PACKING AND PORTAGING

PACKING AND
PORTAGING

BY
DILLON WALLACE

Author of "The Lure of the Labrador Wild," "The Long Labrador Trail," "Saddle and Camp in the Rockies," "Across the Mexican Sierras," etc.

NEW YORK
OUTING PUBLISHING COMPANY
MCMXII

Copyright, 1912, by
OUTING PUBLISHING COMPANY

All rights reserved

[CONTENTS]

[ILLUSTRATIONS]

PACKING AND PORTAGING

[CHAPTER I]
PACKING AND THE OUTFIT

Ordinarily the verb to pack means to stow articles snugly into receptacles, but in the parlance of the trail it often means to carry or transport the articles from place to place. The pack in the language of the trail is the load a man or horse carries.

Likewise, a portage on a canoe route is a break between navigable waters, over which canoe and outfit must be carried; or the word may be used as a verb, and one may say, "I will portage the canoe," meaning "I will carry the canoe." In the course of the following pages these terms will doubtless all be used in their various significations.

Save for the few who are able to employ a retinue of professional guides and packers to attend to the details of transportation, the one chief problem that confronts the wilderness traveler is that of how to reduce the weight of his outfit to the minimum with the least possible sacrifice of comfort. It is only the veriest tenderfoot that deliberately endures hardships or discomforts where hardships and discomforts are unnecessary. Experienced wilderness travelers always make themselves as comfortable as conditions will permit, and there is no reason why one who hits the trail for sport, recreation or health should do otherwise.

In a description, then, of the methods of packing and transporting outfits the tenderfoot and even the man whose feet are becoming calloused may welcome some hints as to the selection of compact, light, but, at the same time, efficient outfits. These hints on outfitting, therefore, I shall give, leaving out of consideration the details of camp making, camp cookery and those phases of woodcraft that have no direct bearing upon the prime question of packing and transportation on the trail.

Let us classify the various methods of wilderness travel under the following heads: 1. By Canoe; 2. With Saddle and Pack Animals; 3. Afoot in Summer; 4. On Snowshoes; 5. With Dogs and Sledge. Taking these in order, and giving our attention first to canoe travel, it will be found convenient further to subdivide this branch of the subject and discuss in order: (a) The Canoe and its Equipment; (b) Camp Equipment for a Canoe Trip; (c) Personal Equipment; (d) Food; (e) The Portage.

[CHAPTER II]
THE CANOE AND ITS EQUIPMENT

A sixteen-foot canoe with a width of at least 33 inches and a depth of at least 12 inches will accommodate two men, an adequate camping outfit and a full ten weeks' provisions very nicely, and at the same time not lie too deep in the water. A fifteen-foot canoe, unless it has a beam of at least 35 inches and a depth of 12 inches or more, is unsuitable. Three men with their outfit and provisions will require an eighteen-foot canoe with a width of 35 inches or more and a depth of no less than 13 inches, or a seventeen-foot canoe with a width of 37 inches and 13 inches deep. The latter size is lighter by from ten to fifteen pounds than the former, while the displacement is about equal.

The best all-around canoe for cruising and hard usage is the canvas-covered cedar canoe. Both ribs and planking should be of cedar, and only full length planks should enter into the construction. Where short planking is used the canoe will sooner or later become hogged—that is, the ends will sag downward from the middle.

In Canada the "Peterborough" canoe is more largely used than the canvas-covered. These are to be had in both basswood and cedar. Cedar is brittle, while basswood is tough, but the latter absorbs water more readily than the former and in time will become more or less waterlogged.

Cruising canoes should be supplied with a middle thwart for convenient portaging. Any canoe larger than sixteen feet should have three thwarts. To lighten weight on the portage, and provide more room for storing outfit, it is advisable to remove the cane seats with which canvas canoes are usually provided. This can be readily done by unscrewing the nuts beneath the gunwale which hold the seats in position.

Good strong paddles—sufficiently strong to withstand the heavy strain to which cruising paddles are put—should be selected. On the portage they must bear the full weight of the canoe; they will frequently be utilized in poling up stream against stiff currents; and in running rapids they will be subjected to rough usage. On extended cruises it is advisable to carry one spare paddle to take the place of one that may be rendered useless.

