XVI 



RECREATION. 



SOME, PRACTICAL TESTS. 



In outfitting for my summer's trip in the 

 Canadian Northwest I naturally chose, as 

 far as possible, articles advertised in Rec- 

 reation, and it may interest such of my 

 readers as may be planning similar trips, to 

 know something of my experiences with 

 these goods. 



I bought of Abercrombie & Fitch, 314 

 Broadway, New York, 2 tents and a fly, 

 made of fine Japan silk and treated with 

 their waterproofing material. The larger 

 tent is 7 x 9 feet and weighs only 14 pounds. 

 It rolls easily into a package that a man 

 may carry comfortably under his arm, or 

 strap on behind his saddle ; yet the tent 

 proved thoroughly waterproof under the 

 most trying conditions and afforded 2 of us 

 an admirable summer shelter. It rained or 

 snowed 72 out of the 90 days we were out, 

 and sometimes the rain fell almost inces- 

 santly for 24 hours at a stretch, yet never 

 a drop of water came through the tent. We 

 could, when necessary, pin the tent down 

 to the ground and tie up the front so tight 

 that mosquitoes and gnats, of which there 

 were myriads, could not get in. Wright 

 and I passed many a comfortable night in 

 this tent when my companions, who were 

 less fortunate, were tortured by insects all 

 night. 



The fly is 10x12 feet in size and served 

 as a comfortable dining room and kitchen. 

 We usually pitched the fly with the ridge 

 pole 7 to 8 feet from the ground, and the 

 outer edges about 4 feet high. This gave 

 us ample room to walk about under the fly, 

 without stooping. This fly weighs only 6 

 pounds. 



The smaller tent is 5 x 7 feet in size and 

 was used generally as a bath house. I 

 could set up my portable bath tub and have 

 a warm bath when the temperature was be- 

 low the freezing point. 



The bath tub was also provided by Aber- 

 crombie & Fitch, and is simply a piece of 

 rubber cloth, 4 feet square. Gromets are 

 placed in the edges and corners, so that by 

 driving 4 stakes and tying the cloth to 

 them properly, I had a bath tub about 2^4 

 feet square and a foot deep. 



I also used 2 of their waterproof canvas 

 duffle bags and which kept my clothing and 

 other articles dry through a wet summer's 

 campaign. 



By tying up the false muzzle, so to speak, 

 with which these bags were provided, and 

 then lacing the outer bag over this, the 

 package becomes absolutely waterproof, and 

 might be left in a lake or river over night 

 with entire safety to the contents. I had 

 these same people make me 2 suits of khaki 

 hunting clothing that gave me good service. 

 ) Abercrombie & Fitch also made me a 

 special sheet of canvas in which to roll my 

 bedding. This sheet is 7 feet wide and 9 

 feet long, with i l / 2 inch leather straps rivet- 

 ed to one end, with which to cinch the roll 

 after it is made up. This saved my bed- 

 ding from any possible wetting, even though 

 the horses carrying it might have to swim 



a river. This canvas could also be made 

 useful on occasions, as a floor cloth for a 

 tent. 



Another part of my outfit obtained from 

 this house was a set of aluminum pails, 

 cups, plates, knives, forks, spoons, etc. 

 There are in this set 3 pails that nest, one 

 within another, and the smallest one holds 

 about 2 gallons of water. It was a real 

 luxury to always have plenty of pails in 

 which to carry water, especially when we 

 had to go some distance from camp to get 

 it. There are table trimmings in the set 

 for 4 men and the whole outfit weighs only 

 6 pounds. It is packed in a canvas bag and 

 fits nicely between the forks of the pack 

 saddle and between the sides of the packs. 

 No camping outfit made up for a pack train 

 or a canoe trip would be complete without 

 a set of this aluminum ware. 



I used a Kenwood sleeping bag and found 

 it a real luxury. If the night happened to 

 be warm, as some nights were, I could 

 crawl in on top of all but one thickness 

 of the felt. If it were a cold night, then 

 I had the same number of blankets over 

 me as under me, and always slept warm. 



The Kenwood is made by F. C. Huyck & 

 Sons, Albany, New York. 



A Bausch & Lomb prismatic field glass 

 was another real luxury in the outfit. It 

 often saved me a mile of travel to investi- 

 gate some object which I could study just 

 as well from camp or from wherever else 

 I might happen to be. It is no exaggera- 

 tion to say that you can identify a blue 

 grouse or a fool hen or a ptarmigan, and 

 distinguish one from the other, at a distance 

 of 200 yards by means of one of these 

 glasses. You can see a man 2 miles and 

 can ordinarily tell at that distance, a white 

 man from an Indian. The Bausch & Lomb 

 glass is certainly one of the most powerful 

 ever made. 



The Gall and Lembke barometer, ther- 

 mometer and compass, combined, also 

 proved of infinite value in its various lines. 

 One seldom has occasion to use a compass 

 in the mountains, but sometimes in cloudy 

 weather it does become necessary to know 

 the points. Moreover, one often wishes to 

 know the temperature of the air and this 

 little compact instrument was often in de- 

 mand for this purpose. Then in climbing 

 mountains or descending into canyons and 

 valleys, or even on the train, it was ex- 

 tremely interesting to know how high or 

 low we were. In mountain travel, and 

 especially in climbing hills, you may imagine 

 you have climbed 1,000 or 2,000 feet, when 

 in fact, you may have onfy gone up 500 or 

 600 or 800 feet. At such times you are tempt- 

 ed to accuse the aneroid of not keeping good 

 time, so to speak. So also does a man 

 often question the accuracy of his compass 

 when traveling in the woods and when he 

 is sure North is where the compass says 

 South is ; but the little mechanical contri- 

 vance has no wicked ends to serve nor any 

 tricks to play on its owner. If it be in good 

 order, it tells the truth, no matter if it 

 (Concluded on page xviii.) 



