AT night the novice wants to be housed in and the mysteries of darkness shut out, and as is becoming with precedent in outdoor living he must spread his blanket beneath cloth. This shelter can be very simple indeed and yet protect one from the elements. A tent’s sufficiency to turn water is not all that is necessary. Upon means of transportation and permanency of the camp depend the portability and lightness of the forest home. What will do in a permanent camp with plenty of transportation is a far cry from the tent just sufficing the absolute needs of the one-nighter who expects little more than mere shelter and warmth.

The shelter must be waterproof and on a hike trip be the extreme in lightness and compactness for the sake of easy carrying. Light weight tents of clever design can now be secured from any outfitter; or tent making at home is feasible and offers so much opportunity for the expression of individual ideas that sooner or later the outdoor man will try a hand at fashioning the ideal shelter. Exclusively for the use of the hiker the simplest of tent forms will answer.

THE SHELTER CLOTH

A rectangular piece of sheeting of fine texture, size 7 by 9 feet and waterproofed by the paraffine process will serve very well as a roof, pitched leanto style or stretched over rope ridge or poles as a wedge or “A” tent. Its ends may be closed by thatching with browse and a cozy fire built in front. It makes the simplest cloth shelter known and the cloth has a variety of uses such as a poncho, pack cloth, floor cloth or sleeping bag cover. Going a step farther in construction one can make the ends also of cloth and then one has a regular leanto whose principles of construction are as old as the hills whence it originated. There is no more efficient cloth shelter for all kinds of weather no matter how elaborately it may be constructed.

One must not regard the shelter feature of the leanto as its chief recommendation for its adaptability to perfect heating puts it above any other tent. The old fashioned reflecting bread baker of our forefathers which was set up near the open flames of the fire place was an efficient appliance and one which is again coming into popularity to replace the Dutch oven and ash cake methods of baking. The work is done by the reflecting surfaces—the angles of the top and bottom throwing the heat to the middle. This same principle is employed in the shelter tent however with only one reflecting surface (the slanting roof) throwing the heat from the front fire directly onto the bed. Other advantages of the tent are:—its lightness and its availability for use as a general pack cloth about camp or on the trail. It is the best tent for snow work and wintering if one is driven to a cloth contrivance at all at this time of the year without a stove.

The shelter cloth may be slung at any angle and best by means of a rope ridge thus saving pole cutting. The corners are staked out, using two-foot pegs which are pointed with a sharp axe. With the open side pitched to leeward one gets perfect ventilation and warmth. A rousing fire is required and one for all night means hard labor since many large logs are necessary for use on a chilly night. Since so much wood is necessary naturally this type is best adapted to wooded districts. In the woods dampness is nearly always present even in summer days. This probably does not always lower the temperature so much as it increases the humidity of the air. Build the fire with the back log reflector, placing it about four to six feet from the tent opening. Heat intensity lessens, the greater the distance between the fire and the tent.

In mosquito infested districts a loose cheesecloth front can be attached to the open side and again removed in cold weather to allow heat to be better reflected within and affording a cheerful view of the leaping flames. Two leanto shelters may be at any time joined ridge to ridge and thus used as a wedge tent. To close the ridge of such a combination one must have an eight inch drop cloth extending along one ridge to cover the opposite ridge section. They can thus be at any time separated and used as leantos.

In making the leanto at home the lightest material should be used. The advent of so-called balloon silk has revolutionized tent making and using it has made possible a better outdoor home where weight is the main consideration. It may be dyed an emerald or the popular khaki color either of which is restful to the eye and is inconspicuous alike to human and insect visitors. After being made into the desired tent form it can then be waterproofed by

either the alum and lead or the paraffin process. The lines of stress in a tent lead from the points of suspension and these should be strengthened by tapes sewed on.

MAKING THE CLOSED LEANTO OR BAKER TENT

By attaching a flap along the ridge of the leanto the shelter may be made into a closed tent or extended out in front at the height of the ridge furnishing an admirable awning. Further by reversing the pitching so that the ridge extends from A to D the flap serves as a floor. Waterproof balloon silk may be purchased in thirty-eight inch widths and of it one will need twelve yards to form the closed leanto whose length will be seven and one-fourth feet, height four and one-fourth feet, and depth four and one-fourth feet. It will weigh around three and one-fourth pounds.

