat, big horn, rabbit, ruffed

some good substitutes. It would be a rare occasion

we would really have these things. If, for instance, we have a good string of grouse we will take their
legs and wings and necks for the burgoo and save their
breasts for a broU, and if we have not many grouse we wiU
grouse, or

indeed when

put in a whole bird or two.

We

will treat

the rabbits the

same way, saving the body with the tenderloin for broiling.
When cleaned and dressed the meat of a turtle or two adds
a deKcious flavor to the burgoo; frogs legs are also good,
with the other meat.

Cut

all

the meat up into pieces which will correspond,

roughly speaking, to inch cubes; do not throw away the bones;

Now then,

you were wise enough when

some of the illsmelling but palatable dried vegetables, they will add immensely to the flavor of your burgoo. Put all the material
in the kettle, that is, unless you are using beans and potatoes
as vegetables; if so, the meats had better be well cooked first,
because the beans and potatoes have a tendency to go to the
bottom, and by scorching spoil the broth.
Fill your kettle, caldron or pot half full of water and
hang it over the fire; while it is making ready to boil get busy
with your vegetables, preparing them for the stew. Peel the
dry outer skin off your onions and halve them, or quarter
them, according to their size; scrape your carrots and slice
them into little disks, each about the size of a quarter, peel
your potatoes and cut them up into pieces about the size
put them
you were

in also.

if

outfitting for the trip to secure

CAMP FOOD
and when the caldion

of the meat,
vegetables.

The

121
boiling

is

dump

in the

vegetables will temporarily cool the water,

which should not be allowed to again boil, but should be put

over a slow fire and where it AsdU simmer. When the stew is
almost done add the salt and other seasonings. There should
always be enough water to cover the vegetables.

tomatoes will add to the flavor of your broth.

burgoo we put no thickening Uke meal,

of similar nature, because the broth

dear.

rice or other material

is

strained

and served

Also no sweet vegetables like beets.

When
cups.

Canned
In a real

Of

the burgoo
course,

if

is

juice to the stew, while

lemon and an

it out and drink it from tin

a picnic burgoo, you add olive
cooking, and then place a sliced

done dip

this is
it is

olive in each

cup and pour the hot strained

liquid into the cups.

The burgoo and the barbecue belong

to that era

when

food was plenty, feasts were generous and appetites good.

These

historic feasts stiU exist in

country and rich farming

and

Virginia.

what

is left

open
Kentucky

of the

districts, particularly in

In Kentucky in the olden times the gentlemen

were wont to go out in the morning and do the hunting, while

the negroes were keeping the caldrons boiling with the pork

and other foundation material in them. After the gentlemen

returned and the game was put into the caldron, the guests
began to arrive and the stew was served late in the afternoon
each guest was supposed to come supplied with a tin cup and

made of a fresh water mussel shell with a

a handle. Thus provided they aU sat round and
partook of as many helps as their hunger demanded.
Since we have given Kentucky's celebrated dish, we will
a spoon, the latter

split stick for

add "Ole Virginny's"

after the coimty

where

favorite dish, which has been

it

originated.

named

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

122

The Beunswick Stew

"Take two large squirrels, one quart of tomatoes, peeled
and sKced, if fresh; one pint of lima beans or butter beans,
two teaspoonfuls of white sugar, one minced onion, six pota-

com scraped from the cob, or a can of sweet

a poimd of butter, half a pound of salt pork, one
teaspoonful of salt, three level teaspoonfuls of pepper and a

toes, six ears of

com,

half

Cut the squirrels up as for fricassee, add

and water and boil five minutes. Then put in the onion,
beans, com, pork, potatoes and pepper, and when boiling
again add the squirrel.
"Cover closely and stew two hours, then add the tomato
mixed with the sugar and stew an hour longer. Ten minutes
before removing from the fire cut the butter into pieces the
size of EngUsh walnuts, roU in flour and add to the stew.
Boil up again, adding more salt and pepper if required."
The above is a receipt sent in to us, and I would give credit
for it if I knew from whence it came.
I do know that it
sounds good, and from my experience with other similar
gallon of water.
salt

dishes, it will taste good.

am

not writing a cook book but only attempting to

on his way as a camp chef, and if he succeeds

open the dishes here described, he need not
to tackle any culinary problem which conditions may

start the novice

in cooking in the
fear

make

it

necessary for

him

to solve.

CHAPTER

VII

PACKING HORSES
HOW
HOW
HOW
HOW

MAKE A PACK HORSE OF TOTTB OWN

MAKE AN APAEEJO
MAgW A CINCBA
MAKE A LATIQO
HOW-TO THROW A DIAMOND HITCH
HOW TO THROW A SQUAW HITCH
HOW TO HITCH A HORSE IN OPEN LAND WITHOUT
TO
TO
TO
TO

TREE OR STICK OR STONE

USE OP HOBBLES AND HOW TO MAKE THEM
HOW THE TRAVOIB IS MADE AND USED
BUFFALO BILL AND GENERAL MILES
HOW TO THROW DOWN A SADDLE
HOW TO THROW A SADDLE ON A HORSB
HOW TO MOUNT A HORSE
HOW TO KNOW A WESTERN HOKSB

POST,

CHAPTER Vn
PACKING HOUSES
is going on a real camping excursion where one
need pack horses, one should, by all means, familiarize
oneself with the proper method of packing a pack horse.

If one

will

This can be done in one's own

cellar, attic

or woodshed and

The

without hiring a horse or keeping one for the purpose.

horse will be expensive enough

The

drill in

camps, and

when one needs

it

on the

packing a horse should be taught in

all girl

camps and

all

Y.

M.

all

trail.

scout

C. A. camps, and

all

anybody goes outdoors at all, or where anybody pretends to go outdoors; and

after the tenderfeet have learned how to pack then it is tlie
proper time to learn what to pack; consequently we put
packing before outfitting, not the cart, but the pack before
training camps; iu fact, everywhere where

the horse, so to speak.

When

the

had the good

Right,

Boy Scout Movement

started in America

aggressive American motto,

it

"Be Sure You're

Then Go Ahead," which was borrowed from

man, Davy Crockett.

that

delightful old buckskin

few years later, when the scout idea was taken up in

England, the English changed the American motto to "Be
Prepared;" because the English Boy Scout promoter was
a military

by Great

of preparedness

which has since become apparent to us

all.

be prepared to pack a horse, we must

be sure we are right, then "go ahead " and practice pack-

And
first

man himself and saw the necessity

Britain,

in order to

ing at home.

One

of the

most useful things to the outdoor person

125

is

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

126

Pack Horse
All of us do not
this

own a

horse, but there

is

not a reader of

book so poor that he cannot own the horse shown by

Fig. 174.

168

There are but few people in the United States who cannot
honestly come into possession of a barrel with which to build
a pack horse or on which to practice throwing the diamond
hitch.

They can

also find, somewhere,

some pieces of board

its neck and head.

with which to make the legs of the horse,

PACKING HORSES

127

shows the neck-board, and the dotted lines show

where to saw the head to get the right angle for the head and
ears, with which the horse may hear.
Fig. 169 shows the
Fig. 168

head-board, and the dotted line shows

comer to give the proper shape

how

to

saw

off

one

to this Arabian steed's

intelligent head-piece.

Fig. 170 shows

nails

at

may be

leist

that

how

to nail the head on the neck.

The

procured by knocking them out of old boards;

is

the

way the writer supplied himself with naUs.

He

does not remember ever asking his parents for money

with which to buy nails, but if it is different nowadays, and

you do not feel economically inclined, and have the money,

go to the shop and buy them. Also, under such circumstances,
go to the Imnber yard and purchase your boards.
Fig. 171 shows how to nail two cleats on the neck, and
Fig. 172 shows how to naU these cleats onto the head of the
baiTel. If you find the barrel head so tough and elastic that
a nail cannot be easily hammered in, use a gimlet and bore
holes into the cleats and iato the barrel head, and then fasten
if

the cleats on with screws.

The

tail of

the nag

is

made out

of

an old piece

of frayed

rope (Fig. 173), with a knot tied in one end to prevent the
tail

from pulling out when

it is

pulled through a hole in the

other end of the barrel (Fig. 173).

The

legs of the horse are

made like those of a carpenter's wooden horse, of bits of plank

or boards braced under the barrel by cross-pieces (Fig. 174).
Now you have a splendid horse! "One that will stand

and warranted not to buck,

bite or kick, but nevertheless, when you are packmg him
remember that you are doing it in order to driU yourself to
without hitching."

pack a

and

It is kind

real live horse,

kick.

a horse that

may

really buck, bite

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

128

There are a

lot of

words in the English language not to

I remember a few years ago

be found in the dictionary.

when one could not find "undershirt" or "catboat" in the

dictionary. But in the dictionaries of to-day you will even
find "aparejo"

was

and "latigo," although neither of these words

in the dictionaries of yesterday.

Make Youe Own Aparejo

Make your own
real ones are

leather

some

is

made

aparejo of anything you can find.

The

of leather, but at the present time, 1920,

very expensive.

We can,

however, no doubt secure

builders' paper, tar paper, stiff

wrapping paper, a piece

by the way, would be more Hke leather

and cover these things with a piece of

of old oilcloth, which,

than anything

else,

The oilcloth
At the bottom edge of it we
can lash a couple of sticks (Kg. 175), or if we want to do it
in a real workmanlike manner, we can sew on a couple of
leather shoes, made out of old shoe leather or new leather
if we can secure it, and then slip a nice hickory stick through
tent cloth, a piece of carpet, or even burlap.
inside will stiffen the aparejo.

the shoes, as shown in the diagram (Kg. 176).

The

aparejo

is

back as in Kg.
on the back we must have a latigo

to throw over the horse's

178, but in order to fasten it

name for the rope attached

But when you are talking about
packing the pack horses call it "cinch," and speU it "cincha."
Make your cincha of a piece of canvas, and in one end fasten
a hook a, big strong picture hook will do; Fig. 177 J^ shows
a cinch hook made of an oak elbow invented by Stewart
Edward White, and in the other end an iron ring; to the iron
which

is

the real wild and woolly

to a cincha strap (Fig. 177)

ring fasten the lash rope (Pig. 177).

Par the

real horse

and

outfit

one

will

need an aparejo.

PACKING HORSES

189

a pack blanket, a lash rope with a cincha, a sling rope, a

blind for the horse, and a pack cover. But here again do not
call it a pack cover, for that will at once stamp you as a
tenderfoot.

Assume the

superior air of a real plainsman

and

The aparejo and pack saddle are

inventions of the Arabians away back in the eighth century.
When the Moors from Africa overran Spain, these picturesque
marauders brought with them pack mules, pack saddles, and

speak of

it

as a "manta."

When

aparejos.

Greneral Cortez

and Pizarro

carried the

torch and sword through Mexico in their search for gold,

they brought with them pack animals, pack saddles, aparejos,

latigos,

and all that sort of thiug with which to pack their loot.
the forty-niners went to California in search of

When

gold they found that the Arabian Moorish-Spanish-Mexican

method

of packing animals

was perfectly adapted to

their

purposes and they used to pack animals, the aparejos, the

and all the other kinds of gos. The lash rope for a
pack horse should be of the best Manila ^ inch or ^
inch, and forty feet long; a much shorter one will answer for
the wooden horse.
latigos,

real

Even Bora Can Throw the Hitch

Back

in 1879, Captain A. B.

Wood, United

States

Army,

introduced a knowledge of the proper use of the pack saddle

and the mysteries of the diamond hitch into the United

Army. The Fourth Cavalry, United States Army,
was the first to become expert with the diamond hitch and
taught it to the others; but recently a military magazine
has asked permission, and has used the author's diagrams,
to explain to the Cavalry men how this famous hitch
States

is

thrown.
It stands to reason that in order to

pack one horse one

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

130

But

must have some packs.

unaginable to secure.

these are the easiest things

couple of old potato or flour bags,

stuffed with anything that

or paper

is

handy

^hay, grass, leaves,

^but stuffed tight (Fig. 179), will

rags

do for our load.

When packing a horse, except with such hitches as the

"one man hitch, " it requires two men or boys to "throw " the
hitch.

The

first

one

is

known

other as the second packer.

side of the horse

is

the nigh

on the nigh

side of the horse

in the left

hand and

lets

as the head packer,

and the

Remember that the left-hand

side.
The head packer stands

and he takes the

the coils

fall

coiled lash rope

astern of the pack

animal (Fig. 180) ; with the right hand he takes hold of the
rope about three or four feet from the cincha (Fig. 180) and
hands the hook end under the animal to the second packer,
who stands on the right-hand side of the horse (Fig. 180).
The right hand of the head packer, with the palm upwards,
so holds the rope that the loop will

fall

across his forearm;

hand with the palm downward holds the rope about

half way between the loop that goes over the forearm and the
loop that lies along the back of the pack animal (Fig. 181).
The head packer now throws the loop from his forearm across
the

left

PACKING HOBSES

133

the pack on the back of the animal, allomng the

left

hand to

The second packer

hook and pulls up the cincha

naturally on the neck of the animal.

fall

now nms
end

the rope through the

imtil the

hook

is

near the lower edge of the

off side of

the

aparejo (Pig. 183).

The head packer next

grasps the rope

(Pig. 185)

and

tucks a loop from the rear to the front under the part marked

and 186), over the inner side pack (Pigs. 184

Next
the second packer passes the loose end of the
187)
rope under the part marked D (Pig. 187), and throws it on
the nigh (left) side of the pack animals:
The head packer now draws the tucked loop forward and
tucks it under die comers and the lower edge of the nigh
(Pigs. 185

and

side of the aparejo (Pig. 188), then holds

it taut from the rear

and the second packer takes hold of the rope at E
(Fig. 189) with his left hand, and at P (Pig. 187) with his right
hand. He passes the rope under the comers and lower edge
of the off side of the aparejo (G, H, Fig. 189, and G, H, Fig.
191). The second packer now takes the blind off his pack
animal and is supposed to lead it forward a few steps while
the head packer examines the load from the rear to see if it

corner,

is

properly adjusted.

Then the

blind

is

again put upon the animal for the final

tightening of the rope.

While the second packer

is

pulling

the parts taut, the head packer takes up the slack and keeps

the pack steady.

manner
(Figs.

The

tightening should be done in such a

as not to shake the pack out of balance or position,

188 and 190).

The second

(or off side)

packer grasps the lash rope above

the hook, and puts his knee against the stem comer of the
aparejo, left-hand group (Pig. 188).

The head packer takes

hold with his right hand of the same part of the rope where

it

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

134

comes from the pack on the Inner side, and with the left
hand at J (Fig. 189), and his right shoulder against the cargo
to steady it, he gives the conmiand " Full " Without jerks
but with steady pulls, the second packer now tightens the
!

"W" ISA fte.ni- CINCHA AND LATIGO

^C ISARE.AL SAW^UC*^ SADDLE" WITH

rope, taking care not to let

He gives
slack

it slip

back through the hook.

the loose part to the head packer,

who

takes

up the

by steady puUs.

When

the second packer

is

satisfied

that

it is all

right he

"Enough!" The head packer then holds steady with

right hand and slips the other hand down to where the

cries,

his

rope passes over the front edge of the aparejo.

There he

,.

PACKING HORSES

135

holds steady; his right hand then, takes hold of the continuation of the rope at the back corner of the

pad and

pulls tight.

Placing his right knee agaiust the rear corner of the pad he
pulls

hard with both hands until the rope

hand group (Fig. 188).

The second packer now takes up the
the rope with both hands,

is

well home, left-

slack

by grasping

(Fig. 189).

The head packer steps to the front to steady the pack.

The second packer pulls taut the parts on his side, taking up
This draws the part of the lash rope K,

the slack.
189) , well

(Fig.

back at middle of the pack, giving the center hitch

the diamond shape from which the

He then,

name

is

derived,

(Fig.

comer H, pulls
taut and holds soKd, while with the right hand in front of G,
he takes up slack. Next with both hands at the front comer
and with his knee against it (Fig. 188), the second packer pulls
taut, the head packer at the same time taking up the slack
on his side and then pulls steady, drawing the part L, L
(Fig. 189), of the rope leading from the hook well forward at
the middle of the pack, finishing off the diamond at X. He
then carries the loose end under the corners and ends of the
aparejo, and draws that taut and ties the end fast by a half
hitch near the cincha end of the lash rope.
After passing under the corners, if the rope is long enough
to reach over the load, it can then be passed over and made
fast on the off side by tying aroimd both parts of the lash
rope above the hook and by drawing them well together
191).

with the

left

hand at the

rear

(Fig. 191).

Alongside of Fig. 190 are a series of sketches showing

to lash

made

and cinch two

black so that

its

parcels or bags together; one

how

bag is

position can better be understood.

In other words, it makes it easier to follow the different hitches.

136

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

Learn to pack at home and you

on the trail.

will

not lose your packs

Li following these instructions, whenever in doubt forget

the perspective views and keep in
187, 189

and

191,

mind Figures

181, 183, 185,

which tell the whole story. The perspective

views are principally to show the relative position of the

packers; the position of the rope can best be seen

by looking

on top of the pack.

In packing a Hve horse you will learn by practice not to

way as to cause the horse to step on your feet;

you will also learn that a live horse will not stand as stUl as
a wooden horse, but when you have learned to pack a wooden
horse quickly and weU, it Avill only take you a short time to
become expert with a live horse.
pull in such a

The Squaw Hitches

These are useful when one has no one to help in packing
the animal, and when one has no pack saddle like Fig. 200.
With this squaw hitch you must throw your burden across
the back of the horse, over the pad made by a blanket (Kg.

PACKING HORSES
192), then

put a loop over the end

another one over the end N, see

the lash rope

Z make a

loop;

M,

1ST

see

X (Fig. 192), and

(Fig. 192).

now pass

At the end of
down under

that loop

Y (Fig. 193), bring the end Z

back again over the horse's back, also pass the end T down
through X, and bring it back over the horse's back, abo pass
the end Z down through Y, and bring it back over the horse's

the horse's belly and through

T through Z

and fasten on
top of pack (Fig. 194). Fig. 195 shows another throw in
another squaw hitch. Fig. 196 shows the next position.
back, pass

Fig. 197

(Fig. 193), cinch tight

shows the thing made fast.

travels with pack horses should know

Anyone who

how

to arrange the lead rope in a manner so that it may be quickly

and

easily loosened,

and at the same time be out of the way,

so that the horse will not get his foot over it

when climbing
when the

or descending steep places, which often happens

lead rope is fastened to the pack
you will take the rope and wind it

in the usual

loosely

manner.

If

around the horse's

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

138

neck, behind

Us

and in front of his right ear (Pigs.