Experienced canoemen pole up minor rapids. Poles for this purpose can usually be cut at the point where they are needed, but pole "shoes"—that is, spikes fitted with ferrules—to fit on the ends of poles are a necessary adjunct to the outfit where poling is to be done. Without shoes to hold the pole firmly on the bottom of the stream the pole may slip and pitch the canoeman overboard. The ferrules should be punctured with at least two nail holes, by which they may be secured to the poles, and a few nails should be carried for this purpose.

A hundred feet or so of half-inch rope should also be provided, to be used as a tracking line and the various other uses for which rope may be required.

[CHAPTER III]
CAMP EQUIPMENT FOR A CANOE TRIP

Personal likes and prejudices have much to do with the form of tent chosen. My own preference is for either the "A" or wedge tent, with the Hudson's Bay model as second choice, for general utility. Either of these is particularly adapted also to winter travel where the tent must often be pitched upon the snow. If, however, the tent is only to be used in summer, and particularly in canoe travel where a light, easily erected model is desired, the Frazer tent is both ideal for comfort and is an exceedingly light weight model for portaging.

Duck or drill tents are altogether too heavy and quite out of date. They soak water and are an abomination on the portage. The best tent is one of balloon silk, tanalite, or of extra light green waterproofed tent cloth. The balloon silk tent is very slightly heavier than either of the others, but is exceedingly durable. For instance, a 7¹/₃ × 7¹/₃ foot "A" tent of either tanalite or extra light green waterproof tent cloth, fitted with sod cloth, complete, weighs eight pounds, while a similar tent of waterproof balloon silk weighs nine pounds. A Hudson's Bay model, 6 × 9 feet, weighs respectively seven and seven and one-half pounds.

These three cloths are not only waterproof and practically rot proof, but do not soak water, which is a feature for consideration where much portaging is to be done and camp is moved almost daily.

Some dealers recommend that customers going into a fly or mosquito country have the tent door fitted with bobbinet. The idea is good, but cheese cloth is much cheaper and incomparably better than bobbinet.

The cheese-cloth door should be made rather full, and divided at the center from tent peak to ground, with numerous tie strings to bring the edges tight together when in use, and other strings or tapes on either side, where it is attached to the tent, to reef or roll and tie it back out of the way when not needed.

When purchasing a light-weight tent, see that the dealer supplies a bag of proper size in which to pack it.

A pack cloth 6 × 7 feet in size, of brown waterproof canvas weighing about 3¹/₂ pounds, makes an excellent covering for the tent floor at night. On the portage blankets and odds and ends will be packed and carried on it. If one end and the two sides of the pack cloth are fitted with snap buttons it may be converted into a snug sleeping bag with a pair of blankets folded lengthwise, the bottom and sides of the blanket secured with blanket safety pins as a lining for the bag.

My standby for summer camping is a fine all-wool gray blanket 72 × 78 inches in size and weighing 5¹/₂ pounds. This I have found sufficient even in frosty autumn weather—always, in fact, until the weather grows cold enough to freeze streams and close them to canoe navigation. Used as a lining for the improvised pack cloth sleeping bag, this blanket is quite bedding enough and makes an exceedingly comfortable bed, too.

A three-quarter axe with a 24- or 28-inch handle makes a mighty good camp axe. A full axe is heavy and inconvenient to portage and the lighter axe will serve every purpose in any country at any time. Personally I favor the Hudson's Bay axe. This may be had fitted either with a 24-inch or 18-inch handle. In the two-party outfit which we are discussing there should be two axes, one of which may be fitted with the shorter handle, but the other should have at least a 24- and preferably a 28-inch handle. Every axe should have a leather sheath or scabbard for convenient packing. The so-called pocket axes are too small to be of practical use. The camper does not wish to miss the luxury of the big evening camp-fire, and he can never provide for it with a small hatchet or toy pocket axe.

Cooking utensils of aluminum alloy are the lightest and best for the trail. Tin and iron will rust, enamel ware will chip, and unalloyed aluminum is too soft and bends out of shape. The best sporting goods dealers carry complete outfits of aluminum alloy. I have used them in the frigid North and in the tropics, in canoe, sledging, tramping and horseback journeys, and can recommend them unequivocally, save perhaps the frying pan.

