Board wigwam.
Log house, to build.
A simple form of wigwam can be thus built with the aid of the axe only, in a very short time; search out and cut four stout fork ended posts between 6ft. and 7ft. long, sharpen their ends, drive two of them into the earth firmly at 9ft. apart, then cut a couple of straight strong poles of about 1ft. girth and 10ft. long, lay one of these in the forks of the two posts and fasten it there with a twisted withy or a bit of raw hide; then measure off 5ft. from one of the posts, and, parallel with it, set up one of the others, plant the remaining one at the other end, lay in the second pole, secure it as before, and the framework is complete. Now look out for a free splitting tree, log it up into 13 ft. lengths, split these into boards, place them in a sloping direction against the poles which rest in the forks, and arrange them so that the upper ends do not meet, but leave a good wide opening for the smoke to come out. Split up a log or two the length required to board up the ends of the wigwam; this can be done by setting the boards upright, leaving a wide one movable to form a door, drive in a few hard wood pegs so as to catch the bottoms of the boards and all is made secure. During the day a board or two to leeward may be slid aside to let in light, by night air enough comes in through the chinks. Log house, to build. As a more permanent home for a party who are about wintering in the woods, it is best to construct a log hut of the description represented in the following illustration; its size must, of course, depend on the number of its proposed occupants; it can be made either oblong or square. When a sufficient number of trees of convenient bulk for handling have been felled and logged up into proper lengths, the ends should be notched with the axe, as shown in the illustration. The four ground logs are then laid and keyed together by their notches; the second row are then placed on these, either by the aid of skid bars placed in a slanting direction on the lower logs, or by manual labour. When all the walls are high enough, the doorway must be cut in the following manner: Begin on the upper log and chop through at each end, the exact width of the proposed opening follow down, cutting log by log until the ground log is reached; cut this nearly half through and then split out the piece, the other portion below forms your threshold. Take a fresh log, and in it split out a space exactly to correspond with that in the ground log, place this as a crowning log with three others, uncut, to form your wall plate, the split-out piece will form the top of your doorway; the square hole for the window or shutter is chopped out in the same way. The gable ends and ridge log must be adjusted at such a pitch as to insure a free run for rain water or melted snow; the four ends or butts of the gable angles should rest and be firmly wedged in four holes axed out for them in the ends of the upper row of wall-plate logs; where the gable peak crosses, the logs should be notched together and pinned; the ridge log will then rest in the crutches formed by the intersection. Now, after having selected the most convenient spot for a fire-place, chop a hole through the logs, including that on the ground, about 3ft. wide and 4ft. 6in. high. There are several ways of forming a chimney and fire-back; one is to build a beehive-shaped wall outside the opening, plastering the inside with clay, and forming a rough chimney stack with turf and stones. All chinks or crevices between the logs are stopped with clay and moss. Some American trappers and hunters proceed as follows: They cut a number of poles long enough to reach the top of the proposed chimney, which is, of course, a little higher than the ridge of the roof; they then plant the sharpened ends of the poles in the earth in such a way as to form a semicircular hedge surrounding the back of the hole in the logs, and about 6ft. at its widest part from them. An inner hedge of sticks about 6ft. long is now planted within the row of long poles, at about 8in. from them; a number of bushy twigs are now collected and interwoven between the poles and sticks until a sort of double wall of basket work is formed between these wicker partitions; a quantity of wet clay and small gravel is firmly impacted, and rammed down until the space will hold no more. The long poles are then gathered together into a sort of inverted funnel form, a hole being left where their small ends meet for the smoke to pass through; a thorough slap-dashing with thin wet clay within and without finishes the affair. The inner layer of basket work consumes in time, but leaves the clay and stone hard enough to resist an ordinary heat. Huts of this description are either half log-roofed or shingled; that represented in the illustration is covered by the former mode. Logs of fitting size and length are split in halves; the surfaces of one-half of these are slightly hollowed with the axe or adze, and then placed side by side with the round surface downward on the ridge bar and wall plate; on the hollowed faces of these over every interval is laid face downward one of the flat-faced pieces. (See illustration, [p. 275].)
Temporary wigwams.