198 and 199), then tuck the end under the strands, as shown
in Fig. 198, the thing may be undone in an iastant, and in
the meantime the rope is out of the way where it will not
bother either the

left

ear

man or

the horse.

on the wooden horse, then it will come

natural when the time comes to handle a real horse. The
manner of looping up the lead rope, just described, I learned
from the explorers of the Mt. McKinley expedition, who had
many occasions to test the best, as well as the worst methods
of packing and arranging their duffel. There are a number
of other hitches, some given by Stewart Edward White, in
Ovting, called the Miner's Hitch, the Lone Packer's Hitch,
but possibly we have given the reader enough to start him
on his way; remember for the pack horse the necessary outfit
is a horse blanket, the ciacha and lash rope, the sling rope,
the lead rope, the manta, which is a cover for the pack, sometimes called the tarp short for tarpaulin, and the blind,
but as a rule a handkerchief is used for a blinder. The
aparejo is a sort of a leather mattress which goes over the
horse's back and on which the pack rests, but you will find
all about that when you hit the trail with a pack train. The
alforjas is a Spanish name for the saddle-bags used on a pack
horse. When the reader knows how to pack his horse, knows
all the Spanish names for the pack saddle and all that sort
of thing, there may come a time when he will have a horse
which needs to be hitched at night, and it may happen
he must needs
Practise all this

Hitch the Horse

On some trail where

but

if

he

is

there are no trees, sticks, or even stones;

a good woodcrafter and plainsman, with his hunt-

ing knife he will proceed to dig as narrow and deep a hole as

PACKING HORSES

141

possible in the earth, then he will tie a knot in the

end of the

picket rope and drop the knot to the bottom of the hole
(Fig. 201) (the picket rope in reaUty should

rope, fifty feet long); the only

the hole

is

way

be one-half inch

to get that knot out of

to stand directly over the opening

knot up perpendicularly.

and puU the

It will never occur to the horse

by taking hold of it with his teeth, so that

it may stand over the hole and pull up the knot, consequently
to shorten the line

the animal will be as securely hitched as

if

tied to a post.

Hobbles
For the front legs may be purchased at any outfitter's (Fig.
202), or home-made from unravelled rope (Fig. 203). Make a
loop from a strand from a large rope and then fasten it
roimd one leg, as in diagram; after that twist the rope to make
the connections between the two loops, tie another knot to
prevent the rope from untwisting, then tie the two ends
around the leg of the horse (Fig. 203) ; the imravelled rope
soft and will not chafe the horse's leg.

is

Travois
Figs. 204

ing

by

and 205 show the famous Indian mode

of pack-

travois.

How

TO

Thkow a Saddle Down

General Miles once told the author that the handsomest

ever seen came dashing iato their camp in a

man he had

cloud of alkali dust; having ridden right through bands of

hostile Indians which surrounded the camp, he dismounted,

took

off his

on the ground, put the bridle

the saddle, put the saddle-cloth over it,

saddle and threw

bit, girth, etc., inside

it

then he cahnly stretched himself out in front of the campfire.

!"
"Thatman,"saidGeneralMiles,"wa3 BUI Cody, Buffalo Bill

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

142

When Cody put the

its side (Fig.

206)

saddle on the ground he placed

preserves the curve of the skirts,

saddle

is

and thus the form

it

of the

not destroyed and the reins and the stirrup straps

are protected; at the

pillow,

on

it

in placing the saddle in this position

and

if it

same time the saddle makes a good

should rain at night the saddle blanket

is

the

only thing, besides the rider, which gets a ducking, unless

the latter has a good waterproof sleeping-bag.

How

TO

Throw a Saddle on a Horse

So manage the saddle that with one swing it will 'Hght on

pummel towards the horse's head

the horse's back with the

(Fig. 207). Grasp with your right hand thehorn of the saddle,
and as you swing the saddle on the horse with a graceful
sweep, use your left hand to push the further skirt outward
and thus prevent it from doubling up on the horse's back.
Be careful to throw the girth far enough so that it will hang
down so as to be easily reached under the horse. I once had
an English farm hand who put a western saddle on a horse
with the pummel towards the tail, and was very indignant

him that a pummel should face the bow

me he knew more about horses than I

when

I told

craft;

he told

which

is

possibly true, as I

am not

of a
did,

a horseman; he also said

that in the "hold country" he used to ride to "the 'ounds,"

all

of

which goes to prove customs are different in different

Here we put the pummel of the saddle towards

countries.

the horse's head;

but

it is

we won't argue about

we may be wrong,

it;

a matter of custom, and right or wrong

is

the reader

must follow

may have

ridden to the "'ounds" while abroad.

in America,

the rule

even though the reader

Do

not

misunderstand me, some of the best horsemen in the world

are English, but this fellow

was not one

of

them.

PACKING HORSES

How

TO

143

Mount a Western Horse

Years ago when the rider was in Montana on Howard

Eaton's Ranch, near the celebrated ranch of Theodore Roosevelt,

he had

his first experience with

Western horses, and

being sensitive and standing in great terror of being called

a tenderfoot, he shyly watched the others mount before he

attempted to do so himself. Each one of these plainsmen,

he noticed, took the reins in his left hand while standing on
the left-hand side of the horse; then holding the reins over
the shoulders of the horse he grasped the

same hand, and put

the

left

mane with the

his left foot into the stirrup;

but to put

foot in the stirrup he ttirned the stirrup aroimd so

mount while facing the horse's tail, then he

grabbed hold of the pummel with his right hand and swung
that he could

into the saddle as the horse started.

That looked

easy; the writer also noticed that just before

the others struck the saddle they gave a whoop, so without

showing any hesitation the author walked up to his cayuse,

took the reins confidently in his

left

hand, using care to stand

on the left-hand side of the horse; then he placed the left

hand with the reins between the shoulders of the horse and
grabbed the mane, then he turned the stirrup around, turned
his back to the horse's head, put
and gave a yell.

On

his left foot in the stirrup

sober afterthought he decided that he gave that yell

too soon; the horse almost went out from under him, or at

seemed to him, or maybe the sensation would be

it appeared to him as if he went
a mile over the prairie with his right leg waving in the air
like a one-winged aeroplane, before he finally settled down
least so it

better described to say that

into the saddle.

But

this could

not have been really true, because every-

CAMP-LORE AKD WOODCRAFT

Ui

body applauded and the writer was at once accepted by the

crowd without question as a thoroughbred Sourdough.
Possibly they may have thought he was feeling good and just
doing some stunts.
It

may

his best to

interest the reader to state that the

hve up to the

first

impression he

he did not go riding the next day, there were

author did

had made, but

some books he

thought necessary to read; he discovered, however, that even

lounging was not without some discomfort; for instance, he
could not cross his knees without helping one leg over with

both his hands; in

that could be

fact,

he could find no muscle in his body

moved without

considerable exertion and pain.

But this is the point of the story: Had the author tried to
mount that cayuse in any other way he would have been
left sprawling on the prairie. The truth is that if you mount
properly when the horse starts, even if he begins to buck and
pitch, the action will tend to throw you into the saddle, not
out of

it.
I

Caution

When you approach a horse which has a brand on it, always

approach from the left-hand

side,

because practically

all

the

Western horses have brands on them, and you can, as a rule,

count on a branded horse being from the West, with the hale

and hearty habits of the West, which to be appreciated must

If you want to make a real cayuse out of
your wooden horse, brand it and any cowboy who then sees
be understood.
it will

take off his hat.

CHAPTER

Vm

THE USE OF DOGS. MAN PACKING

PACK DOGS
TO PACK A DOG
TO THBOW THE DOG HITCH
TO HAKE DOG THAVOIS
DOG AS A BEAST OF BUItDEN IN ECBOPE AND ABCTIC AUEBICA
HAN FACKINQ
PACK RATS
don't FIGHT TOmt PACK
HIEIIIO DOGS,

BOW
BOW
BOW

PORTAGE PACK
GREAT MEN WHO HAVE CARRIED A PACK
KINDS OF PACKS
ALPINE RUCKSACK
ORIGIN OF BROAD BREAST BTBAPB

MAXB

10

TOXJB

OWN

OUTFIle

CHAPTER Vni
THE USE OF DOGS. MAN PACKING

There

no good reason why every hiker should not be

accompanied by
is

A
For

if

there

is

Hiking Dog

anything a dog does love better than

its

own

and
and every normal man and woman, loves the company
of a good dog. When they do not love it the fault is not
with the dog but with them; there is something wrong with
them that the outdoor world alone will cure.
But if a dog is going to enjoy the pleasure of a hike with
you, if it is a good square dog it should be willing to also
share the hardships of the hike with you, and to help carry
the burdens on the trail. Any sort of a dog can be trained as
soul

it is

to hike with

its

master, and every normal boy

girl,

A
But the

Pack Dog

and stronger the dog is, the greater burden

he can carry and the more useful he will be on the trail.
The alforjas for a dog, or saddle-bags, can be made by anyone
who is handy with a needle and thread. A dog pack consists
primarily of two bags or pouches (Figs. 209 and 210), with a
yoke piece attached to slide over the dog's head and fit across
the chest (Figs. 209, 210, 211 and ,212). Also a cincha to
fasten around the waist or small part of the dog's body, back
of its ribs. The pouches (Fig. 210) shoidd have a manta, or
cover (Figs. 211, 213, and 214), to keep the rain, snow or dust
out of the duffel. Simple bags of strong light material on the
sturdier

pattern of Fig. 210 are best, because the weight of anything

unnecessary

is

to be avoided.
147

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

148

The Dog Hitch

an affair as the diamond hitch, and
anyone who knows how to do up an ordinary parcel can learn
the dog hitch by one glance at Figs. 213 and 214.
Slip the breast band over the dog's head, put the saddlebags weU forward on the dog's shoulders, tie the cinch around
Is not as complicated

which spread the cover or manta over the bag,

and throw the hitch as shown by Figs. 211 and 214. Fig. 21
shows a bundle with a breast band made of the lash rope, in
which case the lash rope is usually made of cloth like that in
Fig. 211; the whole thing is simplicity itself and a good dog
can carry quite a load packed in this manner.
its waist, after

A Dog
Can

also

Travois

be used at times with advantage, as it was used by

Fig. 217 shows a dog

our red brothers of the wilderness.

harnessed to a travois,

a padded

made

of

two shaft

poles; the harnessi

used in Northern
cincha
of
leather
and
a
or canvas and
Quebec
traces of rope or thong. Figs. 215 and 216 show a rig made
by one of my Boy Scouts; the material used was the green
consists of

collar similar to those

for sled dogs,

saplings cut in the woods, the traces were

made of rope manu-

factured from the roots of the tamarack tree, so also

cord used to bind the parts of the frame together.

to which the traces were fastened were

made

was the

The hooks

of wire nails

bent over, and the staples to which the collar was fastened

by thongs to the

off

were then bent into

shaft in the

made of wire nails, the heads of

by rubbing them on stones; the nails
the proper curve and driven into the
a staple. Fig. 216 shows the same rig

shaft were

which were ground

form of

with a leather harness.

The American Indian used the

THE USE OF DOGSMAN PACKING

151

on dogs the same as they did upon horses and the

sudden appearance of game often produced a stampede of
dog travoises, scattering the duffel, including papooses,

travois

loaded on the travois.

It is not expected that the reader will

these contrivances, but

if

he does he

make every one

How, and

will learn

of

to

be a good woodsman he should know how, so as to be prepared

for any emergency. It is possible to make the whole pack

dog from birch bark, but however it is made, if it

making the dog carry part of the pack,
when you put the bark on the dog's back, you will teach the
animal that there are two kinds of barks; one of which is useful
as a duffel bag, and the other as an alarm.
In Alaska and other parts of the far North, as well as in
HoUand and other parts of Europe, the dog is generally used
as a beast of burden; it draws sleds in North America and
milk carts and market wagons in Holland, but it is not
necessary for us to live in Holland or in the far North in
order to make use of the dog a good dog will cheerfully carry
for the

serves the purpose of

the packs on the

if

trail,

loyally guard the

camp

at night, and,

necessary, die in defense of its master.

uncomfortable pack is an abomination; too heavy a

an unhappy burden, no pack at all is fine until you
reach camp and hunt aroimd for something to answer for a
toothbrush, comb and brush, something on which to sit and
sleep, something overhead to protect you from the rains and
dews of heaven, something to eat and something to eat with
besides your fingers, something from which to drink which
holds water better than the hollow of yoiur hand or the
brim of your hat, and, in fact, aU those necessary little
comforts that a fellow wants on an overnight hike.
Without these useful articles one will wish that he had

Any

pack

is

152

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

subjected himself to the sUght fatigue necessary to pack a

small pack on his back.

The word "pack" itself is a joy to the outdoor man, for

only outdoor men who use the word pack for carry, and
who call a bundle or load a pack. The reason for this is that
the real wUdemess man, explorer, prospector, hunter, trapper

it is

or scout, packs

all his duffel

into a bundle

which he

carries

his back, in two small saddle-bags which are carried by

husky dogs, or a number of well-balanced bundles which
are lashed on the pack saddle with a diamond hitch over the
back of a pack horse.
You see we have pack dogs, pack horses and pack animals,
pack saddles and packers, as well as the packs themselves,
which the packers pack and these animals pack on their
backs, or which the man himself packs on his own back.
Then we also have the pack rat, but the pack rat does not
carry things with our consent. The pack rat comes flippityflop, hopping over the ground from the old hermit, Bill
Jones's, packing with him Bill Jones's false teeth which he
has abstracted from the tin cup of water at the head of Bill
Jones's bunk. The pack rat deposits the teeth at the head
of your cot, then deftly picking up your watch, the rat packs
it back to Bill Jones's cot and drops it in the tin cup of water,
where it soaks imtil morning.
It is easy to see that however funny the pack rat may be,
and however useful he might be to the Sunday comic paper,
the rat's humor is not appreciated by the campers in the
Rocky Mountains, where it is called a pack rat from its habit
of carrying things. Thus it is that in a newly settled country
the word "cany" is almost forgotten; one "packs" a letter

on

his

to the post box, or packs a horse to water, or packs a box of

candy to

his best girl, or

a pail of water from the spring.

THE USE OF DOGSMAN PACKING

Man
When

you,

my

15S

Packing

good reader, get the pack adjusted on

your back and the tump Une across your forehead

(Fig. 226),

remember that you are bemg initiated into the great fraternity of outdoor people. But no matter how tough or rough
you may appear to the casual observer, your roughness is
only apparent; a boy or man of refinement carries that refinement inside of him wherever he goes; at the same time when
one is carrying a pack on one's back and a tump line on
one's forehead (Fig. 226 J^), or a canoe on one's head,
even though a lady should be met on the trail it would
not be necessary for one to take

oP one's hat, for even

a foohsh society woman would not expect a man to doff the
canoe he might be carrying on his head. Under all circumstances use conmion sense; that is the rule of the wilderness

and

also of real culture.

The most important thing that you must learn on the

trail is not to fret and fume over trifles, and even if your load
heavy and irksome, even though the shoulder
and the tizmp line makes your neck ache
is

straps chafe

Don't Fight Yotjk Pack

When we

speak of "fighting the pack" we mean fighting

mean getting one's load up against a

and punching it with one's fists or "kicking the stuffings
out of it," but it means complaining and fretting because the

the load; that does not

tree

load

is

uncomfortable.

There are two kinds of "packs" ^the pack that you carry
day after day on a long hike, and the pack that you carry

when on a canoe trip and you are compelled to leave the water
and carry your canoe and duffel overland around some bad

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

164
rapids or

The

falls.

possible, say

first-named pack should be as light as

between 30 and 40 pounds, for on a long tramp

every pound counts, because you Icnow that you must carry
it

as long as

you keep going, and there

when you

except

no

is

stop for your meals or to

relief in sight

camp

at night.

But the last-named pack, the

Postage Pack,
you carry around bad

Pigs. 218

and

of water,

may be as heavy as you

223, the kind that

pieces

upon

can, with safety, load

your sturdy back, because your mind is buoyed up by the

fact that you know you will not have to carry that load very

work will end when you reach the water again, and
^the mind has as much to do with carrying
the load as the muscles. If the mind gives up you will fall
helpless even imder a small load; if the mind is strong you
wiU stagger along under a very heavy one.
When I asked a friend, who bears the scars of the pack
straps on his body, how it was that he managed to endure

far, the

strange to say

the torture of such a load, he replied with a grin that as soon

pack" meant to perish^meant

mind to forget the blamed thing and
so when the pack wearied him and the straps rubbed the skin
as he found that to "fight his

death

off his

^he

made up

his

body, he forced himself to think of the good dinners

he had had at the Camp-fire Club of America, yum! yum!

Also, of all the joUy stories told by the toastmaster, and of
the fun he had had at some other entertainments.

Often

while thinking of these things he caught himself laughing out

loud as he trudged along the lone

ful

pack on

smile

upon

how not

trail. Forgetting the hate"In this way," said he, with a winning
manly and weather-beaten face, "I learned
the pack but to Forget It Then he braced

his back.
his

to fight

THE USE OP DOGSMAN PACKING

157

himself up, looked at the snow-capped mountain range ahead,

hummed

snow at a

little

cowboy song and trudged on over the frozen

scout's pace.

Now that

you know what a pack

a pack" means, remember that

hard, that

is

one's pack.

difficult or tiresome,

that

If
is

if

is,

and what "fighting

one's, studies at school are

the work one

one's pack.

is

doing

is

hard,

If one's boss is cross

and exacting, that is one's pack. If one's parents are worried

and forget themselves in their worry and speak sharply,
that is one's pack. Don't fight your pack; remember that
you are a woodcrafter; straighten your shoulders, put on
your scout smile and hit the trail hke a man!
If you find that you are tempted to break the Scout Law,
that you are tempted at times to forget the Scout Oath, that
because your camp mates use language unfit for a woodcrafter or a scout, and you are tempted to do the same, if
your playmates play craps and smoke cigarettes, and laugh
at you because you refuse to do so, so that you are tempted
to join them, these temptations form your pack; don't give
in and faU under your load and whimper like a "sissy," or
a "mollycoddle," but straighten up, look the world straight
in the eye, and hit the trail like a man!
Some of us are carrying portage packs which we can dump
off our shoulders at the end of the "carry," some of us are
carrying hiking packs which we must carry through life and
can never dump from our shoulders until we cross the Grand
Portage from which no voyagers ever return. All our packs
vary in weight, but none of them is easy to carry if we fret
and fume and complain under the

We

outdoor folks

call oiu-

load.

load "pack," but our

Sunday

School teachers sometimes speak of the pack they bear as a

"cross." Be it so, but don't fight your pack.