The two-man cooking and dining outfit should contain the following utensils:

• 1 Pot with cover 7 × 6¹/₂ inches, capacity three quarts.
• 1 Coffee pot 6 × 6¹/₈ inches, capacity two quarts.
• 1 Steel frying pan 9⁷/₈ × 2 inches, with folding handle.
• 1 Pan 9 × 3 inches, with folding handle, for mixing- and dish-pan.
• 2 Plates 8⁷/₈ inches diameter.
• 2 Cups.
• 2 Aluminum alloy forks.
• 2 Dessert spoons.
• 1 Large cooking spoon.
• 1 Dish mop.
• 2 Dish towels.

The regular aluminum alloy cup is too small for practical camp use. There is an aluminum bowl, however, holding one pint, but without a handle. This is about the right size for a practical cup, and I have a handle riveted on it and use it as a cup. The top only of the handle should be attached, that the cups may set one inside the other. The heat conducting quality of aluminum makes it a question whether or not enamel cups are not preferable.

To pack the outfit snugly, set the mixing pan into the frying pan, the handles of both pans folded, place the plates, one on top of the other, in the mixing pan, the cooking pot on top of these, and the coffee pot inside the cooking pot. The cups will fit in the coffee pot. The weight of this outfit complete is 5¹/₂ pounds.

A waterproof canvas bag of proper size should be provided in which to pack the utensils. Forks and spoons, wrapped in a dish towel, will fit nicely in the canvas bag alongside the pots.

Waterproof canvas is suggested for the bag, not to protect the utensils but because anything but waterproofed material will absorb moisture and become watersoaked in rainy weather, adding materially to the weight of the outfit.

One of the handiest aids to baking is the aluminum reflecting baker. An aluminum baker 16 × 18 inches when open, folds to a package 12 × 18 inches and about two inches thick, and fitted into a waterproof canvas case weighs, case and all, about four pounds.

Broilers, fire irons, fire blowers or inspirators, as they are sometimes called, and many other things that are convenient enough but quite unnecessary, should never burden the outfit. Even though the weight of some of them may be insignificant, each additional claptrap makes one more thing to look after. There are a thousand and one claptraps, indeed, that outfitters offer, but which do not possess sufficient advantage to pay for the care and labor of transportation, and my advice is, leave them out, one and all.

Outfitters supply small packing bags of proper size to fit, one on top of another, into larger waterproof canvas bags. These small bags are made preferably of balloon silk. By using them the whole outfit may be snugly and safely packed for the portage.

In one of these small bags keep the general supply of matches, though each canoeist should carry a separate supply for emergency in his individual kit.

In like manner two or three cakes of soap should be packed in another small bag. Floating soap is less likely to be lost than soap that sinks.

A dozen candles will be quite enough. These if packed in a tin box of proper size will not be broken.

Repair kits should be provided. A file for sharpening axes and a whetstone for general use are of the first importance. Include also a pair of pincers, a ball of stout twine and a few feet of copper wire. A tool haft or handle with a variety of small tools inside is convenient. Either a stick of canoe cement, a small supply of marine glue, or a canoe repair outfit such as canoe manufacturers put up and which contain canvas, white lead, copper tacks, calor and varnish will be found a valuable adjunct to the outfit should the canoe become damaged. This tool and repair equipment should be packed in a strong canvas bag small enough to drop into the larger nine-inch waterproof bag.

A small leather medicine case with vials containing, in tabloid form, a cathartic, an astringent (lead and opium pills are good) and bichloride of mercury, suffices for the drug supply. Surgical necessities are: Some antiseptic bandages, a package of linen gauze, a spool of adhesive plaster and one-eighth pound of absorbent cotton, wrapped in oiled silk. In addition most campers find it convenient to have in their personal outfit a pair of small scissors. These are absolutely necessary if one is to put on a bandage properly. The regular surgical scissors, the two blades of which hook together at the center, are the most convenient sort, both to use and to carry, and have the keenest edge.

A pair of tweezers takes up but little room and is useful for extracting splinters or for holding a wad of absorbent cotton in swabbing out a wound, as cotton will, of course, become septic if held in the fingers.

A small scalpel is better than the knife blade for opening up an infection, as it is more convenient to handle and will make a deep short incision when desired. These will all be packed in one of the small balloon silk bags.