First you sew a rectangle seven feet six inches by ten feet seven inches. See Fig. 1. We have here given oversize measurements to allow for an overlap of one-half inch or so at the seams. At the ridge E-B reinforce with tape or cloth and use two inches of the rectangle to sew over a rope ridge from B to E. The ends, Fig. 2, are made from a square four feet six inches by four feet six inches and then cut from the corner A to corner B. Thus A-B, Fig. 2, is sewn to A-B, Fig. 1 and D-E, Fig. 2 to D-E, Fig. 1. The edges of the whole tent are turned under and reinforced by a one-half inch white tape. At suitable intervals tie tapes are sewn around the tent edges to facilitate an attachment to ground pegs and in the adjustment of the flap.

THE TARPAULIN TENT

A piece of cloth eight by twelve feet will furnish a remarkable variety of tent forms and shelter devices from a leanto to the closed style. It is the best bivouac for rain and mosquitoes. Aside from its simplicity in shape and handiness in construction, it has, if made from the proper materials, an added advantage of lightness and is ideal for use as a general utility camp cloth. No other style of tent will furnish so much head and sleeping room for the same weight and area of cloth.

In making one at home procure four yards of unbleached muslin of ninety inch width (or twelve yards of the thirty inch width), dye it the shade of color desired, and use it to make the tent and then waterproof it. Cut and sew the pieces into the 8 by 12 sheet and make

around the edge a ¾ inch hem. Lay it flat and with chalk or a pencil mark the lines as diagrammed. For reinforcement sew on light tape from the points a, b, h, c and f as indicated and converging all at G where a semicircle of the tent material is sewed in and a strong cord loop is attached to the grommet in the peak. This suspension point will receive the greatest stress when the tent is pitched. Upon this tape reinforcement depends the strength more than the kind of cloth used. Make peg loops at e, d, f, a, h, b, and c. The back of the tent will extend from a to b, the sides f to a and b, to c and the front e to d with the apex at G. The holes are protected with grommets procured from the tent shop or hardware store and the cloth reinforced by 3 by 3 inch squares sewed in.

The tarpaulin used as a flat front tent, as a leanto or as an open shelter tent can be erected in a few minutes. To set up—the corners are first pegged down at A and B stretching the rear line snugly: carry the sides B and C and F and A to the point S at right angles to the rear line and peg down. Throw the suspension rope (5 yards of braided window sash cord) attached to the loop at G over a projecting limb or pole and pull taut. This rope should continue the angle of the roof from H to G and the front e, f, g and c, d, g, is perpendicular. A sod cloth may be sewed around the floor or a permanent floor cloth fitted in. In mosquito season a loose cheese cloth door may be attached. The dimensions of this useful tent when pitched are height 6½ feet, depth 5 feet, and width 7½ feet and when constructed of balloon silk need not exceed a weight of six pounds.

The tarpaulin tent inherits various salient features of worthy forebears—the teepee’s peak, the roof angle of the A tent, also the pyramid or miner’s, its front is a suggestion of the wall tent, while the open camp feature reminds us of the leanto with its broad sloping back wall which reflects heat on cold nights.

The tarpaulin used as an open faced tent is a compromise between a wedge and a cone tent. It lessens the height but gives more floor space. Peg down a and b as usual, then f and c somewhat at a distance and at an obtuse angle to the back and the front flaps out from the center.

The tarpaulin used as a leanto tent is easily erected by pegging down the corners E and D and suspending the opposite edge at an angle of 45 degrees as a ridge. Build your fire in front. For additional protection put poles, brush, etc., at the ends of the shelter.

Of materials preferable for use in light weight tent-making waterproofed balloon silk stands in a class by itself. Superseding the antiquated duck or flimsy drill tents it is one of the items which has done much to make tramping trips feasible and worth while. It is in reality not a silk at all but a closely woven cotton cloth with a weight of but 3? ounces per square yard (12 ounce duck waterproofed tips the scales at about 16 ounces). It is waterproof, rot proof, mildew proof and exceedingly durable. A leanto for the bivouacker can then be kept down to three pounds.