CAMP-LORE AM> WOODCRAFT

158

Men Who Have

CABRiiaj the

Pack

The whole north country is sprinkled with the bones of

men who fought their packs. Our own land is also
sprinkled with men we call "misfits" and failures, but who
are reaUy men who have fought their packs. But every post
of emiuence in the United States is occupied by a man who
forgot his pack; this country was built by men who forgot
the

their packs.

George Washington carried a portage pack in

was a proud burden and he

Abe Lincoln had even a
heavier pack to carry, but in spite of the weight of it he
always had a pleasant scout smile for everyone and a merry
story to send the visitor away smihng. If Daniel Boone and
Simon Kenton had fought their packs we would never have
heard of them!
In the illustrations are shown many figures, and one should
weight

all

through his

stood straight under

life,

it.

but

it

Good

old

not forget that these are sketches of real

men

in the real

and not fancy pictures drawn from imagination.

Figs. 230, 231 and 232 show many different methods of carrying big game on one's shoulders or back. Fig. 232 also shows
a couple of prospectors on the trail. One has the bag on his
back, held in place by shoulder straps; the other has a bag
thrown over his shoulder hke a ragman.
The alpine rucksack will carry or to speak more properly
^with it one can pack a camera, notebook, sketchiag material,
lunch and aU those things which a fellow wants on an enjoyable hike. The alpine rucksack is a many-gored poke about
18 inches wide and about 22 inches long without the gores.
These pokes can be made so that the gores fold iu and produce
an ordinary-sized pack, or they may be pushed out like an
wilderness,

umbrella so as to
sized boy.

make a bag in which one can cany a good-

J?

THE USE OF DOGSMAN PACKING

161

The Bboad Band

Kg. 232-D shows the broad band used by the men of
The reader will note that the broad canvas
bands come over the shoulders from the top of the pack;
also that a broad breast band connects the shoulder
bands, while rope, whang strings or thongs rim through
eyelets in the band and to the bottom of the pack. This
is said to be the most comfortable pack used and has an
the far north.

was evolved from an old pair of overThere was a Hebrew peddler who followed the gold
seekers and he took a pair of canvas overalls and put them
interesting history; it
alls.

across his breast,

his back.

The

his chest, as

do smaller

But breast

by

all

and to the

legs

he fastened the pack upon

overalls being wide

straps of

authorities.

and broad did not cut

straps, thongs or

whang

strings.

any kind are not now recommended

It is claimed that

they interfere with

the breathing and a fellow "mouching" along the

trail

needs

to have his chest free to expand, for not only his speed

but his endurance depends upon the free action of his lungs.

The Tdmp
and 226j^ show the use of the celebrated tump
is used from Central America to the
Arctic Circle. The Mexican water carrier uses it to tote his
burden; the Tete Bule Indian and the Montenais Indian in
Figs. 226

strap.

This tump strap

tump line.
is
made.
It is a strap
tmnp
line
226j^ shows how the

the Northeast also carry their packs with a

Fig.

or lash rope with a broad band to

is

fit

over the packer's head,

which the shoulders have to bear.

Fig. 218 shows the well-known portage pack basket which
used by the guides in the Adirondack regions. Fig. 219

and thus

relieve the weight

shows the Nessmuk knapsack. Fig. 222 shows a pack harness

11

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

162

by which two

bags are borne on the back.

shows a duffel bag which is laced up at one end with

of straps
Fig. 225

duffel

a thong also the end of the bag open.

;

The Duffel Bag

The

duffel

bag

is

is

Useful

the ideal poke in which to pack one's

makes a good piUow, a far

and pair of boots on which I myself
have rested my weary head many a night, and it also makes
a good cushion upon which to sit. The duffel bag may be
procured from any outfitting establishment. The ones I
own are now shiny with dirt and grease, gathered from the
camps and forests extending from Maine to the State of
Washington, from Northern Quebec to Florida. I love the
old bags, for even though they be greasy and shiny, and blackened with the charcoals of many campfires, they are chuck
It is waterproof, it

belongings.

better pillow than an axe

full of

dehghtful memories.

Fig. 220

is

the old-time poke

made

kerchief, with its ends tied together

of a bandanna handand swung over a stick.

may be found

in all the

old newspapers antedating the Civil War, where

runaway

This

is

the pack, a cut of which

negroes are advertised.

It

is

the sort of pack respectable

tramps used to carry, back in the times when tramps were

respectable. It is the kind of pack I find represented in an
old

oil

painting hanging on

my

dining-room wall, which was

painted by some European artist back in the seventeenth

century.

When

fellows carry the

runaway pack they are

"traveling light."
Fig. 229

shows how to construct a makeshift pack. A

is arranged with a loop C (Fig. 229), for the

rope of cedar bark

yoke the ends A and B are brought up under the arms and
tied to the yoke C, which then makes a breast band.

THE USE OF DOGSMAN PACKING

163

For a long hike thirty pounds is enough for a big boy to

and it will weigh three hundred and fifty pounds at the
end of a hard day's tramp. Heavy packs, big packs, like
those shown in Fig. 223, are ordy used on a portage, that is,
carry,

Of course, you fellows know that in all

canoe trips of any consequence one must cross overland
from one lake to another, or overland above a waterfall to
for short distance.

a safe place below it, or around quick water, or to put it in

the words of tenderfeet, water which is too quick for canoe
travel, around tumultuous rapids where one must carry his
canoe and duffel. But these carries or portages are seldom
long.

The

longest I

remember of making was a

trifle

over

five miles in length.

Remember that
upon your mind.

the weight of a load depends a great deal

Consequently for a long distance the load

should be Ught; for a short distance the only limit to the load
is

the limit of the packer's strength.

BtJT

regard to how to carry a pack and what

pack
to
carry,
that the author hesitates to recomkind of a
mend any particular sort; personally he thinks that a pack
harness hitched on to the duffel bags (Figs. 221, 222 and 224),
Duffel bags, by the way,
is the proper and practical thing.

People

differ so in

are water-proof canvas bags (Fig. 225),

sizes, in

which to pack one's

portage basket (Fig. 218),

made

clothes, food, or

is

of different

what

not.

The

favorite iu the Adirondacks,

but it is not a favorite with the writer; the basket itself is

heavy and to his mind unnecessary, the knapsack (Fig. 219),
is good for short hikes when one does not have to carry much.

The best way for the reader to do is to experiment, see how

much of a load he can carry; filty pounds is more than enough

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

164

man

cany all day long, day in and day

more
than he wants to carry, but a
out, and
good husky boy may be able to carry forty pounds on his
back. At the Army and Navy stores and at the outfitter's
you can find all sorts of duffel bags and knapsaxiks, and at
any of the big outfitting stores they will tell you just what
for a big strong

forty

pounds

to

is

kind of baggage you will need for the particular trip, for someone in the stores has been over the very ground that you
are going over, for
fitting stores are

all

the clerks and proprietors of the out-

sportsmen.

But

^yes,

there

is

the real genuine American boy will construct his

duffel bags,

mess kit and

tents.

a "but"

own

outfit

CHAPTER IX
PREPARING FOR CAMPING TRIP
PORTERS OF THE PORTAGE
OLD-TIME INDIAN FIGHTERS AND WILD ANOIAUt

MODERN STAMPEDE FOB THE OPEN

TO GET BEADY FOB CAMP

HOW

CUT TOITR FINGEB NAIIS

GO TO TOUB DENTIST
GET A HAIB CUT
A BUCKSKIN man's POCKET
FLT DOPE
PBOTECTION AGAINST BLACK

FLIES, MOSQUIIOBE^

MIDGETS AND N0-BEE-UM8

THE CALL OF THE WILD

CHAPTER IX
PREPARING FOR CAMPING TRIP

Mant people are so accustomed to have other people wait

upon them that they are absolutely fumiy when you meet
them m the woods; when their canoe runs its prow up upon
the sandy beach and there is a portage to make, such people
stand helplessly around waiting for some red-capped porter
to come and take their baggage, but the only red caps in the
woods are the red-headed woodpeckers and they will see you
in

Germany

before they will help tote your duffel across

the portage.

When one gets into the real woods, even if it is only in

Maine, Wisconsin, the Adirondacks, or the Southern pine
one soon discovers that there are no drug stores
around the comer, the doctor is a long way off, the butcher,
the baker, the cahdle-stick maker, trolley cars, telephone
and taxi cabs are not within reach, sight or hearing; then a
forests,

"up to" himself to tote his

own fires, to make his own shelters,

fellow begins to realize that

own luggage,

to build his

it is

and even to help put up the other feUows' tents, or to cook

the meals. Yes, and to wash the dishes, too!
One reason we outdoor people love the woods is that it
develops self-reliance and increases our self-respect by increasing our ability to do things; we love the work, we love
the hardship, we like to get out of sight of the becapped
maids, the butler and the smirking waiters waiting for a tip,
real honest-to-goodness American

and for the same reason the

boys love a camp.

Why bless your soul!every one of them

in his inmost heart regrets that he did not

hve away back

in

the time when the long-haired Wetzel, Daniel Boone and

167

168

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

Simon Kenton roved the woods, or at least back when Colonel

Cody, Buffalo Jones and Yellowstone Kelly were dashing
over the plains with General Miles, General Bell and the

Bill

picturesque blond, long-haired General Custer,

Sometimes the author is himself guilty of such wishes,

and he used to dream of those days when he was a barefooted
boy. But, honest now, is it not really too bad that there are
no longer any hostile Indians? And what a pity that improved firearms have made the big game so very shy that it
is afraid of a man with a gun
But cheer up, the joyof camping is not altogether ruined,
because we do not have to fight all day to save our scalps
from being exported, or even because the grizzly bears refuse
to chase us up a tree, and the mountain lions or "painters"
decline to drop from an overhanging limb on our backs.
Remember that all things come to him who will but wait
that is, if he works for these things while he is doing the
waiting. The Chief has spent his time and energy for the
last thirty odd years hammering away at two ideas: the big
outdoors for the boys, and Americanism for all the people.
Thank the Lord, he has lived long enough to see the boys
stampede for the open and the people for Americanism.
Because of the stampede for the open, in which people
of all ages have joined, there are so many kinds of camps
nowadays: scout camps, soldier camps, training camps, recreation camps, girls' camps and boys' camps, that it is somewhat
difficult for a writer to tell what to do in order to "Be Prepared." There are freight car side-track camps, gypsy wagon
camps, houseboat camps, old-fashioned camp-meeting camps
and picnic camps; the latter dot the shores of New Jersey,
the lake sides at Seattle, and their tents are mingled with
big black boulders around Spokane; you will find them on the

PREPARING FOR CAMPING TRIP

shores of Devil's Lake,

North Dakota, and

in the

169

few groves

that are back of Winnipeg, Manitoba.

But such camps have little attraction for the real hardand have no better claim to being the real
thing than the more or less grand palaces built in the woods,
camouflaged outside with logs or bark, and called "camps" by
their untruthful owners such people belittle the name of camp
and if they want to be honest they should stick to the bungling
bungalow ^but wait a minute even that is far-fetched; the
bungalow belongs in East India and looks as much like one
of these American houses as a corn-crib does hke a church.
When we talk of camping we mean Kving under bark,
boiled camper,

brush or canvas in the "howling wilderness," or as near a

howling wilderness as our money and time

will

permit us to

we want a camp in the wildest

place we can find, except when we go to our own scout
camp, and even then we hke it better if it is located in a wild,
reach; in other words,

romantic spot.

How
There are some

TO Get Ready fob Camp

personal things to which one should

little

on a long trip. If it is
camping
trip it is best to go to the
going to be a real wild
barber shop and get a good hair cut just before one starts.
give one's attention before starting

down as close as comfort will

Long nails, if they are well manicured, will do for the
drawing room and for the office, but in camp they have a
Also one should trim one's nails
allow.

^and gee wiUikens, how

into
down
the quick (Fig. 233)
they hurt! Or
and that hurts some, too So trim them down snug and close;
do it before you start packing up your things, or you may
hurt your fingers while packing. But even before trimming

habit of turning back (Fig. 232)

they will spKt

!

your

nails

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

170

Go TO YouB Dentist
upon him making an examination of every tooth
in your head; a toothache is bad enough anywhere, goodness
knows, but a toothache away out in the woods with no help

And

insist

provoke a saint to use expressions not allowed

by the Scout Manual. The Chief knows what he is talking
about ^he has been there He once rode over Horse Plains
alongside of a friend who had a bad tooth, and the friend was
a real saint! His jaw was swelled out like a rubber balloon,
but he did not use one naughty word on the trip, notwithstanding every jolt of that horse was Hke sticking a knife
in sight will

in him.

The

writer could not help

it;

he was thoughtlessly cruel

and he laughed at his friend's lugubrious expression ^Take

heed, do not be as cruel as was the writer, for sooner or later
you will pay for such thoughtless levity. It was only next
season, away up in the mountains of the British possessions
on the Pacific Coast, that the friend's turn came to laugh at
the author as the latter nursed an ulcerated tooth. Wow!

Wow! Wow!
mind the details, they are too painful to talk
remember the lesson that they teach Go to the
Dentist and get a clean bill of health on the tooth question
before you start for a lengthy camp.
Well, never

about, but

A
When we

Buckskin Man's Pocket

speak of his pocket that includes

clothes, because

on the inside of

are stuck an array of safety pins (Fig.

pins are fastened onto his shirt.

man

in

camp

camp with no

as

is

all

of his

he wears one,
but
usually the
234),

his coat,

if

safety pin

is

a hairpin to a woman, and a

as useful to

woman

other outfit but a box of hairpins.

can

One can

Buckskin's Pocket

PREPAEING FOR CAMPING TRIP

use safety pins for clotliespins

when

173

one's socks are drying at

one can use them to pin up the blankets and thus

make a sleeping-bag of them, or one can use them for the

night,

purpose of temporarily mending rips and tears in one's

These are only a few of the uses of the safety pin

on the trail. After one has traveled with safety pins one
comes to beHeve that they are almost indispensable.
clothes.

In one of the pockets there should be a

buttons, the sort that
clothes,

buttons.
vest to

but which fasten with a snap, something like glove

There should be a pocket made in your shirt or
(Fig. 244), and a part of it stitched
and a toothbrush. Your mother can do
you before you leave. Then you should

your notebook

fit

up to hold a
this at

lot of bachelor

you do not have to sew on to your

home

pencil
for

have a good jack-knife;

hip pocket.

I always carry

my jack-knife

in

my

pocket compass, one that you have tested

before starting on your trip, should lodge comfortably in one

and hitched in your belt should be your

noggin carved from a burl from a tree (Fig. 235) it should
be carried by slipping the toggle (Fig. 236) underneath the
belt. Also in the belt you should carry some whang strings
(Fig. 237) double the whang strings up so that the two ends
come together, tuck the loop through your belt until it comes
out at the other side, then put the two ends of the
string through the loop and the whang strings are fast but
easily pulled out when needed; whang strings are the same
of your pockets,

small whetstone (Fig. 238) can find a

as belt lashings.
place somewhere about your clothes, probably in the other
hip pocket, and it is most useful, not only with which to

put an edge on your knife but also on your axe.

Inside the sweat band of your hat, or around the crown
on the outside of your hat, carry a gut leader with medium-

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

174

and around yoxir neck knot a

gaudy bandanna handkerchief (Fig. 239) it is a most use-

sized artificial flies attached,

big

can be used in which to carry your game, food

ful article; it

or duffel, or for warmth, or worn over the head for protection

from

insects (Fig. 240).

In the latter case put

it

on your

head under your hat and allow it to hang over your shoulders
Kke the havelock worn by the soldiers of '61.
Carry your belt axe thrust through your belt at your back
where it will be out of the way, not at your side

(Fig. 241),

as

you do on parade.

No

camper, be he hunter, fisherman, scout, naturalist,

explorer, prospector, soldier or

lumberman, should go into

the woods without a notebook and hard lead pencil (Fig. 242).

Remember that notes made with a hard pencil will last longer
than those made with ink, and be readable as long as the
paper

lasts.

and every surveyor knows this and it

is only tenderfeet, who use a soft pencil and fountain pen
for making field notes, because an upset canoe will blur all
ink marks and the constant rubbing of the pages of the book

Every

scientist

smudge

will

all soft pencil

marks.

Therefore, have a pocket especially

made

(Fig. 244), so

that your notebook, pencil and fountain pen (Fig. 243),

you

insist

upon including

of dropping out; also

it

make a

^will fit

if

snugly with no chance

separate pocket for your tooth-

brush which should be kept in an oil-skin bag (Fig. 243).

A piece of candle (Fig. 245) is not only a most convenient
thing with which to light a
ofttimes proved a

life

fire

on a rainy day, but

saver to Northern explorers

it

has

benumbed

with the cold.

a comparatively easy thing to light a candle under

the shelter of one's hat or coat, even in a driving rain. When
It

is

PREPARING FOR CAMPING TRIP

one's fingers are

numb

or even frosted,

flame one can start a life-saving

fire;

175

and with the candle

so do not forget your

candle stub as a part of your pocket outfit.

In the black
(Fig. 251)

own

fly

fly belt it is

wise to add a bottle of fly dope

If you make your
and allow to simmer over it

to one's personal equipment.

dope have a slow

3
S

fire

oz. pine tar

oz. castor oil

1 oz.

pennyroyal

or heat 3 oz. of pine tar with two oz. of ohve

stir in 1 oz. of

and

1 oz. of

pennyroyal,

oil

1 oz. of citronella, 1 oz.

and then

of creosote

camphor.

traveling where there are black flies and

your mother sew onto a pair of old kid gloves
some chintz or calico sleeves that will reach from your wrists
to above your elbow (Pig. 246), cut the tips of the fingers off
If

you propose

mosquitoes,

let

the gloves so that you

and have an elastic

may be able to use your hands handily,

in the top of the sleeve to hold tiiem

onto

Rigged thus, the black flies and mosquitoes can

only bite the ends of your fingers, and, sad to say, they will

your arm.

soon find where the ends of the fingers are located.

A piece of cheese cloth,

fitted

over the hat to hang

down

over the face, will protect that part of your anatomy from
insects (Fig. 246),
(Pig. 251),

but

and add a

doesn't look pretty

if

they are not very bad use

bottle of

it

flly

to your pocket outfit.

when daubed up with

fly

dope

One
we

dope, but

are in the woods for sport and adventure and not to look
pretty.
it

Our vanity case has no lip stick, rouge or face powder

only possesses a toothbrush and a bottle of

flly

dope.