[CHAPTER IV]
PERSONAL EQUIPMENT

Each canoeist should have a personal kit or duffle bag of waterproof canvas. These may be purchased from outfitters and are usually 36 inches deep and of 12, 15, 18 or 21 inches diameter. The 12-inch bag, however, is amply large to accommodate all one needs in the way of clothing and other personal gear. This, as well as every other waterproof canvas packing bag mentioned, excepting the cooking kit bag, should be supplied with a handle on the bottom and one on the side. These bags not only keep the contents dry, but, as previously stated, do not absorb moisture to add to the weight, a very essential feature where every unnecessary pound must be eliminated. I was once capsized in a rapid and my duffle bag lay half a day in the water before it was recovered. The contents were perfectly dry.

One suit of medium weight woolen underclothing in addition to the suit worn is ample for a short trip. Four extra pairs of thick woolen socks should be provided—the home-knit kind. An excellent material for trousers to be worn on the trail is moleskin, though for midsummer wear a good quality khaki is first rate. Moleskin, however, will withstand the hardest usage and to my mind is superior to khaki or any other material where wading is necessary and on cold or rainy days, as it is very nearly windproof. A good leather belt should be worn, even though suspenders support the trousers.

The outer shirt should be of light weight gray or brown flannel and provided with pockets. A blue flannel shirt of the best quality is all right. The cheaper qualities of blue crock, and this feature makes them objectionable. If the outer shirt is too heavy it will be found cumbersome under the exertion of the portage.

A large, roomy Pontiac shirt to slip over the outer shirt and use as a sweater is much preferable to a sweater on the trail. It is windproof and warm. Do not take a coat—the Pontiac shirt will be both coat and sweater. A coat is always in the way on a canoe trip and makes the pack that much heavier.

A pair of low leather or canvas wading shoes for river work and larrigans or shoe pacs for ordinary wear, large enough to admit two pairs of woolen socks, are best suited to canoeing. Heavy, hobnailed mountaineer shoes or boots are not in place here.

Heavy German socks, supplied with garter and clasp to hold them in position, are better than canvas leggings, and protect the legs from chill at times when wading is necessary in icy waters.

Any kind of an old slouch hat is suitable.

Some canoeists take with them a suit of featherweight oilskin. Personally I have never worn rainproof garments when canoeing. Once I carried a so-called waterproof coat, but it was not waterproof. It leaked water like a sieve, and was no protection even from the gentlest shower. I am inclined, however, to favor featherweight oilskins, though not while portaging—they would be found too warm—but when paddling in rainy weather, or to wear on rainy days about camp.

If the trip is to extend into a black fly or mosquito region, protection against the insects should be provided. A head net of black bobbinet that will set down upon the shoulders, with strings to tie under the arms, is about the best arrangement for the head. Old loose kid gloves, with the fingers cut off, and farmers' satin elbow sleeves to fit under the wrist bands of the outer shirt will protect the wrists and hands. The armlets should be well and tightly sewn upon the gloves, for black flies are not content to attack where they alight, and will explore for the slightest opening and discover some undefended spot. They are, too, a hundred times more vicious than mosquitoes.

There are many receipts for fly dope, but in a half hour after application perspiration will eliminate the virtue of most mixtures and a renewed application must be made. Nessmuk's receipt is perhaps as good as any, and the formula is as follows:

If when you were a child your father held your nose as an inducement for you to open your mouth while your mother poured castor oil down your throat, the odor of the castor oil rising above the odors of the other ingredients will revive sad memories. Indeed it is claimed for this mixture that the dead will rise and flee from its compounded odor as they would flee from eternal torment. It certainly should ward off such little creatures as black flies and mosquitoes.

Another effective mixture is:

An Indian advised me once to carry a fat salt pork rind in my pocket, and now and again rub the greasy side upon face and hands. I tried it and found it nearly as good as the dopes.

Unless one penetrates, however, far north In Canada during black fly season these extraordinary precautions will scarcely be necessary. There Is nowhere In the United States a region where black flies are really very bad (though perhaps I am drawing invidious comparisons in making the statement), and even in interior Newfoundland they are, compared with the farther north, tame and rather inoffensive though always troublesome.

The choice of fishing tackle, guns and arms depends largely upon personal taste. Steel rods of the best quality will serve better than split bamboo on an extended trip where one, continuously on the portage trail, is often unable to properly dry the tackle. The steady soaking of a split bamboo rod for a week is likely to loosen the sections and injure a fine rod. A waterproof canvas or pantasote case is the right sort for the rod—leather cases are unpractical on a cruising trip.

