The Bank-pit
In the diagram it will be seen that the carcass is fastened to a spit of green wood, which runs thru a hole in a cross log and fits in the socket D in the bottom log; the spit is turned by handles arranged like A, B or C. The pit is lined with either stones or bricks, which are heated by a roaring big fire until hot enough to bake the meat.
The Gold Digger
Is another bank pit, and one that I have seen used in Montana by Japanese railroad hands. It is made by digging a hole in the bank and using shelves either made of stones or old pieces of iron. [Fig. 116] shows the cross section of the Gold Digger with the stone door in place. [Fig. 117] shows a perspective view of the gold digger with the stone door resting at one side.
We next come to the ovens, the first of which is known as
The Ferguson Camp Stove.
It is made by building a rounded hut of stones or sod ([Fig. 118]), and covering the same with branches over which sod, or clay, or dirt is heaped ([Fig. 119]). The oven is heated by building the fire inside of it, and when it is very hot and the fire has burned down, the food is placed inside and the opening stopped up so as to retain the heat and thus cook the food.
The Adobe
Is one that the soldiers in Civil War days taught the author to build. The boys in blue generally used an old barrel with the two heads knocked out ([Fig. 121]). This they either set in the bank or covered with clay ([Fig. 120]), and in it they built their fires which consumed the barrel but left the baked clay for the sides of the oven. The head of the barrel ([Fig. 121A]) was saved and used to stop up the front of the oven when baking was being done; a stone or sod was used to cover up the chimney hole. [Figs. 122], [123], [124] and [125] show how to make an Adobe by braiding green sticks together and then covering the same with clay, after which it is used in the same manner as the preceding barrel oven.