Certain times of year, when one goes camping in the

neighborhood of the trout brooks, one needs to

for

one can catch more trout and enjoy

Be Prepabed,

fishing better

if

pro-

176

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

tected against the attacks of the black

flies,

mosquitoes,

midges and "no-fiee-ums."

Anything swimg by a strap across one's shoulder will in

time "cut" the shoulders painfully unless they are protected
by a pad (Kg. 246 J^). A few yards of mosquito netting or
cheese cloth occupies little space and is of Kttle weight, but

is

very useful as a protection at night.

Bend a wand

(Fig.

and bind the ends together (Fig. 247A), with

safety pins; pin this in the netting and suspend the net from
its center by a stick (Fig. 248).
The black fly, C (Fig. 249), is a very small hump-backed
pest, the young Clarvse)(Fig. 249a) Uve in cold, clear running
247) into a hoop

water; Fig. 249b

There are

is

the cocoon.

many

kinds of mosquitoes;

all

of

them

are

and with the black flies and other vermin they

argue that since nature made them with blood suckers and
provided you with the sort of blood that they like, they have
an inherent right to suck your, blood and they do it!
Bolsheviks,

PREPAEING FOR CAMPING TRIP

177

But some mosquitoes are regular Huns and professional

germ carriers, and besides annoying one they skillfully insert
the germs of malaria and yellow fever into one's system.
The malaria mosquitoes are known as anopheles. The highbrow name for the United States malaria distributor is
"Anopheles quadrimaculatus "

250 F).

(Fig.

It

is

only the

females that you need fear; drone bees do not sting and buck

mosquitoes do not
Fig.
egg.

bite.

250d shows lower and upper

side of the anopheles 's

Fig. 250e is the wiggler or larvae of the anopheles;

the anopheles likes to

careful observer will

let

the blood run to

know him

its

head, and any

at a glance from his pose

while resting (Fig. 250g).

Of course, you will not need fly dope on the picnic grounds,
and you will not need your pocket compass on the turnpike
hike, and you will not need your jack-knife with which to

we Boy Scouts are

we go to hotels and boarding houses and picnics
when we must, but not when we can find real adventure in
eat at the boarding house or hotel, but

the real thing;

wilder places.

We shout:

There

is life

There

is

in the roar of plunging streams.

joy in the campfire's blaze at night.

Hark! the elk bugles, the panther screams!

And

the shaggy bison

roll

and

fight.

Let your throbbing heart surge and bound,

List to the

whoop

of the painted Reds;

Pass the flapjacks merrily round

As the gray wolf howls

in the river beds.

We weary of our cushions of rest;

God of our Fathers, give back oiu' West.
What care we for luxury and ease?

Dam the tall houses, give us tall trees!

12

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

178

However crude these verses may be, the sentiment is

But may be it will express our idea better if we do
not attempt rhyme. Suppose we try it this way

all right.

Listen to the whistle of the marmots;

The hooting of the barred owl, the bugling of the elk!

The yap, yap, yap of the coyote, the wild laugh of the loon;
The dismal howl of the timber wolf.
The grunting of the bull moose, the roaring of the torrent.

And

the crashing thunder of the avalanche!

Ah, that's the talk; these are the words and sounds that
make the blood in one's veins tingle hke ginger ale. Why do
all

red-blooded

men and

real

American boys

like to

hear

The crunching of the dry snow;

The flap, flap, flap of snowshoes;
The clinking of the spurs and bits;
The creaking of the saddle leather;
The breathing of the bronco;
The babbling of the rivulet;
The whisper of the pines.
The twitter of the birds.

And

Why?

the droning of bees.

Because in these sounds we get the dampness of the

moss, the ahnond-like odor of twin flowers, the burning dryness of the sand, the sting of the frost, the grit of the rocks

and the tang of old mother earth! They possess the magic
power of suggestion. By simply repeating these words we
transport our souls to the wilderness, set our spirits free, and
we are once again what God made us; natural and normal
boys, Kstening to nature's great runes, odes, epics, lyrics,

poems, ballads and roundelays, as sung by God's

own

bards!

Packing

When
252)

is

packing, remember that a partly

filled

bag

(Fig.

easy to pack, easy to carry on one's shoulders; but a

tightly filled

bag

(Fig. 253)

is

a nuisance on the

trail.

When

PREPARING FOR CAMPING TRIP

181

Making a Pack

To

ship as baggage, fold the blankets lengthwise (Fig. 254),

them in the middle of your tarpaulin or floor cloth

place

(Fig. 254); fold the cover

ends and

roll

255 and 256).

over (Fig. 255), then tuck in the

the package into a bundle and cinch (Figs.

A
Sleeping-Bag

Can be improvised from

one's blankets

bag
the blankets are doubled. To make a
pins (Pig. 257).

section of the

by the use

(Fig. 258)

of safety

shows how

Back Pack
Fold as in Fig. 259, then bend up the end as indicated by
Kgs. 260 and 261, fold again. Fig. 262, then fold in the two
edges. Figs. 263 and 264, which show both sides of pack;
bend over the top. Figs. 265 and 266, and strap ready to
carry. Figs. 267

and

268.

For a

Blanket RoLii
Fold as

Fig. 269;

bend

in the

ends and

Strap or lash the ends together (Fig. 271).

roll (Fig.

270).

CHAPTER X
SADDLES
EOW

TO CHOOSE A. SADDLE
EVOLUTION OP THE MEXICAN SADDLE
BIRTH OF THE BLUFF FRONTED SADDM

THE COWBOY AGE

BAWBUCKS OR PACK SADDLES
STRAIGHT LEG AND BENT KNEE
NAMES OF PARTS OF SADDLE
CENTER FIBE AND DOUBLE CINCH

CHAPTER X
SADDLES

Wb know that comparatively few of our boys take

their

camping hikes. But a

and big brothers do take their horse, and
the pack horse on their himting and fishing trips, and every
boy wants to know how to do the things his daddy knows

hikes on

horseback, especially their

lot of their daddies

how

Besides

to do.

all that,

the author

is

aware of the fact

that the daddies and the uncles and the big brothers are

reading

all

the stuff he puts out for the boys.

They

are con-

stantly quoting to the author things that he has said to the

boys, so that

coimt them

now

in writing a

book

for the boys

he must

in.

Choose a Saddle that Fits

Everyone knows the misery of an ill-fitting shoe, and no
one in his right mind would think of taking a prolonged hike
in shoes that pinched his feet, but everybody does not know
that a saddle should fit the rider; an ill-fitting saddle can
cause almost as much discomfort as an ill-fitting shoe. The
best all-around sportsman's saddle in the world

saddle of the West.

who has

is

the

cowboy

writer in the Saturday Evening Post,

written a delightfully intelligent article on saddles,

in speaking of the Western cow-puncher's saddle, says:

"There are many good riders who have never thrown a

any other sort of saddle, and for work on the plains
or in the mountains no man who has used one would ever
care for any other type. It is as much a distinct product of
this continent as is the birch bark canoe or the American
leg over

axe or

rifle."
18fi

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

186

Like the cowboy hat, the diamond hitch and the

the cowboy saddle

is

lariat,

evolved from the Spanish adaptation

The old-fashioned Spanish saddle

with the heavy wooden block stirrups, not the bent wood
of the Moorish saddle.

stirrups,

but the big stirrups made out of blocks of wood

a saddle with stirrups often weighed over sixty

These saddles were garnished with silver and gold,
and the spurs that the rancheros wore had big wheels with
"beUs" on them.and spikes longenough to goad the thick skin
of an elephant. I formerly possessed one of the picturesque
(Fig. 273) ;such

pounds.

old saddles on which

the leather work was engraved by

all

hand, by the use of some tool

ened

nail;

like

a graver, probably a sharp-

consequently none of the designs was duplicated.

In the good old cow days there were two sorts of saddles:
the"California Center Fire" and the "Texas Double Chinch,"

and

all

at the
silver

those that I remember seeing had rather a short horn

bow with a very broad top sometimes covered with a

plate the seat was also much longer than it is to-day.
;

shows a military saddle which is a modified cowFig. 274 shows a comparatively modem cowsaddle. The up-to-date saddle of to-day has a bulge in

Fig. 272

boy
boy

saddle,

front,

and

not shown on the diagram.

Li the olden days there were no

of cruelty to animals,
therefore,

long

rifle

when one
in front of

societies for

the prevention

and on the ranges horses were plenty;

of the long-haired plainsmen, with his

him on the long

saddle,

and the heavy

Spanish-American trappings to the horse, killed the horse

overwork, he simply took

another horse, moimted

were plenty of horses

off his

it

and continued

his journey; there

why should he worry?

Later when the cowboy age came

selves

by

saddle and trappings, caught

in, the cowboys themon the Southern ranges used the Spanish-American

'5S0
Pack Train Outfit

SADDLES
outfit; the

189

only blessing the poor horse had was the blanket

under the saddle.

When

the block wooden stirrups were abandoned and the

by

thinner oval stirrups adopted, the latter were protected

long caps of leather, the dangling ends of which were silver

The cowboys themselves wore heavy leather breeches

tipped.

called chaps (an abbreviation of the Spanish chaparejo).

Thus with the feet and legs protected they could ride through
the cactus plants and dash through the mesquite country
withoutfearof being pricked by the thorns, no matterwhat happened to the horse. Not only did this leather armor protect
them from thorns and branches, but it also prevented many a
broken leg resulting from kicks by burros, mules and horses.
The rolled coat or blanket, which the bronco busters on
the lower ranges in early times lashed across the horse in
front of their seat,

is

the thing from which the bucking

was evolved, and the buckskin bucking

roll,

the daddy of the swell or bulged front saddle

The

old-fashioned

roll

we are told,
now used.

cowboy saddle has a narrow

front,

is

but

about two decades ago

The Vidaua Saddle-theb

and was the
and to change the narrow

Migrated slowly from California over the

first

one to show the bulged

cow

bow of

the

to-day.

It

injuries

more or

is

front,

saddle to the bluff

plains,

bow of

the saddle as used

claimed that while this protects the rider from

less,

it

has a tendency not to give a

fellow the opportunity of as firm a grip with his legs as did

the old narrow bowed cowboy seat.

Later, in Oregon, they

began to manufacture "incurved saddles," so that the rider's

legs could fit better imder the front, and the Wyoming saddle
makers caught the

idea, so that to-day the vanishing race of

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

190

cowboys are using saddles, which

man

it

would have taken a brave

to straddle in the early days, not because the saddle

is

would have looked funny to the

old-time boys, and they would not have been slow in giving
expression to boisterous and discomforting merrimentIt is an odd thing, this law of growth or evolution, and it

dangerous but because

is

it

a law, and a fixed law, certain pecuUarities go together;

if one goes systematically to work to produce

for instance,

fan-tail pigeons,

with feathered

one finds that he

legs.

The

is

also producing pigeons

breeders have also discovered that

in producing a chicken with silky white feathers they unwill-

ingly produce a fowl with black meat.

What

has this got

Only that the same law holds good here:

the more the front bulges in the saddle the more the horns
shrivel, developing a tendency to rake forward and upward;
the stirrups also dwindle in size. The saddle, which the
to do with saddles?

writer possessed, has stirrups

leather

that

and the caps were

now

made of

iron rings covered with

lined with sheep's wool.

the narrow half-round oval stirrup

is

We

read

a favorite

with the cow-punchers, which the cowboy uses with his foot
thrust

all

the

way

in so that the weight of the rider rests

upon the middle of the foot. This is as disturbing to the

European idea of "proper form" as was the Declaration of
Independence, but the Declaration of Independence has

proved

its efficiency

that for those

who

by

its results;

ride all

so also has-it been proved

day long the nearer they can come

to standing on their feet, and at the same time relieving the

feet of the total

the easier

it is

weight of the body byresting

it

on the saddle,

to stay in the saddle for long stretches of time;

in other words, the

one can occupy

it

a saddle should

fit

more comfortable the

saddle, the longer

without discomfort, and that

the rider.

is

the reason

SADDLES

191

With Western Horses

One must use Western ways; remember the horses were
if you were not, but it is not necessary

educated in the West

to use the cruel, old jaw-breaking Spanish bits with a ring

them.

I have one, but

it

on

only hangs on the studio wall as a

souvenir and a curious object of torture.

But don't tiy a

on a Western horse; he may spit it out and laugh
at you; use the modern Western bits, saddles, and cinch
and you will not go far wrong. Of course
straight bit

The Pack Horse

Is another proposition, for here

you

will

need a pack sawbuck

saddle (Figs. 276, 277, 278 and 279); over this saddle

you

can swing your two saddle bags, called alforjas (Fig. 283).
Fig. 284

how

is

after Stewart

Edward White's diagram, and shows

the alforjas are lashed fast to the horse's back with a

latigo (Fig. 285). Fig. 280 is the lash rope which the man
above Fig. 284 is using. In Chapter VII we tell how to
throw the diamond hitch. Fig. 282 shows the cowboy favorite
cooking utensil, the old Dutch oven, and it is practically the
same model as the one once belonging to Abraham Lincoln.
A glance at the cross-section of the cover shows you how the
edges are dented in to hold the hot ashes heaped on top of it
when the bake oven is being used. Fig. 281 is a sketch of
two essentials for any sort of a trip: an axe and a frying pan.
Of course, one could write a whole book on horseback
work, saddles and pack saddles. The truth is that one could
write a whole book on any subject or any chapter in this book.

But

my

aim

is

to start you

oflF

right; I believe that the

To Do

way

and not depend upon

your book knowledge. Therefore, when I write a book for
you boys, I do the best I know how to make you understand

to learn to do a thing Is

It,

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

192

what I am talking about, and to excite in your mind and heart

a desire to do the things talked of; you must remember, however, that no one ever could learn to skate from a school of
correspondence or a book, but one could gain a great deal
of useful knowledge about anjrthing from a useful book,
knowledge that will be of great help when one is trying to do
iJie

things treated of in the book.

you with the aid of diagrams how to pack a

you can follow my diagrams and pack your
blanket; but in order to ride, skate, swim or dance, you must
gain the skill by practice. A book, however, can tell you the
names of the part of the things.
I can

tell

blanket, and

Names op Parts of Saddle

For instance
saddle-tree

is

(Fig. 272),

made

is

the saddle-tree; a good

of five stout pieces of

are covered with rawhide;

cottonwood which

when the rawhide

shrinks

it

draws

the pieces together more tightly and perfectly than they could

be fastened by tongue and groove, glue, screws or nails; in

makes one solid piece of the whole. The horn is

fastened on to the tree by its branched legs, and covered with
leather or braided rawhide. The shanks are covered first and
then attached to the tree and the thongs are tacked to the
fact, it

saddle-tree, after which the bulged cover is fitted on. When

a good saddle-tree is finished it is as much one piece as is
the pelvis of a skeleton.
P is the pummel, A is the cantle, S is the side bar of the

saddle-tree,
cantle,

a quarter strap

is

side,

B is the

quarter strap

E is the stirrup buckle, F is the outer strap safe, G is

the cincha ring,

unlettered but

strap ring

it

D; J

is

is

the cincha cover; the cincha strap

is

connects the cincha ring with the quarter

the cap or leather stirrup cover,

is

the

SADDLES
wooden

stirrup,

the saddle pads to

horn,

is
fit

193

the horsehair cincha.

under the saddle.

On

Kg. 275
Fig.

is

one of

274M is the

N the cantle, O the whang leather, which your saddler

will call tie strings.

You

will

note that in Fig. 274 there are two cinchas, and

You will also note that in Fig. 274 the

your saddle seems to be double, or even triple, and
the stirrup rigging comes on top of the skirt, and this is made
in Fig.

272 but one.

skirt of

up

back jockey, front jockey, and side jockey or seat.

you know all about horseback; there is nothing
more I can tell you about the pack horse, but remember
not to swell up with pride because of your vast knowledge,
and try to ride an outlaw horse with an Eastern riding school
bit. But acknowledge yourself a tenderfoot, a short horn, a
shavetail, a Cheechako, and ask your Western friends to
let you have a horse that knows all the tricks of his trade,
but who has a compassionate heart for a greenhorn. There
are lots of such good fellows among the Western horses, and
they will treat you kindly. I know it because I have tried
them, and as I said before, I make no boast of being a horseman myself. When I get astride of a Western horse I lean
of the

Now

then,

over and whisper in his

I am, and then put

ear,

him on

and confess to him just how green

his honor to treat me white, and

so far he has always done so.

IS

CHAPTER XI
CHOOSING A CAMP SITE
'wake SmOLES TBBiES OB StUUi OBOUPS OF TBIIE3
SAFETY DJ WOODS OB POEBST
KSBF YOIIR EYES OPEN FOB GOOD CAMP SITES
CBOea STBEAMB WEIIiE CBOSSTNO IS GOOD
KEEP TO WINDWABD OF MOSQUITO EOIdES
'WABE ants' NESTS
TO TELL WHEN WIND BLOWS
BVOLtmON OF THE SHACK
HOW TO SWEEP
HOW TO MAKE CAMP BEDS
HOW TO DIVIDE CAMP WOBK
TENT PUGS
HOW TO PITCH A TENT SINGLE-HANDED
HOW TO DITCH A TENT
TISE OF BHEABS, GINS AND TBIPODS

HOW

CHAPTER XI
CHOOSING A CAMP SITE

When

choosing a

camp

or grove of young trees.

site, if possible,

choose a forest

because of the shade they

First,

give you; secondly, because they protect you from stonns,

and

you from lightning.

Single trees, or small groups of trees in open pastures are
exceedingly dangerous during a thunder storm; tall trees on
thirdly, because they protect

the shores of a river or lake are particularly selected as targets

for thunder bolts
in

by the storm

king.

a thunder storm, next to a house,

of this

is

that each wet tree

is

is

But the
a

forest.

safest place

The reason

a lightning rod silently conduct-

ing the electric fluid without causing explosions.

camp

at the foot of a very

branches on

it,

for a high

tall tree,

Do

not

or an old tree with dead

wind may break

off

the branches

and drop them on your head with

may fall even when there is no wind at all.
Once I pitched my camp near an immense tree on the

disastrous results; the big

tree itself

A few days later we returned

As we stopped and looked at the site where
had been pitched we looked at each other solemnly,

Flathead Indian Reservation.

to our old camp.

our tents

but said nothing, for

there,

prone upon the ground, lay that

giant veteran tree!

But young

trees

do not

fall

down, and

if

they did they

could not create the havoc caused by the immense bole of the
patriarch of the forest when it comes crashing to the earth.
A good scout must "Be Prepared," and to do so must remem-

ber that safety comes

big tree

is

first,

and too

close

neighborhood to a

often unsafe.
197

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

198

Remember to choose the best camp site that can be found;

do not travel

all

day, and as night comes on stop at any old

place ; but in the afternoon keep your eyes open for Ukely spots.