Leather gun cases, too, under like circumstances will become watersoaked, and under any circumstances they are unnecessarily heavy. Use canvas cases therefore in consideration for your back. They are light and in a season of rain immeasurably better than leather.

Economize, also, on ammunition. Do your target practice before you hit the trail. A hunter that cannot get his limit of big game with twenty rifle cartridges is an unsafe individual to turn loose in the woods.

For spruce grouse, ptarmigan and other small game a ten-inch barrel, 22-caliber single-shot pistol is an excellent arm, provided one has had some previous experience in its use. It is not a burden on the belt, and a handful of cartridges in the pocket are not noticed.

Pack your cartridges in a strong canvas bag, your gun grease and accessories in another receptacle.

On the belt also carry a broad-pointed four-inch blade skinning knife of the ordinary butcher knife shape. This will be your table knife, as well as cooking and general utility knife.

In the pocket carry a stout jackknife, a waterproof matchbox, always kept well filled, and a compass.

A film camera is more practical for the trail than a plate camera for many reasons, one of which is weight. Plates are heavy and easily broken. It is well to have each roll of films put up separately in a sealed, water-tight tin. Dealers will supply them thus at five cents extra for each film roll. A waterproof pantasote case, too, is better than leather, for leather in a long-continued rain will become watersoaked, as before stated.

If a plate camera is carried the plates may be packed in a small light wooden box—a starch box, for instance. The box will protect them under ordinary circumstances. Film rolls, however, may be carried in a small canvas bag that will slip into one of the larger waterproof bags.

My object in outlining outfit is rather to emphasize the possibilities of selecting a light and efficient outfit that may be easily packed and transported on the trail, than to evolve an infallible check list; therefore I shall not attempt to name in detail toilet articles, tobacco and odds and ends. Take nothing, however, save those things you will surely find occasion to use, unless I may suggest an extra pipe, should your pipe be lost. A small balloon silk bag will hold them, together with a sewing case containing needles, thread, patches and some safety pins. Another will hold the hand towels and hand soap in daily use, while an extra hand towel may be stowed in your duffle bag.

In concluding this chapter it may be pertinent to say that the novice on the trail is pretty certain to burden himself with many things he will seldom or never use. Take your outfitter into your confidence. Tell him what sort of a trip you contemplate and he will advise you. First-class outfitters are usually practical out-of-door men and camping experts. They have made an extended study of the subject, for it is part of their business to do so. Therefore, in selecting outfit, it is both safe and wise to rely upon the advice of any responsible outfitter.

[CHAPTER V]
FOOD

The true wilderness voyager is willing to endure some discomforts on the trail, to work hard and submit to black flies and other pests, but as a reward he usually demands satisfying meals. There is, indeed, no reason for him to deny himself a variety and a plenty, unless his trip is to extend into months. Weight on the portage trail is always the consideration that cuts down the ration. Packing on one's back a ration to be used two or three months hence is discouraging.

I have evolved a two-week food supply for two men, based upon the United States army ration, varied as the result of my own experiences have dictated. It offers not only great variety, but is an exceedingly bountiful ration even for hungry men. Personal taste will suggest some eliminations or substitutions that may be made without material loss or change in weight. If there is certainty of catching fish or killing game, or if opportunity offers for purchasing fresh supplies along the trail, reductions in quantity may be made accordingly. For each additional man, or for any period beyond two weeks, a proportionate increase in quantity may be made.

