546 
FOREST AND STREAM 
September, 1918 
CANVAS SHELTERS AND CAMPING LORE 
THE MOST RECENT ADDITION TO OUTDOOR SPORTS IS THAT MADE POSSIBLE 
BY THE SHELTER TENT UNDER WHOSE ROOF COMFORT AND FREEDOM MEET 
T HE average American citizen has but 
scant knowledge in regard to tent¬ 
ing and all that particular pastime 
affords in the way of pleasure and actual 
health. There are three million fine lawns 
and grassy backyards, with shrubbery and 
trees upon them and not in the whole lot 
is there a tent. That speaks for itself: the 
nation is not a tenting nation. It has for¬ 
gotten its greatest heritage; outdoor life 
has been left hopelessly in the background. 
And yet the forefathers slept under the 
trees, often with the skies for a blanket, a 
bundle of balsam boughs for a pillow, with 
the rifle close at hand. In this day of 
general weakening of the great mass of 
the people through stress and wild-eyed 
nervousness, in this time of grasping com¬ 
mercialism it would benefit the people to 
get out again and sleep next to the ground 
and win back a good, lively health. Fur¬ 
thermore the backyard would serve this 
purpose very well indeed. The freshness 
from the earth would come upward just as 
well as if the tent were pitched a hundred 
miles from civilization; and the night-air 
would seep through the woven canvas and 
be purified just as well within civilization 
as outside of it. A board floor may re¬ 
place the sod, for convenience sake; and 
a cot replace the bed of stripped balsam 
twigs or leaves but the idea is held intact 
and it fulfills its especial purpose. It 
makes for a purer blood through the tak¬ 
ing in of pure breezes, and a better and 
deeper repose. I do say that if we were 
more of a tenting nation we would be a 
stronger nation, both mentally and physic¬ 
ally. The virile of the land, or any land 
is its outdoor folks. 
In the modern day of civilization the 
methods of camping have taken great 
forward strides—great indeed. In the old 
days one relied upon Nature for a great 
number of the necessities of life. Fresh 
killed meat made up the principal fare; 
rude shelters made the roof at night; one 
carried everything more or less on his 
back, unless the canoe were used. In the 
present day the problem of transportation 
has been solved with ease. Not only the 
canoe, the motorboat, the automobile, the 
trains, and a number of other accommo- 
datory factors come, practically, right to 
our door to take our outfit and deposit it 
at our stepping off grounds. Also there 
are so many conveniences that we may 
take with us, where, in the past, only the 
very most necessary things could be 
brought along. This meant sacrificing 
comforts; we sacrifice comforts no longer. 
Needless to relate the shelter tent has 
come greatly into use during late years— 
the last five years to be exact. A great 
deal of this interest has been created of 
course by enthusiasts who have written 
largely upon just those subjects. On the 
other hand there has been a growing de¬ 
sire among certain of the outdoor people 
to go into the outdoor life game much on 
By ROBERT PAGE LINCOLN 
the order of the old-time followers of 
Nessmuk, relying upon their native in¬ 
genuity and Nature to stand them well in 
stead. But while many practical good 
Many go camping alone, but a congenial 
companion is a blessing 
ideas have been issued, at the same time 
there has been much fanaticism also dis¬ 
played. The rule of the go-light camper 
is that he carry all his necessities upon his 
back. The matter of food is therefore the 
one calling for most attention, for con¬ 
densed or powdered foods are used in 
place of the food in bulk. Some are suc¬ 
cessful in following this plan, but many 
come back the first week. Yet one can 
put up a three weeks’ provision and stay 
away three weeks. And he need not use 
food in bulk in all that time. 
The point in favor of going light and 
much on your native ingenuity is that it 
puts you to a test, showing up your fail¬ 
ures and, at the same time, illustrating 
your good points. It will prove whether 
you are a true disciple of Nessmuk, or a 
backslider. The stipulation that you must 
use powdered foods by the way is an ob¬ 
struction that the amateur grounds up 
against, striking the inevitable snag. He 
will procure his condensed foods—when as 
a matter of fact he may never have eaten 
powdered foods, nor does he know how to 
prepare them. Nothing about this is said 
in books, it being taken for granted that 
the “go-light” man divine all this. Brought 
up all one’s life to use food in bulk the 
sudden drop to powdered foods causes a 
disturbing change in things. The stomach 
cries out for bulk, to be filled, and lo, it 
gets the portion that is valuable. The 
condensed foods do the stomach’s part, by 
weeding out the useless, and retaining 
alone the blood, sinew and tissue making 
properties. To say that the average per¬ 
son tires of these foods in short order is 
not saying too much. True, fish in goodly 
portions can be inserted, and it generally 
is, with the result that a stomach full is 
assured. It would be far better if the 
prospective “go-light” man would try out 
eating and living on powdered foods, etc., 
for two weeks before going on his trip 
and he would be better off, and understand 
just how to fix these foods up. Also his 
stomach will have accustomed itself to the 
change. In all I have read on this sub¬ 
ject nothing has been mentioned on the 
above points. 
T HE shelter tent is just what its name 
implies—it is a shelter. It is not a per¬ 
manent camp affair. If you intend to 
stay long at a place, the wall tent is the solu¬ 
tion. Besides carrying the shelter tent on 
the back, on your hiking trips, it is the de¬ 
mand on canoe trips. One of the prime 
requisites of the shelter tent is, first, it 
must be waterproof; second, it must have 
lightness, must not be bulky, but must take 
up comparatively little room in the pack, 
or amid the paraphernalia; and third, it 
should be easy to set up in one of many 
ways under good or questionable condi¬ 
tions. There are a number of shelter tents 
on the market today that fulfill all these 
points and are certainly very efficient and 
dependable. Lightness for instance. The 
Compact pattern has a weight of about five 
pounds. The Cruiser’s Separable tent 
weighs a little over seven pounds. The 
Dan Beard pattern of a shelter tent weighs 
nine pounds, though only in its smaller 
form. The smallest form of the Baker 
shelter tent weighs eight pounds. The 
smaller form of the so-called Canoe tent 
weighs nine and three-fourths pounds. The 
Pyramid tents in the lighter waterproofed 
material can be had in weight from seven 
to eight pounds, all depending upon the 
size of the tent. The Wedge, or Letter 
“A” tents can be had in the same weight as 
the latter. So can the George Shelter 
tent; the Grace tent weighs about six 
pounds. The Forester shelter tent, made 
from plans by Warren Miller, the editor 
of an esteemed contemporary, weighs about 
seven pounds. It can be seen from this 
that it is possible to carry any of them 
on the back without undue discomfort. It 
is not my business or duty to advocate one 
over the other. All have their good points 
and deserve a looking into. But I do want 
to talk along certain lines so that prospec¬ 
tive purchasers of this form of a tent may 
find a few directing pointers. 
Remember that there is a difference be¬ 
tween a warm weather tent and a \cold 
weather tent. The cold weather tent 
should so be constructed that nothing in 
front of it (flaps, for instance) will in¬ 
terfere with your making a fire before it, 
the heat rays from this fire with its log- 
reflector radiating inward and allowing 