Halt early enough to give time to have everything snug

and

in order before dark.

In selecting camping ground, look for a place where good

water and wood are handy.

Choose a high spot with a gentle

slope

if possible ;

guard your spring or water hole from animals,

for

the day

hot your dog

if

is

will

run ahead of the party and

jump into the middle of the spring to

and cattle will befoul the water.
If

camping in the Western

cool himself,

and horses

states

on the shores of a shallow

trail,

cross the stream before

stream which hes along the

making camp or you may not be able to cross it for days.

A Chinook wind suddenly melting the snows in the distant
mountains, or a cloud-burst miles and miles up stream, may
suddenly send down to you a dangerous flood even in the
I have known of parties being detained
by one of these sudden roaring floods of water,
which came unannounced, the great bole of mud, sticks and
logs sweeping by their camp and taking with it everything

dry season.

for days

in its path.

A belt of dense timber between camp and a pond or swamp

will act as

a protection from mosquitoes.

As a

rule,

keep to

windward of mosquito

holes; the Httle insects travel with the

wind, not against

'Ware ant

it.

with ants, for they

where the food

A
is

is

make poor

hills,

rotten

wood

infested

bedfellows and are a nuisance

kept.

bare spot on the earth, where there are no dry leaves,

a wind-swept spot; where the dust-covered leaves

heaps the wind does not blow.

free

from mosquitoes, but

it is

windy place

is

lie

in

generally

a poor place to build a

fire;

CHOOSING A CAMP SITE

199

a small bank is a great protection from high wind and twisters.

During one tornado I had a camp imder the lee of a small
elevation;

we only

lost the fly of

one tent out of a camp pf

fifty

or more, while in more exposed places nearby great

trees

were uprooted and houses unroofed.

must not be supposed that the camping season is past

is over.
The real camping
season begins in the Wild Rice Moon, that is, September.
It

because the summer vacation

Even if school or business takes all our time during the week,
we still have week-ends in which to camp. Saturday has
always been a boys' day. Camping is an American institution,

because America affords the greatest camping ground

in the world.

The author

is

seated in his

on the shores
pitched a camp of
self,

of

own

six

by himhim there is

log house, built

Big Tink Pond.

Back

of

rows of tents, which are

filled

with a

crowd of youngsters.
in
It is here
the mountains of Pike County, Pennsylvania,
where the bluestone is stratified in horizontal layers, that one

joyful, noisy

may

study the camp from

its

very birth to the latest and

finished product of this century.

Everywhere

in these

of the bluestone,

stone

is

mountains there are outcroppings

and wherever the face

of a ridge of this

exposed to the elements, the rains or melting snows

cause the water to drip from the earth on top of the stone and
trickle

down over the

face of the

cliff.

Then, when a cold

snap turns the moisture into ice in every

little

crack in the

rock, the expansion of the ice forces the sides of the cracks

apart at the seams in the rock until loose pieces from the
undersides slide
projects.

The

off,

little

leaving small spaces over which the rock

caves thus

made make

retreats for white-

footed mice and other small mammals, chipmunks and cave

200

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

rats.
When these become deeper they
which snakes sleep through the winter.

The openings never grow

may become

dens in

and in course of time

and in olden
times they made dens for wolves and panthers, or a place
where the bear would "hole" up for the winter.
Time is not considered by Dame Nature; she has no trains
to catch, and as years and centuries roU by the little openings
in the bluestone become big enough to form a shelter for a
crouching man, and the crouching man used them as a place
in which to camp when the Norsemen in their dragon ships
were braving the unknown ocean. When Columbus, with
his toy boats, was blundering around the West Indies, the
crouching man was camping under the bluestone ledges of
old Pike County, Pennsylvania. There he built his campfires and cooked his beaver and bear and deer and elk, using
dishes of pottery of his own make and ornamented with crude
smaller,

are large enough for the coon, then the fox,

designs traced in the clay before the dishes were baked.

We know

all this

to

be true histoiy, because within a

short walk of the author's log house there are overhanging

and imderneath these ledges we, ourselves, have crouched and camped, and with sharp sticks
have dug up the ground from the layer of earth covering the
floor rock. And in this ground we have found bits of pottery,
ledges of bluestone,

the split bones of different wild animals

spKt so that the

savage camper might secure the rich marrow from the inside

arrowheads, bone awls and needles, tomahawks,

of the bones

the skulls of beaver and spearheads;

all

these things have

been found under the overhanging bluestone.

Wherever such a bluestone ledge exists, one may make a

good camp by closing up the front of the cave with sticks
against the overhanging cliff and thatching the sticks with

CHOOSING A CAMP SITE

201

browse or balsam boughs, thus making the simplest form of

a lean-to.

The Indians used such shelters before the advent

man; Daniel Boone used them when he first

of the white
visited

Kentucky and,

tents, the

in spite of the great

overhanging ledge

is still

improvement

in

used in Pennsylvania by

fishermen imd hunters for overnight camps.

But

if

one uses such a

site for his

overnight

camp

or his

week's-end camp, one should not desecrate the ancient abode

by introducing under its venerable roof, modern up-to-date

cooking and camp material, but should exercise ingenuity
and manufacture, as far as possible, the conveniences and
furniture necessary for the camp.

Since the author is writing this in a camp in the woods,

he will tell the practical things that confront him, even though
he must mention a white man's shop broom.
first place, the most noticeable defect in the tenderwork is the manner in which he handles his broom and
wears the broom out of shape. A broom may be worn to a
stub when properly used, but the lopsided broom is no use

In the

foot's

at

all

way

affair,

chump who handled it always used it one

broom became a useless, distorted, lopsided

because the

imtil the

with a permanent hst to starboard or port, as the case

may be.
To sweep properly is an art, and every all-around outdoor
boy and man should learn to sweep and to handle the broom
gun or axe. In the first place, turn
the broom every time you notice a tendency of the latter to
become one-sided, then the broom will wear to a stub and
In the next place, do not swing the broom up
still be of use.
in the air with each sweep and throw the dust up in the clouds,
as skillfully as he does his

but so sweep that the end of the stroke keeps the broom near
the floor or ground.

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

202

Now a
craft

to

word about makmg beds.

In

all

books on wood-

you are directed to secure balsam boughs from which

make your beds, and there is no better forest bedding than

the fragrant balsam boughs, but unfortunately the mountain

goose, as the hunters call

to

make your camp

bed,

A bag filled with

make a very
in the

it,

is

from which you pluck the feathers

not to be foimd in

dry leaves, dry

hay and straw

belt

hay or straw will

we are not always

grass,

confortable mattress; but

difficult to secure;

all localities.

and dry leaves are sometimes

a scout, however, must learn to make a bed

wherever he happens to be.

K there happens to

be a swale

nearby where brakes and ferns grow luxuriantly, one can

gather an armful of these, and with them make a mattress.
The Interrupted fern, the Cinnamon, the Royal fern, the
Lady fern, the Marsh fern and all the larger ferns are useful
as material.

A camping party should have their work so divided that

each one can immediately start at his own particular job
the

moment

a halt

is

made.

One chops up the firewood and

sees that a plentiful supply of firewood is always

usually he carries the water.

tents, clears

away the

on hand;

One makes camp, puts up the

rubbish, fixes the beds, etc., while a

third attends strictly to kitchen work, preparing the meals,

and washing up the dishes.

With the labor divided in this manner, things run like
clock work and camp is always neat and tidy. Roughing it
is making the best of it; only a slob and a chump goes dirty
and has a sloppy-looking camp. The real old time veteran
and sourdough is a model of neatness and order. But a clean,
orderly camp is much more important than a clean-faced
camper. Some men think so much of themselves and their
own personal cleanliness that they forget their duty to the

CHOOSING A CAMP SITE

One's duty

others.

animals

if

is

205

about in this proportion:

first

to the

any, secondly to the men, and lastly to oneself.

Before pitching your tent, clear out a space for it to occupy

pick up the stones, rubbish and sticks, rake

with a forked

stick.

But do not be rude

the groimd pine; apologize for disturbing

oflf

the ground

to your brother,
it;

be gentle with

the fronds of the fern; do not tear the trailing arbutus vine

up by

its roots,

flowers; ask

or the plant of the almond scented twin

pardon of the thallus of the hchen which you

Why? O! well because

and because such little civilities to the natural objects around you put your own mind
in accord with nature, and make camping a much more
are trampling under your feet.

they had

first

enjoyable

right to the place,

affair.

When you

feel

you are sleeping on the breast

of your

mother, the earth, while your father, the sky, with his millions
of eyes

is

watching over you, and that you are surrounded by

your brother, the plants, the wilderness

even

is

no longer lonesome

to the solitary traveler.

Another reason

for taking this point of

view

is

that

it

and tends to prevent one from

becoming a wilderness Hun and vandal. It also not only
makes one hesitate to hack the trees unnecessarily, but
encourages the camper to take pride in leaving a clean trail.
As my good friend, John Muir, said to me: "The camping
trip need not be the longest and most dangerous excursion
up to the highest mountain, through the deepest woods or
has a humanizing

effect

across the wildest torrents, glaciers or deserts, in order to

be a happy one; but however short or long, rough or smooth,

calm or stormy, it should be one in which the able, fearless

camper

sees the most, learns the most, loves the

leaves the cleanest track;

most and

whose camp grounds are never

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

204

marred by anything unsightly, scarred

trees or blood spots

or bones of animals."
It

is

not the object of this book to advertise, or even

advise the use of any particular type of outfitting apparatus

other than the plain, everyday affairs with which

all

are

What we want to do is to start the reader right,

then he may make his own choice, selecting an outfit to suit
his own taste. There are no two men, for instance, who will
familiar.

sing the praise of the same sort of a tent, but there is perhaps
no camper who has not used, and been very comfortable in,

the old style wall tent.

It has its disadvantages,

As a

has a house, a shack or a shanty.

tent

one

is

rule,

and

so

the old wall

too heavy to carry with comfort and very difficult for

man

to pitch alone

^unless

one knows how.

Tent Pegs
Are necessary

them

any kind of a tent; you can buy

and lose them on the way to camp;

for almost

at the outfitter's

they even have iron and

expensive,

and to

steel tent

pegs to help

make camping

scatter through the woods.

a real sourdough you

will

own

cut your

But

if

you are

tent pegs, shaped

according to circumstances and individual taste.

Fig. 286
shows the two principal kinds: the fork and the notched tent
pegs. For the wall tents one will need a ridge pole (Fig. 288),

and two forked

sticks, or rods, to

support the ridge pole;

the forks on these should be snubbed off close so that they

will

not thrust themselves up against the canvas on the

top of the tent and endanger the fabric; these poles should

be of a proper height; otherwise

if

tent will not touch the ground at

the poles are too long, the

all,

or

short, the tent will wrinkle all over the

trousers

when

his suspenders break.

if

the poles are too

ground

like

a fellow's

CHOOSING A CAMP SITE

207

See that the ground

is comparatively level, but with a

one direction or another so that water will drain oflf
in case of rain. Never, for instance, pitch your tent in a
hollow or basin of ground, unless you want to wake up some

slant in

Do not pitch your

night slopping around in a pool of water.

tent near a standing dead tree;

it is liable to fall over and

Avoid camping under green trees
with heavy dead branches on them. Remember the real
camper always has an eye to safety first, not because he is a
coward, but because the real camper is as brave a person as
you will find anywhere, and no real brave person believes
in the carelessness which produces accidents. Do not pitch
your tent over protruding stones which will make stumbling-

crush you in the night.

blocks for you on which to stub your toes at night, or torture

you when you spread your blankets over them to sleep. Use
common sense, use gumption. Of course, we all know that
it hurts one's head to think, but we must all try it, nevertheless,
if

we are going to live in the big outdoors.

At a famous military academy the splendid cavalrymen

gave a brilliant exhibition of putting up wall tents it required

four men to put up each tent. Lnmediately following this
;

some of the scouts took the same

each tent, and in

less

tents,

with one scout to

time than the cavalrymen took for the

same job, the twelve year old boys, single-handed, put up the
same tents.

How

TO Pitch and Ditch Single-handed

Spread out your tent

pole

all

and your two uprights

tent stakes, using the

them, so that you

287); drive the

will

fiat

not

ready to erect, put your ridge

in place,

and then drive some

of your axe with which to drive

split

the tops of the stakes (Pig.

two end stakes

and

(Fig. 289) at

an

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

208

angle to the ends of the tent. After the tent stakes are arranged

Kke the ones in Fig. 289, adjust the forks of the

uprights two inches from the ends of the ridge pole (Fig. 288),
then make fast the two extreme end guy ropes A and B to
in a row,

the tent pegs; the others are unimportant for the present;
after that

is

done, raise one tent pole part of the way

290), then push the other part of the

way up

gradually adjust these things until the strain

You

your guy ropes.

will

alone, because the weight

now find
is

up

(Fig.

(Fig. 291);

even upon

is

that your tent will stand

pulling against your

guy ropes

hold your tent steady until you can

(Fig. 292).

This

make

guy ropes to the pegs upon the other side, not

because you need slack to straighten up your

will

fast the

too tightly,
tent poles.

Next
which

see that the

it is

back guy pole

is

perpendicular, after

a very easy matter to straighten up the front pole

and adjust the guy rope so that it will stand stiff as in Fig. 293.
Remember, when you are cutting the ridge poles and the
uprights, to select fairly straight sticks, and they should be
as free as possible from rough projections, which might
injure the canvas; also the poles should be as

stiff

as possible

so as not to sag or cause the roof to belly.

Ditching
is erected and you feel like
busy on ditching; no matter how dry the weather

Just as soon as your tent

resting, get

may

be at the time, put a ditch around the tent that will

drain the water

away from your

living place.

positive rule for digging this ditch;

it

There

surface of ground, but the gutter should be so

the water will run

around

it (Fig.

away from the

294).

Fig. 295

tents

is

no

varies according to

and not to

made that
it,

or stand

shows how to make a tent by

14

CHOOSING A CAMP SITE

211

folding a floor cloth or piece of tarpaulin; of course it must

have a tent pole to support the top, and the floor pieces may
be drawn together in the center. Make one out of a piece
of writing paper

and you

although the paper

as

if it

was

is

will learn

small, the folds

how to do it, because

would be just the same

as large as a church.

In sandy or soft ground

it

often taxes one's ingenuity to

is a weight of some
which the guy ropes may be attached. Fig 296 shows
a tent anchored by billets of wood; these are all supposed

supply anchors for one's tent; an anchor

sort to

to be buried in the ground as in Fig. 308, and the ground

trampled down over and above them to keep them safe in

Fig. 297

their graves.

shows the

hitch. Fig. 298 the second throw,

hitch for the anchor.

anchor rope

is

Fig. 303

tied to the

main

first

and

throw in the anchor

Fig. 299 the complete

shows the knot by which the

line. Figs. 300, 301 and 302

show the detail of tying this knot, which is simpUdty itself,

when you know how, hke most knots. Fig. 303 shows the
anchor hitch complete.
Stones, bimdles of fagots; or bags of sand

anchors; Fig. 304

Fig. 306

is

a stone; Fig. 305 are half

make

useful

billets of

wood.

all

shows fagots of wood. Fig. 307 a bag of sand.

All

may be used to anchor your tent in the sands or loose ground.

Shears, Gins ok Thipods

Are the names used for different forms of rustic supports for
the tents. Fig. 312 shows the ordinary shears. Fig. 313 shows
the tent supported by shears;

guy ropes

for the tent

you

will also

(Fig. 313) are

instead of to the pegs in the ground.

note that the

made

fast to

This has

a rod

many advan-

tages, because of the tendency of the rope to tighten or shrink

whenever

it

becomes wet, which often makes

it

necessaiy

CAMP-LORE AND WOODGRAFT

212
for

a fellow to get up

in the night to adjust the

guy ropes and

When the rain is pouring down, the thunder

redrive the pegs.

crashing and the hghtning flashing,

it is

no fun to go poking

around on the wet ground in one's nightie in order that the

tent pegs

may not be pulled

out of the ground by the shrink-

ing ropes, and the cold mass of wet canvas allowed to

fall

upon one's head. It is always necessary to loosen and tighten

the guy ropes according to the weather; naturally the longer
the guy ropes are the more they will shrink and the more they
will stretch as

To prevent this,

the weather varies.

lay a rod

over the ends of the guy rope between the pegs and the tent
(Fig.

316A) and

it will

be an automatic adjuster.

When

the ropes are dry and stretch, the weight of this pole will hold

them down and keep them

they

will lift

taut;

when the guy ropes shrink

the pole, but the latter will keep the tension on

the ropes and keep

them

The arrangement

adjusted.

Fig. 313 has the advantage of

making a clothes rack

bed clothes when you wish to

air

for

of

your

them, while the weight of

the suspended log keeps the tension on the ropes equalized.

Fig. 314

Figs. 315

shows the shears made by the use of forked sticks.

and 318 show the ridge pole supported by shears,

and the ridge poles supported by forked

of the shears in Fig. 315
tent.

Fig. 316

is

that

it

advantage

shows an exterior ridge pole supported by

shears to which the top of the tent

is

sticks; the

gives a clear opening to the

the same without the tent.

is

made

Fig. 318

Vreeland tent; in this case the ridge pole

crotched upright stick, but

may

fast.

Pig. 317

shows the famous

is

supported by a

be equally well supported

by the shears as ia Fig. 315. Fig. 319 shows the gin or tripod
made by binding the three sticks together. Fig. 320 shows
the same effect made by the use of the forked sticks; these
are useful in pitching wigwams or tepees.

Common Tents op the Open Countet

o
Pui

CHOOSING A CAMP SITE

Fig. 309 shows

some

wall tent, the Baker tent

215

of the orduiary forms of tents, the

and the canoe

tent.

Fig. 310

shows

a tent with a fly extending out in front, thus giving the piazza
or front porch.