• Bacon, 6 pounds.
• Salt fat pork, 2 pounds.
• Ham or canned meats, 5 pounds.
• "Truegg" (egg powder), 1 pound (equals 4 dozen eggs.)
• "Trucream" (milk powder), 1¹/₂ pounds.
• "Crisco," 3 pounds, (2 cans).
• Fresh bread, 2 pounds.
• Flour, 12 pounds.
• Corn meal (yellow), 1 pound.
• Rolled oats, 1 pound.
• Rice, 1 pound.
• Baking powder, ¹/₂ pound.
• Potatoes (Dehydrated) riced, 2 pounds (equals 14 lbs. fresh potatoes).
• Potatoes (Dehydrated) sliced, 1 pound (equals 7 lbs. fresh potatoes).
• Carrots (Dehydrated), ¹/₄ pound (equals 3 lbs. fresh carrots).
• Onions (Dehydrated), ¹/₄ pound (equals 3³/₄ lbs. fresh onions).
• Cranberries (Dehydrated), ¹/₄ pound (equals 2¹/₂ qts. fresh fruit).
• Beans, 2 pounds.
• Green peas (Dehydrated), ¹/₄ pound (equals 1¹/₄ lbs. fresh peas).
• Coffee (ground), 2 pounds.
• Tea, ¹/₂ pound.
• Cocoa, ¹/₂ pound.
• Sugar (granulated), 5 pounds.
• Preserves, 1 pound.
• Lemons, ¹/₂ dozen.
• Lime tablets, ¹/₂ pound.
• Prunes (stoned), 1 pound.
• Raisins, 1 pound.
• Salt, 1 pound.
• Pepper, ¹/₄ ounce.

This gives each man a nominal ration of 14¹/₂ pounds a week, or about two pounds a day. In reality, however, it is more bountiful than the summer garrison ration and far more liberal than the summer marching ration of the army. This is brought about by the pretty general elimination of water, largely through the substitution of dehydrated vegetables and fruits for fresh and canned goods. The dehydrated products designated are in every particular equal to fresh products and far superior to canned goods. Dehydrated vegetables possess all the qualities, in fact, of fresh vegetables, with only the large percentage of water removed. Water is introduced restoring them to original form usually by boiling. No chemical is used as a preservative as is the case with all dried vegetables put up by foreign manufacturers.

It will be noticed that butter has been omitted and that "Crisco" has been introduced in the place of lard and to be used in cooking instead of butter. Crisco is a product of edible vegetable oils. It has the appearance of lard but can be heated to a much higher temperature without burning, is fully equal to butter when used as shortening, and dough bread, fish or other articles of food fried in it will not absorb it so readily as they will lard, nor will it transmit the flavor of one food to another. For example, fish may be fried in Crisco, and dough bread or anything else fried in the same Crisco will have not the slightest flavor of fish. It will keep fresh and sweet under conditions that turn lard and butter rancid. Butter quickly becomes strong, and the heat of the sun keeps it in an oily, unpalatable condition, even when packed in air-tight tins. The most lavish user of butter will discover that it is no hardship to go without it when in camp. Crisco, put up in handy, friction-top cans, can be purchased from nearly any grocer.

Coffee should be carried in friction-top tins. On extended trips coffee is too bulky to carry save as a special treat. A pound of tea will go as far as many pounds of coffee; therefore on trips extending beyond three or four weeks the proportion of tea should be increased and that of coffee diminished. On short trips, however, such as we are discussing, there is no reason and most Americans usually prefer it even when in camp.

Each article of food should have its individual bag, to fit into one of the larger waterproof canvas bags described, though the bacon and fat pork, each piece wrapped in paraffin (waxed) paper, may be packed in one bag. Paraffin paper will protect other packages in the bag from grease. Several articles of small bulk and weight such as dehydrated carrots, onions, cranberries and green peas each in its original package or a small muslin bag suitable in size may be carried in a single balloon silk bag. The small bags containing such articles as are not in daily and frequent use should be stowed in the bottoms of the canvas bags, while those in constant demand should be at the top where they can be had without unpacking the entire bag. Every package or bag should be plainly labeled with the nature of its contents. In labeling them use ink, as pencil marks are too easily obliterated. Where a party is composed of a sufficient number of people to make it worth while the party ration for each day may be weighed out and packed in a separate receptacle, thus making seven food packages for each week. This, however, would be obviously unpractical where there are less than eight or ten members of the party.

No glass or crockeryware should be used, not only because of its liability to break, but because of its unnecessary weight.

A good way to carry the tin of baking powder is to sink it into the sack of flour. The flour will protect it and preclude the possibility of the cover coming off and the contents spilling out. Do not carry prepared or self-raising flour on the trail. For many reasons it is unpractical for trail use, though perhaps most excellent in the kitchen at home.

Throughout I have accentuated the advisability of waterproof covers for everything. Every ounce of water absorbed by tent, bags, or package covers, adds to the tedium of the trail by so much unnecessary weight. When flour carried in an ordinary sack Is exposed to rain a paste will form next the cloth, and presently harden into a crust that will protect the bulk of flour from injury. But the flour used up in the process of crust forming is a decided waste, and the paste, retaining a degree of moisture, increases weight.

