Beard - Camp-Lore and Woodcraft

Bibliographical Note

This Dover edition, first published in 2006, is an unabridged republication of the work originally published in 1920 by the Garden City Publishing Company, Inc., Garden City, New York, under the title The Book of Camp-Lore and Woodcraft.

The minor errors and inconsistencies found in the text are from the original edition, and remain unchanged here for the sake of authenticity.

International Standard Book Number eISBN-13: 978-0-486-80079-0

Manufactured in the United States of America
Dover Publications, Inc., 31 East 2nd Street, Mineola, N.Y. 11501

TO

G EORGE D U P ONT P RATT

COMMISSIONER OF CONSERVATION, STATE OF NEW YORK SCOUT, SPORTSMAN AND OUTDOOR MAN

H IDDEN 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 andcarefully folded in oiled paperis 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 signs.

The flask was given to me as big medicine by Bow-arrow, the Chief of the Montinais Indians. Bow-arrow saidand I believe himthat when one inhales the odor of the castor from this medicine flask ones 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 bears flesh, ones body acquires the strength and courage of this great animal.

During the initiation of the members of a Spartan band of my boys, known as the Buckskin Men, each candidate is given a thin slice of the grizzly bear meat and a whiff of the beaver castor.

Of course, we know that people with unromantic and unimaginative minds will call this sentimentalism. We people of the outdoor tribes plead guilty to being sentimentalists; but we know from experience that old Bow-arrow was right, because we have ourselves eaten of the grizzly bear and smelled the castor of the beaver!

While the writer cannot give each of his readers a taste of this coveted bear meat in material form, or a whiff of the beaver medicine, direct from the wooden flask made by the late Bow-arrows 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 of the W ORLD AS G OD M ADE I T .

DAN BEARD

June, 1920

H OW TO M AKE A F IRE-BOARD , B OW , D RILL AND T HIMBLE . I NDIAN L EGEND OP THE S OURCE OP F IRE . R ECORD F IRE-MAKERS . R UBBING-STICK O UTFIT . E SKIMO T HIMBLE . B OW , B OW-STRING , T HIMBLE , F IRE-BOARD , F IRE-PAN . T INDER , C HARRED R AGS , P UFF B ALLS . F IRE-MAKERS OP THE B ALKAN . F IRE W ITHOUT A B OW , C O-LI-LI, THE F IRE S AW . F IRE P UMPING OP THE I ROQUOIS . P YBOPNEUMATIC A PPARATUS

T HE W HITE M ANS M ETHOD , H OW TO U SE F LINT AND S TEEL . W HERE TO O BTAIN THE F LINT AND S TEEL . C HUCKNUCKS , P UNK B OXES , S PUNKS AND M ATCHES . R EAL L UCIFER M ATCHES . S LOW M ATCH . H OW TO C ATCH THE S PARK. S UBSTITUTES FOB F LINT AND S TEEL

H OW TO L AY AND L IGHT A F IRE . A N E XPERIENCE WITH T ENDERFEET . M ODERN F EAR OP D OING M ANNUAL L ABOR . M ATCHES . F IRE-MAKERS AND B ABYLONIANS . T HE P ALPITATING H EART OF THE C AMP . G UMMY F AGOTS OF THE P INE . H OW TO M AKE A F IRE IN W ET W EATHER . B ACKWOODSMENS F IRE . T HE N ECESSITY OF S MALL K INDLING W OOD . G OOD F IREWOOD . A DVANTAGE OF S PLIT W OOD . F IRE-DOGS . H OW TO O PEN A K NIFE . H OW TO W HITTLE , H OW TO S PLIT A S TICK WITH A K NIFE . B ONFIRES AND C OUNCIL F IRES . C AMP M EETING T ORCH F IRES . E XPLODING S TONES . C HARACTER IN F IRE . S LOW F IRES , S IGNAL F IRES AND S MUDGES

A P ERSONAL E XPERIENCE ON S HORT R ATIONS . T HE M OST P RIMITIVE OF C OOKING O UTFITS . C AMP P OT-HOOKS, THE G ALLOW-CROOK, THE P OT-CLAW, THE H AKE, THE G IB, THE S PEYGELIA AND THE S ASTER . T ELEGRAPH W IRE C OOKING I MPLEMENTS , W IRE G RID-IRON , S KELETON C AMP S TOVE . C OOKING F IRES , F IRE-DOGS , R OASTING F IRE-LAY , C AMP-FIRE L AY , B ELMORE L AY , F RYING F IRE L AY , B AKING F IRE L AY . T HE A URES C RANE

C AMP P IT-FIRES , B EAN H OLES . C OWBOY F IRE-HOLE . C HINOOK C OOKING F IRE-HOLE . B ARBECUE-PITS . T HE G OLD D IGGERS O VEN . T HE F ERGUSON C AMP S TOVE . T HE A DOBE O VEN . T HE A LTAR C AMPPIRE P LACE . C AMP K ITCHEN FOR H IKERS , S COUTS , E XPLORERS , S URVEYORS AND H UNTERS . H OW TO C OOK M EAT , F ISH AND B READ W ITHOUT P OTS , P ANS OR S TOVES . D RESSING S MALL A NIMALS . H OW TO B ARBECUE L ARGE A NIMALS