In the backgroimd

is

a tepee tent. Fig. 311

shows two small Baker tents in the backgrotmd, and the

Dan Beard tent in the foregroimd. These comprise the
principal forms, but the open-front tents to-day are

vogue with the campers.

much

mosquito netting in front

keep out the insects and allow the

air to

come

in

will

in freely,

whereas the old-fashioned way of closing the tent flap stops

circulation of air

and makes conditions

as

bad as that

of a

a big house, and the air becomes as foul as it

did in the little red school houses and does now in the Courts
closed

room

in

of Justice, jails

and other places

of entertainment,

CHAPTER

XII

AXE AND SAW

QEBATEST AXEMAN
IMPOETANCE OF THE AXE
WHAT KIND OF AXE TO TJ8E
HOW TO SWING AN AXE
HOW TO REMOVE A BBOKEN AXE HANDLE
HOW TO TIGHTEN THE HANDLE IN THE HHAB
ACCIDENTS
THE BEAINS OF AN AXE
ETIQUETTE OF THE AXE
HOW TO SHABPEN AN AXE
HOW TO "fall" A TREE
HOW TO SWAMP
HOW TO MAKE A BEETLE OR MALL
HOW TO HARDEN GREEN WOOD
HOW TO MAKE A FIREWOOD HOD
HOW TO MAKE A CHOPPING BLOCK
THE PROPER WAT TO CHOP
HOW TO MAKE SAWBUCKS FOR LOGS
HOW TO USE A PARBUCKLE
HOW TO SPUT A LOG
HOW TO USE A BAWPIT
OTOB

CHAPTER Xn
AXE AND SAW

To

all

tool, for

good, loyal Americans, the axe

Is

almost a sacred

our greatest American, Abraham Lincoln, was one

of our greatest axemen.

When he was President of the United

States he used to exercise

by chopping wood, then laughingly

extended his arm holding the axe in a horizontal position by

the extreme end of the handle.

This he would do without a

tremor of the muscle or movement of the axe

some stunt!
Try it and see if you can do it!
The American Indians, and practically all savages, used
stone and bone implements, and with such implements the
Redmen were wont to build the most beautiful of all crafts,
the birch bark canoe.

If

an American Indian produced such

wonders with implements made of stones,

and bones, a
good red-blooded American boy should be able to do the
same with a sharp axe; therefore it should not only be his
pleasure but his duty to learn to be a skillful axeman.
flint

Brother Jonathan, the imaginary character

who

repre-

sented the American people, was almost invariably pictured

with a jack-knife whittling a stick, because all early Americans

were

skillful in

the use of the jack-knife, but they were also

skilled in the use of the axe,

of age knew

how

and every boy of twelve years

to handle an axe.

Importance of the Axe

While lecturing at the Teachers' College, Columbia University, I

axe.

was asked to give a demonstration of the use of the

and there suddenly occurred to me that if these

It then

219

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

220

grown men needed and asked for instructions in the use of

this typical American tool, a talk on the same subject would
be welcomed by the American boys.
The axe is the one necessary tool of the woodsmen; the
axe occupies the same position to the wilderness

man

that

the chest of tools does to the carpenter; with the axe the

woodsman cuts his firewood; with the axe he makes his

with the axe he

splits

traps;

the shakes, clapboards, slabs and

wood which

shingles

from the balsam

readily,

and with the shakes, clapboards, or

tree,

or other

splits

slabs

he

makes the
framework to his sod shack or his dugout, or with them
builds the foimdation of a bogken.
With his axe he cuts
shingles the roof of his hogan, his barabara, or

the birch for his birch bark pontiac, for his lean-to or his log

Without an axe

cabin.

build a raft or to

fell

canoe, or to "fall " the tree to

may be

felled

by

fire,

most

it is

difficult for

one to even

a tree to get the birch bark

make a dugout

for one's

canoe.

tree

as the Indians of old used to "fall"

them, but this takes a wearisome time.

The Kind of Axe to Use

When bound

for a real

camp, take along with you a real

is too large and heavy for

Never take an axe which

axe.

you to swing with comfort.

which

is

It is also best to avoid

labor to cut the wood.

You

according to your strength.

much
your own axe

should select

Pick up the axe, go through the

motions of chopping and see

suits

an axe

too light, as with such a tool you must use too

if it

feels right, if its

balance

you; hold up the axe and sight along the top of the

handle as you would along the barrel of a gun to see that

your handle

is

not warped.

AXE AND SAW

Axes
In

may be had

of weight

and

888

size to suit one's taste.

New England

they use short-handled axes which are not

popular in the woods. The axe handles should be weU
seasoned, second growth hickory; a J^ axe has a 19-inch

A J^ axe has a 24-iach

handle and weighs two and a half pounds. A 5 axe has a
28-inch handle and weighs three pounds. A full axe has a

handle and weighs two pounds.

36-inch handle and weighs five pounds.

Probably the best axe for camp work, when you must
is one with a 30-inch second
growth hickory handle, weight about two and three-quarter
pounds, or somewhere between two and three pounds. A

cany the axe on your back,

light axe of this

it

kind will cut readily and effectively provided

has a slender bit; that

is,

that

it

top of such an axe and

it will

look at the

appears slender and not bulky,

it

cut well and can be wielded

hght for a

does not sheer off too

When you

bluntly towards the cutting edge.

by a boy and

is

not too

man

(Kg. 322).
Fig. 321 shows the long-handled Hudson Bay axe used

much

in the

North country.

It

is

made

form to save weight, but the blade

give a wide cutting edge.
it is

The

is

after the

tomahawk

broad, you notice, to

trouble with this axe

too light for satisfactory work.

Fig. 323

is

that

shows a belt

axe of a modified tomahawk shape, only three of which are

in existence; one

was

in the possession of the late Colonel

Roosevelt, one in the possession of a famous English author,

and one

made

in the possession of the writer.

for the gentlemen to

President of a great tool works; they are

gray

steel

and

are beautiful tools.

it

made

Fig. 324

is

of the best

an ordinary

same as those used by the Boy Scouts.

was proposed to arm the Boy Scouts with guns, the

belt axe practically the

When

These axes were

whom they were presented by the

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

224

writer put in strenuous objections

in place of guns; the matter of

him

referred to

and suggested

belt axes

costume and arms was

as a committee of one.

finally-

The imiform was

planned after that of the Scouts of the Boy Pioneers of America,

and the

belt axe

adopted

is

by
mod325 is a

the same as that carried

the Scouts of the Sons of Daniel Boone, which axes are

own tomahawk.

elled after Daniel Boone's

Fig.

very heavy axe.

A Word About
Grasp the axe with the
handle, even closer than

is

Swinging the Axe

left

hand, close to the end of the

shown

in the

diagram

(Fig. 326)

with the right hand grasp the handle close to the head of the
axe, then briag the axe

up over your shoulder and as you

hand to slide down naturally

strike the blow, allow the right

(Fig. 327), close to the left

hand; learn to reverse, that

is,

end of the handle with the right hand

and the left hand near the top, so as to swing the axe from the
left shoulder down, as easily as from the right shoulder.
To be a real axeman, a genuine dyed-in-the-wool, blown-inthe-glass type, each time you make a stroke with the axe
you must emit the breath from your limgs with a noise like
Huh That, you know, sounds very professional and will duly
impress the other boys when they watch you chop, besides
which it always seems to really help the force of the blow.
learn to grasp the lower

How
It

TO Remove a Broken

was from a colored

worked

Axe Handle

rail splitter

from Virginia, who

for the writer, that the latter learned

how

the blade of your axe La the moist earth and build a

bum

to

out the broken end of the handle from the axe head.

Bury

fire

over

AXE AND SAW

225

the protruding butt (Kg. 328); the moist earth will prevent
the heat from spoiling the temper of your axe blade while
the heat from the fire will char and bum the wood so that it

can easily be removed.

If you are using a double-bitted axe, that is, one of those
very useful but villainous tools with two cutting edges, and

the handle breaks

off,

make a

shallow trench in the

dirt,

put

the moist soil over each blade, leaving a hollow in the middle

where the axe handle comes and build your

hollow (Kg. 329).

fire

over this

To Tighten the Axe Head

If

your axe handle

is

dry and the head loosens, soak

it

over night and the wood will swell and tighten the head.

Scoutmaster Ktzgerald of

New York says,

'

'Quite a

number

of scouts have trouble with the axe sUpping off the helve

and the

first

thing they do

to split the helve

a practical

way

is

to drive a nail which only tends

and make matters worse. I have discovered

You

of fixing this.

will

note that a wire

passes over the head of the axe in the helve in the side view.

Then

in the cross-section in the copper wire

httle staple driven in to hold it in place."

for

a belt axe but the hole in the handle

would not be advisable

is

twisted and a

This
will

may

answer

weaken

it

and

for a large axe (Kg. 330).

Accidents

We have

said that the axe

dangerous chest of

tools.

is

a chest of

tools,

but

it is

While aboard a train coining from

one of the big lumber camps, the writer was astonished to

find that although there were but few sick men aboard, there
were many, many wounded men in the car and none, that he
15

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

226

wounded by falling trees; all were wounded by the

by fragments of knots and sticks flying from
the axe and striking the axeman in the eyes or

could find,

axe

itself

blows of

or

other tender places.

You Must Supply the Brains

my

I have often warned

young

friends to use great care

made

with firearms, because firearms are

purpose of

killing.

father, just as quickly

bear or a panther.

and as surely as

Therefore

it is

its

own,

will

sister,

mother or

it will kill

a moose, a

owner, his friends, his brother or

kill its

for the express

gun, having no brains of

necessary for the gunner

to supply the brains for his gun.

The same is

for the express purpose of cutting,

and bone as quickly and neatly

the user

Edged tools are made

and they will cut flesh

true with the axeman.

is skillful

as they will cut wood, unless

in the use of his tool; that

is,

unless he

supplies the brains which the tools themselves lack.

So you see that it is "up to you " boys to supply the brains
for your axes, and when you do that, that is, when you
acquire the skill in the use, and judgment in the handling,
you will avoid painful and may be dangerous or fatal acci-

and at the same time you

dents,

the handling of your axe.

muscle and health in this

We

are not telling

instil into his

will experience great

Not only

joy in

but you will acquire

most vigorous and manly exercise.

all this

this

to frighten the reader but to

mind a proper respect for edged tools,

especially

the axe.

Etiquette of the
1.

An

Axe

axe to be respected must be sharp and no one

who has any ambition

scout, should carry

to be a pioneer, a sportsman or a
dull axe, or

an axe with the edge

AXE AND SAW

nicked like a saw blade.

know

that the pencil I

am

notes was sharpened with

2.

It

may

227

interest the reader to

using with which to

my camp

make

these

axe.

No one but a duffer and a chump will use another man's

axe without that other man's willing permission.

3. It is as

as

it is

bad form to ask

for the loan of a favorite axe

to ask for the loan of a sportsman's best gun or pet

fishing rod or toothbrush.

Axes and Bheaths

4.

To

turn the edge or to nick another man's axe

is

very grave offense.

5.

eep your own axe sharp and

clean,

do not use

cut any object lying on the ground where there

is

it

to

danger of

the blade of the axe going through the object and striking a
it to cut roots of trees or bushes for the same
Beware of knots in hemlock wood and in cold weather
beware of knots of any kind.
When not in use an axe should have its blade sheathed
in leather (Figs. 331, 332, 333 and 334), or it should be struck

stone; do not use

reason.

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

228

into a log or

stump

It should never

(Fig. 335).

be

left

upon

the ground or set up against a tree to endanger the legs and

feet of the

made and

camper.

How
On

Fig. 341

shows how a firewood hod

is

used.

the

course to a

we have no

and often have

re-

with which to sharpen our axe; sometimes

we

trail
file

TO Sharpen Your Axe

grindstones,

New

use a whetstone for the purpose.

as sharp as one

woul4 wish;

axes are not always

in that case

if

we

use a grind-

stone to put on an edge we must be sure to keep the grindstone wet in the

first place,

and

in the second place

we must

be careful not to throw the edge of the blade out of

When

this occurs it will cause

line.

a "binding strain" on the

blade which tends to stop the force of the blow. If the edges
are at

aU out of

line,

the probabilities are one will knock a

moon out of the blade in the first attempt to cut frozen

timber. The best axe in the world, with an edge badly out

half

a blow on hard frozen

While grinding the axe take a sight along the edge

of line, cannot stand the strain of

wood.

every once in a while to see

if it is

true.

The Best Time to Cut or Prune Trees

Is

when the sap

is

dormant, which I

will explain for

my

when the tree is not

full of juice.
The reason for this is that when the sap or
juice is in the wood when cut, it will ferment, bubble and

yoimger readers

is

that time of year

the same as sweet cider or grape juice will ferment,

and the fermentation will take all the "life" out of the
lumber and give it a tendency to decay; again to translate
for my younger readers, such wood will rot quicker than wood

fizzle

cut at the proper season of the year.

AXE AND SAW

With pine

trees,

however, this

is

231
not always the case,

because the pitchy nature of the sap of the pine prevents

it

from fermenting Hke beech sap; in fact, the pitch acts as a

preservative and mimunifies, so to speak, the wood. Pine
knots will last for a hundred years lying in the soft, moist
groimd and for aught I know, longer, because they are fat
with pitch and the pitch prevents decay.
Beech when cut in June is unfit for firewood the following
winter,

and

but authorities say that the same trees cut ux August

with the branches stUl on them for twenty or thirty

left

days, will

make

firmer

and "Uveher" timber than that cut

under any other conditions.

An expert lumberman in ten minutes' time will cut down a

hardwood

tree one foot in diameter,

and

it will

not take him

over four minutes to cut down a softwood tree of the same

size.

Cleak Awat Evertthing

Before attempting to chop

down a

tree; in fact, before

attempting to chop anything, be careful to see that there are

no clothes
yard, or

no

if

overhead, if you are chopping in your backyou are chopping in the forests see that there are

lines

vines, twigs, or branches within swing of

carefully

removing

all

your axe.

By

such things you will remove one of the

greatest causes of accidents in the wilderness, for as slight a

thing as a httle twig can deflect, that

is,

turn, the blade of

and cause the loss of a

the reason that swamping

your axe from

its coiu-se

toe,

or even a leg.

This

is

is

foot,

the most

dangerous part of the lumberman's work.

How

K the tree,
where there

is

TO "Fau." a Tbbb

in falling,

danger of

must pass between two other

its

trees

"hanging, " so cut your kerf that

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

232

the tree in falling will strike the ground nearest the smallest
furthest away. Then, as
and brushes the side of the smallest tree or the
one furthest away, it will bounce away, thus giving the fallen
tree an opportunity to bump its way down to the place on
the ground selected for it, in place of hanging by its bough
of the trees, or nearest the one

the tree

in the

Do

falls,

boughs of other

trees.

not try to "fall" a tree between two others that are

standing close together;

it

cannot be successfully done, for

the tops of the three trees will become interlaced, and you
will find it

free

your

very

difficult

fallen tree

from

and hazardous work to attempt to

its

entanglement; probably

it

can-

not be done without cutting one or both of the other trees

down.

The

truth

is,

one must mix brains with every stroke

of the axe or one will get into trouble.

Where possible select a tree that may be made to fall in

an open space where the prostrate trunk can be easily handled.
Cut your kerf on the side toward the landing place, let the
notch go half-way or a trifle more through the trunk. Make
the notch or kerf as wide as the radius, that
eter of the tree trunk (Fig. 344), otherwise

is,

you

half the diamwill

have your

axe pinched or wedged before you have the kerf done and
will find it necessary to enlarge
first

your notch or

kerf.

Score

at the top part of the proposed notch, then at the bottom,

making as big chips

as possible,

and hew out the space be-

tween, cutting the top parts of the notch at an angle but the

bottom part nearly

haK or a

horizontal.

When

this

notch or kerf

more than half of the diameter of the

tree, cut another notch upon the opposite side of the tree at a
point a few inches higher than the notch already cut; when
this notch is cut far enough the tree will begin to tremble
and crack to warn you to step to one side. Don't get behind
is

cut to

little

AXE AND SAW

the tree;

it

may

the tree as
it

kick and

it falls;

in falling,

233

you; step to one side and watch

kill

many

there are

and one's safety Kes

things that

in being alert

may

deflect

and watching

Also keep your eye aloft tb watch for limbs which

it fall.

may break off and come down

with sufficient force to disable

you; accidents of this kind frequently happen, but seldom

or never happen where the axeman uses common sense or

due caution.

How
After a tree
cut

away

sters to

all

TO Trim or Swamp

is felled,

the swampers take charge of

it

and

the branches, leaving the clean log for the team-

"snake."

They do the swamping by

striking the

lower side of the branch with the blade of the axe, the side

what might be called the underside, and chopping upwards towards the top of the tree.
Small brandies will come off with a single blow of the axe.
When the tree has been swamped and the long trunk lies
naked on the turf, it will, in all probabiUty, be necessary to
towards the root of the

cut

it

tree,

into logs of required lengths.

If

the trunk

is

a thick

by standing on the tree trunk with legs

apart (Kg. 336), and chopping between one's feet, making
the kerf equal to the diameter of the log. Do this for two
reasons: it is much easier to stand on a log and cut it in two
one

that

it is

best to cut

way than

it

to cut

it

part the

way through

the top side,

and then laboriously roll it over and cut from the imderside;
also when you make the notch wide enough you can cut all
the way through the log without wedging your axe. To spht
up the log you should have

Beetle ob Mau.,

thing usually to be found

among

the tools in the back-

woodsman's hut and permanent camps; of course we do not

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

234

make them

take the time to

for

an overnight camp or a

temporary camping place, but they are very handy at a

stationary camp.

To make one select a hardwood tree, which,

when

its

stripped of

The

diameter.

spht easily but

bark

will

measure about

tree selected should not be

may be

with the bark on

is

five inches in

one that would

a young oak, beech or hickory, which

six or seven inches in

down

diameter at the butt.

tall enough from

and while the stump is still
standing hew the top part until you have a handle scant two
feet in length, leaving for the hammer head, so to speak, a
butt of ten inches, counting from the part where the roots
join the trunk.
Before cutting the stump off above the

In chopping this tree

which to fashion your

ground, dig
stones

and

all

leave a

stump

beetle,

away all
up to the
the hafdest part of the wood and makes the

around the

roots, carefully scraping

pebbles, then cut the roots off close

stump, for this

is

best mall head (Fig. 337).

How

TO

Make the Gluts ok Wedges

Farmers claim that the best wedges are made of applewood, or locust wood; never use green wedges if seasoned
ones

may be obtained,

for one seasoned

wedge

is

worth many

any woods,
applewood cannot be obtained, but dogwood and ironwood
make good substitutes even when used green (Figs. 338
green ones.

and

In the north woods,

or, in fact, in

357).