I have suggested balloon silk for the small food bags to fit into the larger waterproofed canvas bags, not only because it does not absorb moisture, but because there will be no possibility of the contents sifting through the cloth. If these or the cloth from which to make them cannot be readily obtained, closely woven muslin will do.

Should the canoeist desire to make his own bags and should he not find it convenient to purchase waterproofed canvas, the ordinary canvas which he will use may be waterproofed by the following process:

In two gallons of boiling water dissolve three and one-half ounces of alum. Rain water is best, though any soft water will do; but it must be soft water to obtain the best results. In another vessel dissolve four ounces of sugar of lead in two gallons of soft water. Unite the solutions when they have cleared by pouring into another vessel No. 1 first, then No. 2. Let the solution stand over night, decant it into a tub, free of any sediment that may have settled, and it is ready for the canvas. The cloth should be put into the solution, thoroughly saturated with it and then lightly wrung out, and hung up to dry. This treatment will render canvas to a considerable extent, though not completely, waterproof.

Muslin for the smaller food bags may be waterproofed by painting it with a saturate solution of turpentine and paraffin.

Canned goods should be packed snugly in canvas bags, with cans on end, that the sides, not the corners or edges, will rest against the back in portaging.

Camp chests in which to store food or other articles are carried by some canoeists, but they add considerable weight to the outfit. The best and most serviceable camp chest is one of indestructible fiber. One with an inside measurement of 18 × 24 × 12 inches weighs twenty pounds.

[CHAPTER VI]
THE PORTAGE

There are several types of pack harness offered by outfitters, but it is generally conceded that the best method of carrying heavy or medium-weight packs is with the tump line. In tump line carrying the pack is supported by a broad band of leather passed across the head—high up on the forehead—thus throwing the weight upon the strong muscles of the neck, with no shoulder straps or other support.

Canadian voyageurs, Hudson's Bay Company packers and Indians use the tump line to the exclusion of all shoulder-carrying devices. Indeed, by no other method would it be possible for them to transport upon their backs through a rough country the heavy burdens which they are called upon to carry. Experienced packers with the tump line will sometimes portage loads of upwards of four hundred pounds. In tests of skill I have seen a man carry in a single load the contents of three barrels of flour—588 pounds.

The tump line consists of a broad piece of leather some eighteen or twenty inches in length (known as the head strap or headpiece), with a leather thong usually about seven feet in length attached to each end, the total length from the tip end of one thong to the tip end of the other thong averaging about sixteen feet.

Sometimes the two thongs are sewn to the headpiece, and again the line is a single strip of leather, broadened in the center to form the headpiece. The best tump lines, however, have the head strap as a separate piece with a buckle at each end by which the thongs are attached. This arrangement admits of adjustment, if necessary, to suit the individual after the pack has been made up.

There is a knack in tump line carrying, but the following directions for making up various packs will give the novice sufficient insight, with a little experience, to enable him to acquire the art.

When the pack is to be made up wholly of bags, lay the tump line on the ground with the thongs parallel to each other and from sixteen to twenty inches apart, depending upon the length of the bags to be packed. Place the bags across the thongs, one bag upon another, taking care that the thongs are not so near the ends of the bags as to render them liable to slip off when the pack is tied. Now lift the head strap above the top bag and secure the pack by drawing the loose end of each thong in turn tight around the bags and knotting it a few inches below the buckle that attaches its other end to the headpiece.

When a pack cloth is to be used, spread the pack cloth upon the thongs of the tump line, stretched upon the ground in the manner above described, and in the center of the pack cloth lay folded blankets and other articles to be packed, making the pile about two feet long, and taking care that hard substances are in the center, with blankets and soft things outside. Now turn the sides of the pack cloth over the pack and fold over the ends. If a bag is to be included, lay it upon the pack after the cloth has been folded, and secure the whole as in the former case.

Another method of making up a pack with the pack cloth, common among Canadian voyageurs, is as follows: Spread the cloth upon the ground, and lay the tump line across it, the headpiece near one end and the thongs a foot from the sides. Fold the sides of the cloth inward over each thong. Now build up the pack in a neat pile about two feet long on the folded cloth, taking care as before that hard things are placed in the middle. Fold the end of the pack cloth with protruding thongs over the pack, take a half turn with the loose end of a thong around the other end near the headpiece, draw it tight until the end is closely puckered, then knot it and draw up the other thong and secure it in like manner. Now bring the free ends of the tump line to center of pack, on top, cross them and pass them around middle of pack and tie.