H OW TO M AKE A SH C AKE , P ONE , C ORN D ODGERS , F LAPJACKS , J OHNNY-CAKE , B ISCUITS AND D OUGHGOD . M AKING D UTCH O VENS . V ENISON . B ANQUETS IN THE O PEN . H OW TO C OOK B EAVER T AIL , P ORCUPINES AND M USKHATS . C AMP S TEWS , B RUNSWICK S TEWS AND B URGOOS

H OW TO M AKE A P ACK H ORSE OP Y OUR O WN . H OW TO M AKE AN A PAREJO . H OW TO M AKE A C INCHA . H OW TO M AKE A L ATIGO . H OW TO T HROW A D IAMOND H ITCH . H OW TO T HROW A S QUAW H ITCH . H OW TO H ITCH A H ORSE IN O PEN L AND W ITHOUT P OST, T REE OR S TICK OR S TONE . U SE OF H OBBLES AND H OW TO M AKE T HEM . H OW THE T RAVOIS IS M ADE AND U SED . B UFFALO B ILL AND G ENERAL M ILES . H OW TO T HROW D OWN A S ADDLE . H OW TO T HROW A S ADDLE ON A H ORSE . H OW TO M OUNT A H ORSE . H OW TO K NOW A W ESTERN H ORSE

H IKING D OGS , P ACK D OGS . H OW TO P ACK A D OG . H OW TO T HROW THE D OG H ITCH . H OW TO M AKE D OG T RAVOIS . D OG AS A B EAST OF B URDEN IN E UROPE AND A RCTIC A MERICA . M AN P ACKING . P ACK R ATS . D ONT F IGHT Y OUR P ACK . P ORTAGE P ACK . G REAT M EN W HO H AVE C ARRIED A P ACK . K INDS OF P ACKS . A LPINE R UCKSACK . O RIGIN OF B ROAD B REAST S TRAPS . M AKE Y OUR O WN O UTFITS

P ORTERS OF THE P ORTAGE . O LD-TIME I NDIAN F IGHTERS AND W ILD A NIMALS . M ODERN S TAMPEDE FOR THE O PEN . H OW TO G ET R EADY FOR C AMP . C UT Y OUR F INGER N AILS . G O TO Y OUR D ENTIST . G ET A H AIR C UT . A B UCKSKIN M ANS P OCKET . F LY D OPE . P ROTECTION A GAINST B LACK F LIES , M OSQUITOES , M DDGETS AND N O-SEE-UMS . T HE C ALL OF THE W ILD

H OW TO C HOOSE A S ADDLE . E VOLUTION OF THE M EXICAN S ADDLE . B IRTH OF THE B LUFF F RONTED S ADDLE . T HE C OWBOY A GE . S AWBUCKS OR P ACK S ADDLES . S TRAIGHT L EG AND B ENT K NEE . N AMES OF P ARTS OF S ADDLE . C ENTER F IRE AND D OUBLE C INCH

W ARE S INGLE T REES OR S MALL G ROUPS OF T REES . S AFETY IN W OODS OR F OREST . K EEP Y OUR E YES O PEN FOR G OOD C AMP S ITES . C ROSS S TREAMS W HILE C ROSSING IS G OOD . K EEP TO W INDWARD OF M OSQUITO H OLES . W ARE A NTS N ESTS . H OW TO T ELL WHEN W IND B LOWS . E VOLUTION OF THE S HACK . H OW TO S WEEP . H OW TO M AKE C AMP B EDS . H OW TO D IVIDE C AMP W ORK . T ENT P EGS . H OW TO P ITCH A T ENT S INGLE-HANDED . H OW TO D ITCH A T ENT . U SE OF S HEARS , G INS AND T RIPODS

O UR G REATEST A XEMAN . I MPORTANCE OF THE A XE . W HAT K IND OF A XE TO U SE . H OW TO S WING AN A XE . H OW TO R EMOVE A B ROKEN A XE H ANDLE . H OW TO T IGHTEN THE H ANDLE IN THE H EAD . A CCIDENTS . T HE B RAINS OF AN A XE . E TIQUETTE OF THE A XE . H OW TO S HARPEN AN A XE . H OW TO F ALL A T REE . H OW TO S WAMP . H OW TO M AKE A B EETLE OR M ALL . H OW TO H ARDEN G REEN W OOD . H OW TO M AKE A F IREWOOD H OD . H OW TO M AKE A C HOPPING B LOCK . T HE P ROPER W AY TO C HOP . H OW TO M AKE S AWBUCKS f OR L OGS . H OW TO U SE A P ARBUCKLE . H OW TO S PLIT A L OG . H OW TO U SE A S AWPIT