How
Many

to Harden Gbben

Wood

of the Southern Indians in the early history of

America tipped

their arrows with bits of cane; these green

arrow points they hardened by slightly charring them with
the hot ashes of the fire. Gluts may be hardened in the

same manner; do not

bum

them; tiy to heat them just

suflS-

AXE AND SAW

237

ciently to force the sap out

and harden the surface. Where

dogwood, ironwood and applewood are not to be obtained,
make your gluts of what is at hand; that is true woodcraft
*

(Fig. 337).

year or two ago, while trailing a moose, we ran across

camp that had been wiped out by fire,

the ruins of a lumber

and here we picked up half a dozen axe heads among the

moose tracks. These axe heads we used as gluts to spHt
our wood as long as we remained in that camp, and by their
aid we built a shack of board rived from balsam logs.
Fig. 341

shows how to make and how'^o use firewood

hods on farms or at permanent camps.

How

TO

Make

a Chopping Block

After you have cut the crotch and trimmed

the form of Fig. 339, you

the thing on one side.

by

may

find

it

it

down

into

convenient to flatten

This you do by hewing and scoring;

all of the same depth,

and then sphtting off the wood between the notches, as one
would in making a puncheon (Fig. 342). (A puncheon is a
With this flattened
log flattened on one or both sides.)
crotch one may, by sinking another flattened log in the earth
and placing the chopping block on top, have a chopping
block like that shown in Fig. 343. Or one may take the crotch,
spike a piece of board across as in Fig. 339 and use that, and
the best chopping block or crotch block is the one shown in
Fig. 339, with the puncheon or slab spiked onto the ends of
the crotch. In this case the two ends of the crotch should be
cut off with a saw, if you have one, so as to give the proper
Then the kindling
flat surface to which to nail the slab.

that

is,

cutting a series of notches

wood may be
of the hatchet.

split

without danger to yourself or the edge

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

238

Chop

it

Way

the Right

you are using an ordinary stick of wood for a chopping

and the stick you are about to chop rests solidly on
top of the block where the axe strikes it will cut all right, but
if you strike where the stick does not touch the chopping
block the blow will stun the hand holding the stick in a
very disagreeable manner. If you hold your stick against
If

block,

the chopping block with your foot, there

cutting oflF your toe;

if

you hold the

strike it with the axe, there is

fingers.

When

scouts cut his

of

I say there

thumb

off,

always danger of

your hand and

danger of cutting

danger I

is

is

stick with

another cut

mean

off

it.

one

off

One

finger,

your

of our

and one

my friends in the North woods of Canada cut off his great

In hunting for Indian

toe.

Pennsylvania,

my

relics in

an old camping cave

companion, Mr. Ehner Gregor,

made

in

the

gruesome find of a dried human finger near the embers of an

ancient campfire, telling the story of a camping accident

ages ago, but evidently after white man's edged tools were
introduced.
If you have no choppmg block and wish to cut your firewood into smaller pieces, you can hold the stick safely with
the hand if you use the axe as shown in Fig. 345. This will

you as a result two

some great splinters.
give

How
When
first

splitting

blow as

place,

but a

sticks,

TO Split Kindling

wood

in Fig. 346,
trifle

will

have

Wood

for the fire or kindling,

and the second blow

make the

in the

same

slanting as in Fig. 347; the slanting blow

wedges the wood apart and

and

and the upper one

splits

splits readily, the slanting

it.

If the

wood

blow maybe made

is

first.

small

These

AXE AND SAW

239

things can only be indicated to the readers because there

many

are so
is

a knot

circumstances which govern the case.

in the

If there

wood, strike the axe right over the knot as

348 and 349.

you are chopping

in Figs.
If

across the grain do not strike per-

pendicularly as in Fig. 350, because

if

the

wood

is

hard the

axe will simply bounce back, but strike a slanting blow as in

Fig. 351,

and the axe blade

will bite

again let us caution you that

on your axe

in striking the

if

deeply into the wood;

you put too much

wood,

it will

of a slant

cut out a shallow

chip without materially impeding the force of the blow, and

your axe

sw^g around

will

to the peril of yourself or

else within reach; again this is

anyone

a thing which you must learn

to practice.

In using the chopping block be very careful not to put a

log in front of the crotch as in Fig. 340, and then strike a

heavy blow with the axe, for the reason that if you split the
wood with the first blow your axe handle will come down
heavily and suddenly upon the front log, and no matter how
good a handle

it

may

writer has discovered

be, it will break into fragments, as the

by sad

experience.

lost

axe handle

and one to be avoided, for

although a makeshift handle may be fashioned at camp, it
never answers the purpose as well as the skillfully and artistically made handle which comes with the axe.
in the

woods

is

a severe

loss,

Holders or Saw Bucks for Logs

Select

two

saplings about five inches in diameter at the

butts, bore boles near the butts about six inches from the

end

for legs,

make a

couple of stout legs about the size of an

old-fashioned drey pin,

and about twenty inches

long, split

the ends carefully, sufficiently to insert wedges therein, then

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

40
drive the

When

wedge and ends

into the hole bored for the purpose.

home the wedge will hold them

You now have a couple of "straddle bugs," that is,

the sticks are driven

in place.

poles, the small

ends of which rest upon the ground and the

butt ends supported by two

In the top of the poles

legs.

bore a number of holes for pins,

make your pins a

little

longer

than the diameter of the log you intend to saw; the pins are
is, you
up the incline to the two straddle bugs and hold
the logs in place by putting pins in the nearest holes. Of
course, the pins should work easily in and out of the holes

used exactly like the old-fashioned drey pins, that

roll

the log

(Fig. 357).

With such an arrangement one man can unaided easily

a log two feet in diameter up upon the buck; the log' is
then in a position to be cut up with a cross-cut saw (Fig. 357).
Another form of sawbuck may be made of a puncheon stool
roll

(Fig. 358),

with holes bored diagonally in the top for the inser-

tion of pins with

being sawed.

which to hold the log in place while it is

this sawbuck one cannot use as

But with

heavy logs as with the

first

one because of the

diflSculty in

handling them.
I have just returned from a trip

they

still

up

into the

woods where

use the primitive pioneer methods of handling and

cutting timber, and I note

make

up

there in Pike County, Pennsyl-

the sawbuck for logs

by using a log of wood

about a foot in diameter and boring holes diagonally through
the log near each end (Fig. 359); through these holes they
vania, they

them protrude at the top

and form a crotch to hold the wood to be sawed. The sawbuck is about ten or twelve feet long; consequently, in order
drive the legs so that the ends of

to provide for shorter logs there are

two

sets of

pegs driven

in holes bored for the purpose between the ends of the buck.

AXE AND SAW

241

The Pakbuckle

When
difficult,
if

a loop

one person

is

handling a heavy log

it is

even with the lumberman's canthook, to

is

made

in a rope

sometimes
roll it,

but

and placed over a stxmip or a

heavy stone (Fig. 360), and the ends run imder the log, even
a boy can roll quite a heavy piece of timber by pulling on
the ends of the rope (Fig. 360).

To

Split a

Log

The method used by all woodsmen in splitting a log is the

same as used by quarrymen in spKtting bluestone, with this
difference: the quarryman himts for a natural seam in the
stone and drives the wedge in the seam, while the lumberman
makes a seam in the form of a crack in the log by a blow from
his axe. In the crack he drives the wedge (Figs. 352 and 353).
But if the log is a long one he must lengthen the crack or
seam by driving other wedges or gluts (Fig. 353), or he may
do it by using two or more axes (Fig. 352).
If he wishes to spKt the logs up into shakes, clapboards or
is, splitting it across from
and then quarters it by splitting from C
to D, and so on until he has the splits of the required size.

splits,

to

he

first

halves the log, that

(Fig. 356),

Sawpit

In the olden times, the good old times, when people did
things with their

own

hands, and thus acquired great

skill

with the use of their hands, boards were sawed out from the
logs by placing the log on a scaffolding over a sawpit (Fig. 361)

In the good old times, the slow old times, the safe old
times, a house was not built in a week or a month; the timber
was well seasoned, well selected, and in many cases such
16

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

242

On the next block where I live

and from where I am writing, and across the street, there
stands a house still occupied which was built in 1661. It is
the house that Fox, the Quaker, was qiiartered in when he was
preaching under the spreading oaks on Long Island. The
timbers of this house are still sound and strong, although the
woodwork in nearby modem houses is decaying.
In the mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee they still
use the sawpit, and the logs are held in place by jacks (Fig.
355), which are branches of trees hooked over the log and
the longest fork of the branch is then sprung under the sup-

houses are standing to-day!

porting cross-piece (Fig. 361).

Of

course, the

boy readers

of this

book are not going to

be top sawyers or make use of a sawpit; that

is a real man's
man's work, but the boys of to-day should
these things; it is part of history and they can better

work, a big

know all

He

understand the history of our

how

laboriously,

cheerily

own country when they know

and

cheerfully

their

ancestors

worked to build their own homesteads, and in the building

of their own homesteads they unconsciously built that
character of which their descendants are so proud; also they

up a physique that was healthy, and a sturdy body for

which their descendants are particularly thankful, because
good health and good physique are hereditary, that is, boys,
built

if

your parents, your grandparents and your great grandall healthy, wholesome people, you started your

parents were
life

as a healthy, wholesome child.

In this chapter the writer has emphasized the danger of

edged tools for beginners, but he did that to make them carenot to discourage them in acquiring
must remember that there is nothing in
not dangerous, and the greatest danger of all is

ful in the nee of the axe,

skill
life

with
that

it.

is

We

AXE AND SAW

not firearms,

is

not edged

tools, is

not wild beasts,

243
is

tornadoes or earthquakes, avalanches or floods, but

Luxury

not

it

is

expressed in boy language, it is ice cream, soda water,

candy, servants and automobiles;

it is

everything which tends

make a boy dependent upon others and soft in mind and

muscle and to make him a sissy. But hardship, in the sense

to

and doing hard work like chopping

makes a rugged body, a clean, healthy

of undergoing privation
trees

and sawing

logs,

mind, and gives long

your own

wood

for

little

life.

So, boys, don't be afraid to build

shack, shanty or shelter, to chop the kindling

your mother, to

or just to show that you

split

up

logs for the fun of doing

know how.

it,

Don't be afraid to be a

you may grow up to be a real Abe Lincoln

If I am talking to men, they need no detailed definition of
luxury; they know all about it, its cause and its eflPect; they
also know that luxury kills a race and hardship preserves a
race. The American boy should be taught to love hardship
for hardship's sake, and then the Americans as a race will
real pioneer so that

be a success, and a lasting one.

CHAPTER Xin
COUNCIL GEOUNDS AND FIRES
CHEROKEE INDIAN COUNCIL BARBECUE
CAMP MEETING COUNCIL GROUND
THE INDIAN PAUSADED COUNCIL FIRE
INDIAN LEGENDS OF THE FIRE
STEALING THE FIRE FROM THE SUN-MAIDENS OF THE EAST
MTTHS OP THE MEWAN INDIANS
TOTEMS OF THE FOUR WINDS, FOUR MOUNTAINS AND POUR
POINTS OP THE COMPASS
IMPRACTICAL COUNCIL FIRES

ADVANTAGES OP THE OVAL COUNCIL GROUND

HOW
HOW

TO MAKE AN ELLIPSE
TO DIVIDE THE COUNCIL GROUND IN POUE COURTS
COUNCIL CEREMONIES
GHOST WALE AND PATH OP KNOWLEDGE
WHAT THE DIFFERENT COLORS STAND FOB
PATRIOTISM, POETRY AND AMERICANISM
CAMP MEETING TORCH FIRES

CHAPTER

XIII

COUNCIL GROUNDS AND FIRES

Now

that

we have

learned about the serious part of

camping, hiking and woodcraft, about fire-building, cooking

and axe work, we wiil leave the long trail and the hard trail

and dump our

duffel bag in a recreation camp, a Boy Scout

camp, a Y. M. C. A. camp, or a school camp, and after we
have pitched our tent and arranged our cot to suit our own

convenience and everything

is

ship-shape for the night,

it is

time for us to get busy on our "good turn " and do something
for the crowd.

Boy Scout Movement, the council fire is

The council fires were burning
land when Columbus discovered America. It was

Like the great

also
all

a product of America.

over this

around the council

fires

that the Indians gathered in solemn

conclave to consult and discuss the affairs of their tribes.

Originally the council ground

sade; that

Around

is,

the

fire

was

this fire the old

men

addresses; also around this

was surrounded by a paK-

in the center of a circular fort.

of the tribe

fire

made

their eloquent

the warriors danced the scalp

dance, the corn dance, the buffalo dance, and

all

their various

religious dances.

Later the Cherokee Indians changed the council

fire

into

a barbecue, where they roasted whole beefs in pits of glowing

coals.

This custom was adopted by the politicians in Ken-

tucky, and the Kentucky barbecues became very famous;

they were what might be called a by-product of the old

and a European feast combined. But

1799 the old Indian council fires became camp meetings,

Indian council
in

fires

247

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

248

and around the blazing fagots the pioneers gathered to engage

in religious revivals. It was at one of these meetings that
Daniel Boone's great friend, Simon Kenton, was converted
and became a Methodist.
The camp meetings were originated by two brothers by
the name of McGee. BUI McGee was a Presbyterian, and
John McGee a Methodist minister. They came to Kentucky
from West Tennessee. John McGee was such a great backwoods preacher (a pioneer Billy Sunday) that he drew immense crowds of buckskin-clad men, each of whom carried
a cow's horn powder flask and a long barreled rifle.

The

small buildings used for churches in the pioneer,

settlements could not hold the crowd, so they gathered around

blazing coimcil

fires,

and from

this beginning

came the

great

which swept the border with a wave of

religious revival

religious enthusiasm.

It is

a far

call

back to the old Indian council

blazing council fires of the pioneer

camp

fire,

and the

meetings, but to-day

aU over this land we are holding similar council fires, many of

them conducted with much ceremony, and not a few with

The summer

religious fervor.

the great

Camp

hotels

famous big game hunters, have

for the

have their council

Fire Club of America, composed of

lately

fires;

all

the

bought a tract of land

purpose of holding their council

fires in

the open, and

the writer interrupted the writing of this chapter to attend

one of the club's council

holding council

their coimcil fires

and

this is as it should be.

regular plan was

gestion of

grounds.

fires.

The

military schools are

and everywhere the Boy Scouts have

blazing; even the girls have fallen in line,

fires,

made

Therefore

it is

time that some

and some sugceremony and some meaning given to the coimcil

for these assemblies,

COUNCIL GROUNDS AND FIRES

The Indian

249

Origins

We

have searched the legends of the Red Man for sugand from various sources have learned that the
Indian had a general belief that at the north there is a yellow
gestions,

or black mountain, at the east there

light,

at the south there

there

is

is

is

a white mountain of

a red mountain, and at the west

a blue mountain.

At the

east

and west there are

also holes in the sky, through

which the sun comes to light

us by day, and through which the sun disappears so that we

may

sleep

by

That

night.

is

news to most

of

my readers,

but not to the Red Men.

In the "Dawn of the Wdrld," Dr. C. Hart Merriam gives
a collection of "The Myths and Weird Tales told by the

Mewan

Indians of California," which are

suggestions useful for the council

It

fire

full

of poetry

and

work.

seems that when the white-footed mouse man, and some

other of the animal people, were trying to steal the sun, or

the

fire

from which the sun was made, the robin man, Wit-

tab-bah, suspected these visitors to be sort of

German

spies,

and so he hovered over the fire, spreading his wings and tail
to protect it. Now if you don't believe this you look at the
robin's breast and you will see that he still carries the red
marks of the fire, which is proof enough for anyone; hence

we

will give

the fire-keeper for our council the

name

of

Wit-tab-bah, the robin.

by the totem of the mounwe will give the oflBcer occupying that
the Indian name of the moimtain lion, He-le-jah. The

Since the north

is

presided over

tain lion, or panther,

court

totem of the east

is

the white timber wolf, Too-le-ze; the

color of that court

is

white, representing light.

of the south court

is

the badger; the color

is

The totem
red and the

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

250
Indian

name

is

of the bear,

The

Too-wiaks.

blue and the totem

is

and the

color of the west court

the bear; Kor-le

the Indian

is

is

name

the officer presiding over the

title of

blue totem.

The golden
officer,

or yellow court

is

the throne of the presiding

the scoutmaster of the troop, the headmaster of the

school, the gangmaster of your gang, the campmaster of your

camp, or the captain of your team. The second in command

and the

occupies the white court, the third the red court,

fourth the blue court.

commandant

the

ant-colonel

your council

a military school

is

occupies the yellow court, the

white

the

If

court,

the

Ueuten-

major the red

court

and the first captain the blue court. Now that you
have that straight in your heads we will proceed to lay out
the court.

The author

may

is

aware of the fact that the general reader

be more interested in scout camping, summer camping,

and recreation camps than

in real wilderness work,

has tried to impress upon the boys and

girls, too,

but he

for that

matter, the fact that the knowledge of real wilderness

work

make even the near-at-home camping easier for them,

and very much more interesting; it will also cause them to
will

enjoy the council

fire

better

and have a greater appreciation

for everything pertaining to outdoor

life.

The

wilderness

campfire over which the sohtaiy explorer or hunter hovers,

or around which a group of hunters assemble and spin their

yams, magnified and enlarged to a big blazing fire becomes

the council fire around which gather all the members of a
recreation

camp, the pupils of an outdoor school, a troop or

therefore we have given the coun-

many troops of Boy Scouts

cil fire

serious study, because the

most inconvenient as well

as the most romantic place to talk

is

at

COUNCIL GROUNDS AND FIRES

The

Cotjncil

253

FmE

There could be no more impractical plan for a place to

circle with a big fire in the middle of it, and that

speak than a
is

the plan of

all

The audience must be

the council grounds.

seated on the circumference of the

circle,

and the Master

must stand necessarily with his face to the

and his back to part of his audience, or his back to the
fire and consequently also to the part of the audience on the
other side of the fire. Haying had occasion over and over
of Ceremonies
fire

again to address the scouts at a coimcil

had

all

the discomforts impressed upon

fire,

the writer has

him many

times.

As

a rule, the boys are enthusiastic, and so are the men, and the
enthusiasm is most often displayed by the size of the fire; the
bigger the

more

the greater the delight of the boys and the

the position of the orator or Master of Cere-

difficult

monies.
circle

fire

All this

may

be overcome, however,

if

in place of

the council grounds are laid out in an oval or an

and the fire-place located near one end of the ellipse

How

ellipse,

(Fig. 371).

TO Describe an Ellipse

After you have decided upon the size of your council

grounds, drive two stakes

and

(Figs.

363 and 365)

firmly into the ground; then take a cord, clothesline, or some

kind of twine (Fig. 362), and

tie

the ends together, thus

forming a loop (Fig. 363) ; put the loop over the two stakes

A and B; next make a marker stake C (Fig.

draw
is marked out

366),

the slack of the line taut as in Fig. 364.

as in Fig. 365.