Other colors than white are recommended for tents. Khaki is popular because it blends with the color scheme of the woods and plains and is restful to the eyes in the sun and cool on a hot day. A khaki colored waterproof silk is marketed as Tantalite. Should one prefer a cloth of green color he should get the so-called Emeralite. Neither one is so conducive to the collection of flies and other insects nor so noticeable in the woods as white. None of these cloths soak up water, hence if packed away after a rainy spell they do not appreciably burden the pack. Tents of most any desired shape can be secured ready made from any of the above materials.

Should one want to attempt tent making at home he should get the so-called Egyptian sail cloth or Number XXX muslin and after making it up into the desired tent form waterproof it by one of the methods hereafter described.

WATERPROOFING METHODS

Upon touching a tent roof during a rain it will in most cases begin to leak. Processing to make it waterproof will avail little if the right cloth is not used in the first place. Say you are making a so-called silk tent using muslin. There are several grades and weaves on the market some being loosely woven and they soak up water like cheesecloth. So get it of the tightest weave and by impregnating the fibers with a waterproofing solution they are enveloped by the water repellent mixture and the interstices are not large enough to let the water through. The proper closely woven muslin cannot be secured in the average town store but by perseverance can be purchased from the city department stores.

Waterproofing by paraffin is a most satisfactory process and the one most used by tent manufacturers. True the cloth is thereby stiffened in cold weather but it is absolutely waterproof and the method of application is easy. Simply put into a tin vessel 3 pounds of paraffin shavings (ordinary paraffin of the stores) and two gallons of gasolene or turpentine. The receptacle, best with a closed top, is set in the sun or in a tub of boiling water and never near a flame. When a solution is effected outdoors spread it on the stretched cloth by means of a brush, sponge or piece of cheesecloth. The gasolene evaporates leaving a thin coating of paraffin in the fibers of the cloth.

Such coloring as you may desire to apply to the cloth must be done before the waterproofing process for thereafter the fibers will not take up a dye solution.

To make it fire proof and rot proof as well as water repellent I would treat the cloth first to an alum and sugar of lead solution and then paraffin well as above. Fireproof cloth is nearly as desirable as waterproofing. Many camps have been burned by sparks falling on the tent roof which was rendered very dry by the heat of the nearby camp fire. A spark falling on a properly treated tent roof burns only a little round hole at the worst.

The alum and sugar of lead solution is made thus:—4 ounces of alum and 10 ounces of lime are added to 10 quarts of water and the tent immersed overnight. In the morning it is rinsed in lukewarm rainwater and dried in the sun. The fibers of the cloth are filled with an insoluble solution of lead acetate and alum and is rendered efficiently fire and water proof.

THE EMERGENCY BIVOUAC

No man knows what he can do outdoors until he has tried it personally. The shifty man caught homeless in the woods will make some sort of shelter for himself out of anything at hand as slats, boards, bark, boughs, sod, poles, dirt or whatever is available. At no stage of the camper’s game can one display his ability to utilize woodcraft as he can in building the emergency bivouac.

Wherever one goes matches, knife, and axe should always accompany him. With these he is ready for preparing a windproof and as far as possible a weather proof shelter to secure necessary warmth no matter where he may be caught out.

A simple tree shelter is provided by selecting a small evergreen, cutting partially through the trunk at a point 4 to 5 feet from the ground so that in falling the butt remains attached to the stump. On the ground side cut away all limbs and branches for this is to be your roof. The upstanding limbs on the outside may also be partly cut and so bent over as to further enhance the value of the roof. The browse laying about is then collected and thatched on the ground for a bed. The ends may be enclosed by the addition of other trees—poles, browse, etc., roughly thatched to serve as a wind break.

A leanto of poles, covered with bark or browse, makes a handy shelter for a little emergency camp. Select a big boulder and lay against it four poles sticking the pointed butt ends firmly in the ground. If no boulder is available fasten horizontally a pole between two trees to lean the slanting roof poles upon or support it by two upright poles with forks. Lean against the cross pole enough other poles to form a rough roof with proper pitch which must be steep if the weather is bad. Thatch with browse like shingles or simply lay on pine or hemlock branches. These fans always grow close to the ground on young hemlocks and with an axe a big pile may be secured in a few minutes. A shelter cloth of course comes in handy here. Cover the floor with boughs. The ends may be closed similarly. A good log is laid on the outer edge of the bed. In winter such a thatching If covered with snow supplies a warm shelter. Before the open front build a reflector and a fire, and you can enjoy a cozy camp.