CAMPING AT CULVER'S LAKE. 



J. H. UHLE. 



Photos by the Author. 



In July, 1902, my brother and a friend and 

 I went to Culver's lake, Sussex county, New 

 Jersey. This lake lies at the foot of a 

 spur of the Blue mountains, through 

 which the Delaware river runs at the 

 Water Gap, 35 miles away. It is one of 

 several lakes which find their way to the 

 Delaware river through the Paulius Kill. 

 The lake is 3 miles wide, 2 miles long and 

 has a shore line of 8 miles. A ride of 3 

 hours on the D., L. & W railroad will take 

 one to Branchville, the end of the line. 

 From there it is a drive of 2 miles to 

 Lyons' boat house, at the foot of the lake, 

 where boats, bait, refreshments, etc., can 

 be obtained; and visitors will find Frank, 

 as Mr. Lyons is known to his friends, 

 most accommodating. 



The shores of Culver's lake are rocky, 

 with the exception of the inlet, which is 

 shallow and filled with moss and lily pads. 

 This inlet is one of the finest spots I 

 have ever seen for pickerel and we had 

 some grand sport there, just before dark, 

 casting live bait and getting a strike al- 

 most every time. 



Along the Eastern shore are many good 

 fishing spots. The best of these is near 

 the old pine tree on the point about half 

 way up the lake. The knowing ones anchor 

 on the bar running out from Savage Point. 

 On one side of the boat the water will be 

 10 feet deep and on the other it will be 

 25. In fact, the fishing is good all around 

 the lake. There are any number of fish, 

 but they change their feeding grounds. 

 Small mouth bass, perch and pickerel are 

 large and the catfish are the finest I have 

 ever tasted. The fishing while I was 

 there was far below the average. There 

 was so much rain washing bait from the 

 shore that the fish had all the food they 

 wanted. The largest fish taken was 5^ 

 pounds. 



The best way to enjoy life at Culver's 

 is under canvas. I had a delightful spot 

 for my camp and in my odd moments 

 made it homelike and comfortable by 

 building rustic seats, etc. I had many 

 callers to see the camp and try my Mor- 

 ris chair. 



My cooking range attracted much at- 

 tention. At first I made the regular camp 

 range, with logs, and as usual it worked 

 well except that I had to renew the logs 

 every other day. I then made the same 

 kind of a range using flat stones instead 

 of the logs, and it was much better, but I 



found it hard to bend over so far to cook. 

 My eyes got full of smoke and it was gen- 

 erally inconvenient ; so I decided to try 

 again. 



I cut 4 heavy stakes with a crotch near 

 the. top and drove them in the ground till 



THE CAMP COOKING RANGE. 



they stood firm and strong. On the 

 crotches I placed 2 long sticks, one on 

 each side, 3 inches in diameter. Then 

 several one inch sticks were placed across, 

 forming sort of a grate. The large flat 

 stones I had used on the ground I then 

 placed on each side, directly over the 3 

 inch logs to hold the weight. These 

 stones were 8 inches high when placed in 

 position. I covered the entire bottom, be- 

 tween the rows of flat stones, with small 

 flat stones which covered the cross sticks. 

 This allowed a good draft, no matter which 

 way the wind blew, which was not always 

 possible when the fire was on the ground. 

 I drove 2 long crotched sticks in the 

 ground, one at each end; a green stick 

 over the fire to hang the pots and kettles 

 on ; and the range was complete. Two 

 green sticks placed from one row of stones 

 to the other hold the smaller cooking pans 

 and can be as close together as is desired. 

 The range can be made any size. Mine 

 was 5 feet long, 2 feet wide and 3 feet 

 high. It worked to perfection, the stones 

 holding the heat a long while. 



With the first range I made I had sev- 

 eral accidents, one of which was rather 

 amusing. I was in a hurry one morning 

 to get down the lake to keep an appoint- 



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