This

is

and with

The

it

ellipse

done by taking firm

hold of the top of the stake and using care to keep the line
taut while the marker walks around the ground scratching
the earth with the point of the marking stick, and allowing

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

254
the cord to
is

slip

smoothly across the stick while the marking

being done (Fig. 364).

What
An

ellipse

is

an Ellipse?

might be called a flattened

K you take

circle.

a tin can and press the two sides of the open end pf
it will

form an eUipse.

The

it

inwards,

dictionary says that an elKpse

is

a conic which does not extend to infinity and whose inter-

Now that

sections with the line of infinity are imaginary.

is

hope you understand

it, it is

Kke a dictionaiy to say such

terrible

a very lucid explanation!

so simple, but

it is

just

things about a harmless ellipse.

knew

all

about an

To tell

ellipse until I

the truth, I thought

read this explanation; but

we know what it looks like and

know what it is, we do know that there are a
never mind,

if

besides ellipses that do not extend to infinity,

know

that an elhpse

spite of the

is

we do not

lot of things

and we

a practical form for a council

hard names the dictionary

calls it.

also

fire in

This oval

is

body of a theatre and it gives the

audience a chance to see what is doing on the stage, and the
people on the stage a chance to see and address the audience.
really

shaped

How

like the

TO Divide the Council Fibe Gkotjnd

This infinity talk has suggested to us

a-

good

idea, so

we

must thank our highbrow dictionary while we lay our council

ground out with the major axis (the longest diameter) extending due north and south, and the minor axis (the shortest
diameter) extending due east and west, like any other well
regulated council or lodge, and

we

will

put the

fire-place

the southern end S (Fig. 37l), while around the ellipse

arrange the seats, which

may be

of logs or

near

we will

stumps or sections

COUNCIL GROUNDS AND FIRES

of logs set
seats

may

255

up on end, as I used in one of my camps, or the

be rough plank benches, or they may be ponchos

spread upon the ground with the shiny side

dampness from the audience as

it

down

to keep the

squats tailor-fashion upon

the ponchos.

The

FotTE Courts

Are composed of shacks, such as are shown by Pig. 367.

He-le-jah (Fig. 371), being the Court of Knowledge, is the
only court having an elevated platform, or pulpit, or

On

speaker's stand (Fig. 368).

shoTild

meeting torch; Fig. 370

is

each side of each court there

what we
what we will

be a torch; Fig. 369

will call the

is

camp

the steamboat

call

must be made by a blacksmith. It is an iron basket

supported by iron chains, hung down from an iron band at
torch;

it

the top of a
it

may be

staff;

the latter

is

shod with an iron point so that

thrust into the ground.

These

baskets I have

fire

used with success in one of my camps. But homemade torches

are to be preferred (see Fig. 369). A hand torch (Fig. 373) may
be made of pine, spruce or cedar slivers and used for processions entering the council grounds; this gives

In the diagram

thrilling effect.

(Fig. 370), the staff is short,

but

should

it

be long enough to place the torch as high above the groimd

as a chandelier

is

above the

the method of piling up the

kindling

wood

is first

home.

floor at

wood

fire.

as shown in the diagram.

and

steel or

mony

The

placed upon the groimd ready to light

at a moment's notice; over that the heavy wood

with a match; that

shows

Fig. 372

for the council

is

This

terrible

fire

is piled,

should never be lighted

The use

bad form.

a rubbing stick to make

fire is

of flint

the proper cere-

for such occasions.

Fig. 374

shows how to make a

fire

box

of sticks.

This

is

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

256

an aeroplane view of a

down upon

looking

fire

box, that

is,

a view from above,

This box should be

it.

filled

with sand,

upon which the fire is built. Fig. 375 and Fig.

376 show you how to lash the framework together. Fig. 377
shows how to put up the framework. Fig. 369 is the finished

clay or dirt,

torch.

The idea

of this torch

The

of the campers.

is

to have the light above the heads

trouble with a

fire

upon the ground

is

that while the flames give light they also hide part of the

crowd, and the smoke

elevated torch

is

is

always in someone's face.

a brand new idea for this purpose.

This
It will

all over the country and credited to all sorts of

and people, but you must remember that it was

be adopted
sources

designed for the readers of this book.

If

miUed lumber

four courts,

it

is

used in building the shacks for the

should be camouflaged with paint or stain so

as to look rustic.

It

may be

roofed with boards and the

boards covered with tar paper, or any of the

modem

roofing

materials to be had, but in that case the roof should be

camouflaged by laying poles over the top of

are not available, covering the top with sods.

You

it,

or, if poles

we are having a Council Fibb

not something else
and we want the thing to look wild and
rustic because that is part of the game, and if we are compelled
see the idea

is this:

to go to the lumberyard for our material, which most of us

will

have to do, then we must conceal

this fact as far as pos-

by camouflage. In front of the South Court on Fig. 371

the fire-place made of flat stones set in the earth.

sible
is

Council Fiee Ceremonies

On

entering the council groimds always enter from the

east, salute Too-le-ze, the

white wolf, then go across the

17

COUNCIL GROUNDS AND FIRES

259

Ghost Walk with the sun to the West Court, and salute
and march back to the South
Court and salute Too-wuiks, the badger; then about face and

Kor-le, the bear; about face

march up and

salute He-le-jah, the panther; remain standing

who is the commanding oflBcer,

you permission to retire, or gives you orders what to do;
then go back, always moving along these walks like a soldier,
at salute until He-le-jah
gives

to your seat.

On Sundays

the council ground

holding religious services.

On

a splendid place for

the Court of Knowledge, the North Court on the

sits in

right-hand side of the presiding

in the

is

such occasions the minis ter

of

and the two torches

The one
the presiding officer must be Old

left

the flag of the school, the troop or

daytime are replaced by

on the right-hand side

Glory, the one on the

the club to which the council

The

is

flags or banners.

fire

center of the council

"Liberty Pole," which

officer,

belongs.

fire

may

be occupied by a

the good old American

the flag pole, from which Old Glory

ffies.

name

for

Never forget to

and greet them with the greatest ceremonial

deference, for those colors possess a magic quality; they
represent to you everything that is grand, noble and inspiring, and if you have any other kind of thoughtsr this coimtry
is no place for you.
Efimember that the council fire is
American, and we are proud to be called Americans.
The walk, or path from the east to the west is the Ghost
Walk, or the Spirit's Walk; it is the path which Indians
respect the colors

beheve the

spirit

takes after leaving the body, an idea which

was consciously or unconsciously adopted by our brave boys

during the recent war and it explains what they meant when,
with bowed heads, they reported that their bunky, pal or
friend

had "gone West."

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

260

The Western Court has the totem animal

bear; the color of the court, however,

is

of the black

not black but blue,

blue from the blue Pacific; the totem object is a blue mountain.

The walk from the south to the north is the Path of Knowledge; anyone traveling that

trail is

seeking further knowledge

and the big outdoors;

of the benefits of woodcraft, nature

the totem animal of the North Court is the American panther,

cougar or mountain lion; the color of the North Court

is

yellow or black, the latter representing the long arctic night.

The Southern Court has

and the red mountain

the badger for

for the

its

totem animal,

totem object; red

is its

totem

totem color of the

east,

mean-

color.

Thus we have white

for the

ing light, peace and purity; red for the south, meaning
violence, disturbance, auction, danger, revolution, love

This color

life.

is

and

both stimulating and disturbing to man,

animal and plant.

Perhaps when we read of the turmoil that

Indians had a knowledge of the

they

made

is

constantly

we may think

disturbing our southern border,

rea,l

meaning

that the

of red

the totem of the south a red mountain.

when

Red

is

the ruling color, the king of color, the dominant color, the
strong color, and symbolizes the blossoming of plants and

Red

is

the color of berries and

fruit.

and

In the spring the thickets and tree

stains the fall leaf.

tints the spring leaves

trunks are tinged with red ; they are blushing, so to speak, as

Ruskin says, "in order to show the waiting of love." Red is

emphatically a masculine color, a Man's Color.
Blue is a feminine color; it stands for sentimental affections, blue light has

Black
color;

is

a depressing efi'ect and creates nervousness.

the ogre

among

colors; it devours every other

sometimes the North Court

is

black; black stands for

COUNCIL GROUNDS AND FIRES

261

war and death, and yet the path to the north is the path of
knowledge. It may be that some of the Indians used black
for the north because they may have noted that chmate
aflFects the color of birds and animals.
According to Frank
Chapman, the famous ornithologist at the Museum of
Natural History in

New

York, the animals of the humid

climate of the northwest are especially dark in color.

you use yellow for the north color, yeUow means

laughter and mirth. Notwithstanding the fact that we use
yellow as a sign for contagious disease, women sufifragists and
cowardice, a yeUow light makes a gathering cheerful and
merry; so in approaching the North Court you may sing.
The Indian names for the four courts are Too-le-ze, the
east, for the south Too-winks, for the west Kor-le, and for
If

the north Kon-win.

He-le-jah

is

the Indian

name

for the

panther or mountain lion that guards the north mountain.

Now then you have

the symbolism; in other words,

know

what these things stand for, and that will give a meaning
to your ceremony around the council fire. Since red means
life and black means death, possibly the Indians have placed
a deep significance on the path from the Red Court to the
Black Court, from life to death! when they call it the Path of
Eiiowledge. At any rate, we will take it as we find it and
adapt ourselves to the suggestions these meanings give

We

will

claim that colors are the

not

who

the

fire itself

govern the council

fire.

or the fire-place.

near the Southern or

Red

spirits, fairies

Wit-tab-bah

When the fire is

Court,

it

the

is

or

us.

what

name

built,

placed

gives the chief,

captain, the superintendent, or the scoutmaster,

who

of

the

occu-

North Court, a space in front of him big enough to

accommodate his audience. The real way to illuminate, or
light up, the council grounds is by having
pies the

CAMP-LOBE AND WOODCRAFT

262

TOBCH FiBES
Erected at each of the four courts.
the four courts,

up

if

These

fire

torches at

kept replenished with dry wood, will light

the council grounds and give a most picturesque and wild

appearance, and at the same time will not interfere with the

ceremonies nor will they scorch the back or face of the

Wit-tab-bah

speaker.

crowd

is

may be

used on occasions when the

not large.

No council fire anywhere within the borders of the United

States should open without the pledge to the American flag,

and the reciting in unison by all present of the American creed.

(See page 268.)

The

council should close with the singing of "America."

Especially should these ceremonies be gone through with

when

the assembly

is

composed of many young people,

because what George Washington said in his farewell address

is

as true to-day as

it

was a hundred years ago.

"Against the insidious wiles of foreign influences I conjure

you to

believe me, fellow citizens, the jealousy of a free people

ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience
prove that foreign influence is one of the most powerful foes

of republican government."

There

is

no reason why we should not have a lot of fun

fires, and at times it may even be riotous fim,

at the council

but always American fun, and the patriotic

spirit

should never

a moment be forgotten, nor yet the poetic spmt which

links us up in bonds of sympathy with all created things so
for

that

we may, with

seriousness, recite the

COUNCIL GROUNDS AND FIRES

263

Indian Invocation

O Great Mystery, we beseech thee.

That we may walk

reverently

Beneath Lah-pah our brothers, the

That we may

On

Kiis-so

trees.

step hghtly

our kmsnien, the grasses.

That we may walk lovingly

Over Loo-poo-oi-yes our brothers, the
That we may rest trustfully
Where the O-lel-le bird sings

rocks.

Beside Ho-ha-oe, the talking waters.

or this.
us, O Great Mystery,
A bright blanket of wisdom;

Weave for

Make the warp the color of Father Sky,

Let He-koo-las, the sim-woman.
Lend her bright hair for the weft.
And mingle

with

it

the red and gold threads of evening.

O Great Mystery; O Mother Earth! O Father Sky!

We, your

children, love the things

you

love;

Therefore, let the border of our blanket

Be bending Ku-yet-tah, the rainbow.

And the fringe be glittering Nuk-kah,

the slashing rain.

or with abandon we may sing, or chant the song of the elves,

Oh, we are the fays, oh, we are the elves.
Who, laughing at everything, laugh at ourselves.
If Fortune's

wheel

is

broke.

Why, we can put a spoke

in

it.

Misfortune hits no stroke.

But we can put a joke in it.

The owl can do our thinking.
As he

sits

awinking, blinking.

We act from intuition.

Fun and mischief is our mission;
Solemn duty, we have none of it.
What we do is for the fun of it;
Fun is none too hght to prize.
Thought is naught but fancy's flight.
Folly's jolly, wit

Laughter after
* From unpublished verses

is

wise.

all is right.

by Captain Harry Beard.

CHAPTER XIV

MTUAL OF THE COUNCIL

FIRE

FBOOBAIf OF A COUNCIL FIBB

INVOCATION

XHB PLEDGE AND CKEED OF ALL AMEBICANB

APPEAL

CHAPTER XIV
RITUAL OP THE COUNCIL FIRE

The ceremonies of the Council Fire may be conducted

with the accompaniment of pageantry to any extent desirable.

At the Council Fire of the Dan Beard Outdoor

School,

the officers dress in costume; not masquerade costumes but

The Man of the North, who attends to the

Northern Lights, is garbed in the blanket clothes of a northern
the real ones.

an axe. The Man of the East,

where the sun maidens dwell, may be
arrayed in the clothes of one of our Pilgrim fathers. The
Man of the West, who attends the fire of the Blue Moun-

lumberman and

carries

who

fire

attends the

tain, is

decked in the fringed buckskin clothes of the trapper,

plainsman, or mountaineer.

guards the

fire of

the

The Man of the South, who

Red Mountain,

is

dressed in the pic-

turesque costume of a Mexican with a high-crowned sombrero.

The

seats of the different courts are draped with the colors of

the courts.

Phogbam of a Council Fiee

The

guests enter and take their seats, then the Herald

enters dressed in the costimie of a scout, a frontiersman, or a

medicine man, according to the plan of the particular Council Fire.

The Herald faces the north from his stand in the
center of the council ground and blows assembly

call,

or a

on a cow's horn, then wheels about and faces the east,

the
south and then the west, and at each he blows
then
assembly. With the last notes and the last call the Scouts,
blast

Woodcrafters, Pioneers or students enter the circle, marching

around until the circle is complete, and they stand

single-file

opposite where they are to

sit.

The Herald now blows a

267

fan-

CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT

268

and the officers march into the council ground with the
colors and the color guard. The officers group themselves
around their Chief, the Scout Executive, the Scout Commissioner, the Headmaster or the man in authority at the North
fare

Court.

Invocation

The Leader,

or head

officer,

steps forward

and throwing

both hands up in a gesture of appeal, in which he

by the assembly, he
Weave for us,

Then he

is

imitated

repeats:

O Great Mystery, etc.

(as already given).

cries

Four V\^(}s of the Earth, we have saluted you!

Wind of the North, from whence come our snow and ice.
Wind of the East, from whence come our clouds and rains.
Wind of the West, from whence comes our sunshine.
Wind of the South, from whence comes our warmth.
Send us your men to guard the mystic fires.

The Men

of the North, East,

in front of the Chief,

and he

See that the mystic

The

fires,

West and South, now

them to

step

directs

fires

are blazing.

having already been carefully prepared, are

now

by the fire- keepers under the direction of the men of

the Four Winds, and the latter return and report to the Chief
in the following manner
lighted

Chief.

.Man

of the North,

you whose mighty axe

bites to the heart of

the pine.

Are the mystic Northern Lights burning at Kon-win?

on guard on the yellow mountain of the
North?
Chief, the Medicine fire has been lighted, the MoimMan of the North
tain-lion is guarding the yellow mountain of the North.

Is He-le-jah, the Mountain-lion,

All is well.

RITtJAL OF
Chief.

.Man

of the East,

is

THE COUNCIL FIRE

269

the Medicine Fire at Too-le-ze blazing?

White Wolf on guard at the White Mountain, where the sun-maidena

dweU?
Man of the East
Chief, Too-le-ze blazes in the East, the White Wolf is
on guard. Wah-tab-bah, the robin, shields the fire.
Is the

All is well.

Chief .... Man of the West,

fire at Kor-le blaze?

man of

the plains and mountains, does the mystic

Black Bear guarding the Blue Mountain, where the sim sets?
Chief, Kor-le is ablaze, the Black Bear's growls
the West
be heard in the torrent that guards the Blue Mountain.

Is the

Man of

may

All is well.

Man

Chief

of the South,

how

blazes the fire at Too-winks?

Has the Red Badger come from

Mountain?
Man of the South
is on guard.

its

burrow to stand guard on the Red

Chief, Too-winks flames to the sky.

AU

The Color Guard now

the officers and

all

colors about faces

The Red Badger

is well.

enters,

marches up to in front of
The Color Guard with

stand at salute.

and the guests and

all

present recite in

unison:

The Pledge and Ceeed of All Ameeicans

"I believe ia the people of the United States, I believe in
the United States form of government, I believe in the preamble of the Declaration of Independence, I believe that all

men

are created equal, that they are

Creator with

certain inalienable rights,

endowed by

their

among which

are

and the pursuit of Happiness.

"I believe in our Government of the People, by the People
and for the People, a government whose just powers are de-

Life, Liberty,

rived from the consent of the governed, a Sovereign Nation

of many Sovereign States, a Democracy in a Reoublic, a perfect Union,

one and inseparable.

"A Union which will live because of the vital

principles of

CAMP-LOEE AND WOODCRAFT

270

Freedom, Equality, Justice, Humanity and Kindness which

it contains, and for which American Patriots have willingly
sacrificed their

Kves and fortunes.

"I therefore believe that in order to respect

hood
obey
it

must love my country, support

Laws; also that I must respect

its

against

all

its

Constitution and

its

Flag,

and defend

enemies."

After which

may come

the Scout oath. Pioneer oath or

Camp-fire oath, as the case

given to

my own man-

may

be.

Then the command

"spread ponchos," followed by the

"squat!" when

all

is

command

the Scouts, Woodcrafters, Pioneers, or

students squat tailor-fashion upon their ponchos, and

the

guests seat themselves on the benches which have been pro-

vided for them.

Following this comes the address by the speakers, the

entertainments and exhibitions of woodcraft, scoutcraft, or
handicraft, the games,

and other entertainment; then follows

After which all stand to sing

the awarding of honors.

Then the Chief

"America."

or Leader steps forward

and

repeats the following

Appeal

O Great

Mystery, we beseech thee

and ends up with the benediction,

in

(as previously given)

which he uses the Indian

phraseology:

"May the Great

Good-night."

Mystery put sunshine in

all

your hearts.