
Kamp Kitchens, Kooking and 
Kamp Fires 
ERHAPS no angle of camp life 
Pp is thought of more frequently 
and less thoughtfully by the 
average camper than the culinary de- 
partment. Upon a trip being planned, 
someone is sure to say, “I’ll get the 
bacon and beans,” while in their minds 
there arise visions of fry- 
ing-pan and coffee-pot. I 
honestly believe that if you 
were to take the frying-pan 
and coffee-pot away from 
the “ordinary outer,’ he 
would almost starve, at 
least suffer untold incon- 
venience and agony for lack 
of proper (to him) cooking 
utensils; and as for a fire— 
any heap of smouldering 
wood that will burn an- 
swers the purpose. 
To feed a man plenty in 
the out of doors is easy— 
just remember the “bacon 

and beans’’—but to feed 
him properly is another 
thing. To get up a meal 
is also easy, but to keep 
getting up different meals 
of well-cooked food, is the 
height of attainment in 
camp life; anyone _ so 
blessed is at once, and for 
always, in demand by those 
who are less fortunate, 
which means those who are 
too indolent to learn how, 
for to become a good camp- 
cook is a comparatively 
simple task for anyone, if 
they but follow a few basic 
principles. No camp can 
pick up Mr. Horace Kep- 
hart’s classic, “Camp Cookery,” and 
follow it half way without becoming 
a passable camp cook. 
The first requisite of a camp cook 
is a knowledge of fires and the woods 
that make them. Ask the average 
camper what kind of a fire he wants 
and what he wants it for, baking, boil- 
ing, or broiling, and the chances are a 
hundred to one that he will answer, 
“Oh, just a fire will do.” But does it? 
Some woods burn better green than 

Sa —e 
Nessmuk Log Range. 
SSS 

Dingle Stick , 
Reflector Baker Pire , 
dry, while others burn slowly with 
great smoke, and others quickly to a 
fine ash and no coals. For baking one 
needs a high, hot fire with no smoke; 
boiling requires a steady, slow-burning 
and low fire, while broiling is best done 
over a bed of coals from hardwood 
timber pulled from the main fire to a 
mere handful. 
Just a word in regard to the various 
Kamp Kitchens, 
Kooking and 
Kamp Fires. 



nee 
<= 




Kamp Krane and 


Over Log,for Old 
Fashioned Fry Pan. 
Figure 1 
woods one may use. A good plan is to 
leave the resinous, “poppy” woods alone 
at all times. In cooking they are 
bound to shower the pots and pans 
with ashes and sparks, while in the 
camp-fire they demand constant atten- 
tion to avoid danger. Standing dead 
wood is the material from which to 
gather your base, with punk from the 
heart of a rotten stump or a handful 
of birch-bark shavings, stripped from 
the trees in passing, to start it off. 
Nessmuk Stone Rangee 

See 
Nessmuk Pit Range» sé See 
| = ay ; 
7 and along the rock stream 

Stick Pot Hangers: : Log House Fire. 
— : —— 
Mey 
tn. 
te 

Stone Fire Range, with 
Flat Stone Top and ~ 
Built Up Chimney. 
Build your cook fire small and your 
camp fire safe. Good cook-fire woods 
are birch, hard maple, pignut hickory, 
black jack oak, and white oak (dead), 
while hemlock and pine are “poppy,” 
cedar and balsam blaze firecely but give 
little heat, and are therefore “trash 
woods.” 
In the accompanying drawings I 
have attempted to give an idea of a 
few of the various fires, 
kitchens, etc. 
Nessmuk (Fig. 1) —the 
“Father of Modern Camp- 
ing” and leading exponent 
of going light, whose 
“Woodcraft” should be not 
only owned but read and 
re-read by every lover of 
ForREST & STREAM, was the 
inventor of the “log range,” 
which in the dry season or 
flat lands becomes the 
“ground” or “trench range” 
the “stone range.” These 
three are shown at the top. 
The Dingle-Stick (Fig. 1) 
is for the noon-day lunch- 
eon or the “one-meal-quick- 
stop.” A stick thrust in the 
ground at an angle, sup- 
ported by a short crotch or 
rock under its lower end 
and weighted down. 
The Camp-Crane (Fig. 1) 
is built as shown and should 
have the uprights standing 
about 4 feet or 4% feet 
above the ground to avoid 
bending. 
The Log-House Fire (Fig. 
1) gives a splendid draft 
and a quick hot fire if made 
of the proper woods, care- 
fully split, such as green 
hard maple or birch. 
Reflector Baker Fire (Fig. 1)—A 
three-foot upright back wall of green 
logs, a small, high-burning hot fire 
about six inches in front and the Baker 
set about three feet before it. 
Over-Log (Fig. 1), is a favorite trick 
where one has been foolish enough to 
carry along the old fashioned fry pan, 
or for the quick stop. Build your fire 
upon one side of a fallen log (not too 
dry), and fry from the opposite, rest- 
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