The knack of comfortable tump line carrying once the neck muscles have become developed and hardened to the work is in properly balancing the pack. With the headpiece resting high up upon the forehead the pack should hang with its bottom no lower than the hips. Neither should it be too high. A little experimenting will teach just where the proper balance is to be found. If it is too high, lengthen the line, or if too low shorten it by means of the buckles which attach the thongs to the headpiece.

Experienced packers pile additional bags or bundles on top of the pack, the uppermost bundle standing higher than the head. In my own experience I have found that an additional bag thus placed upon the pack and resting against the back of my neck helped balance the load. My favorite bag for this purpose is a forty or fifty pound bag of flour, sometimes surmounted by a lighter bundle which rested partly upon the flour and partly upon my head.

The tenderfoot will be quite content to limit his early loads to sixty or seventy pounds, and even then his first portages will not be what he can conscientiously term experiences of unalloyed joy. Gradually, however, he will learn the knack of tump packing and at the end of a couple of weeks of daily experience will find himself able to negotiate a load of one hundred pounds with some ease.

All the various types of pack harness are supplied with straps by which the pack is secured and loops through which to slip the arms, the pack being carried from the shoulders instead of the head. With this sort of a pack, as with the tump line, care should be given to the proper adjustment, with the bottom of the pack no lower than the hips. Fifty pounds is about as heavy a load as one can comfortably carry from the shoulders.

Outfitters sometimes attach a headpiece to their pack harness—that is to say the harness is provided with both shoulder loops and tump line head strap. The object is to secure a division of weight between shoulders and head. This is a method employed by Eskimos when hunting without dogs. The Eskimo hunter binds his pack with sealskin thongs, and manipulates a single thong in such a manner as not only to secure the pack but to form arm loops and headpiece as well.

No matter what type of shoulder harness is employed, a breast strap must be used to fasten together the arm loops in front or the loops will have a continual tendency to slip backward and off the shoulders. This breast strap fastens the packer so securely to his pack that should he slip, as is sometimes likely, the pack will carry him down with it and the probability of injury is multiplied many times. This alone is a very decided objection to all forms of pack harness.

If one slips with a tump line, on the contrary, a slight twist of the head will disengage and free one from the pack; and if one is hunting the tump pack may readily be dropped at a moment's notice, should game be sighted.

Let me therefore urge the adoption of the tump line for all portage work where fifty pounds or more must be transported. No experienced packer will use harness. Harness packing is indeed indicative of the tenderfoot who has never learned how, unless on long cross country tramps with light loads.

But on a canoe trip, if one would make progress, big loads must be resorted to. For instance, if the canoeist has a two mile portage to negotiate and one hundred pounds of duffle he has but two miles to walk if he carries all his duffle at once, but if he makes two loads of it he must walk six miles. With the hundred pound load the portage may easily be covered in one hour. With fifty pound loads three hours will be consumed, for there will be time lost in making up the second pack.

Axes, guns and extra paddles may be thrust under the thongs of the tump line, or carried in the hand. Never portage a rifle with a cartridge in the chamber, and never portage a loaded shotgun. To disregard this advice will be to take an unnecessary and foolhardy risk.

Save in a rather stiff breeze, one man can carry a canoe weighing less than one hundred pounds nearly as easily as two can carry it. There is one best way of doing everything, and the best and most practical way to carry a canoe is the Indian's way.

Tie one end of a stout string or thong securely to the middle thwart close to the gunwale, and the other end to the same thwart close to the opposite gunwale with the string stretched taut from end to end of the thwart and on top of it. Slip the blades of two paddles, lying side by side, under the string, the paddle handles lying on the forward thwart. With the handles as close together as they will lie, bind them with a piece of rope or thong to the center of the forward thwart.

Spread the blades upon the middle thwart sufficiently wide apart to admit your head between them. Take a position on the left side of the canoe facing the stern. Just forward of the middle thwart grasp the gunwale on the opposite or right side of the canoe in your left hand and the gunwale on the near or left side in your right hand, and, lifting the canoe over your head, let the flat side of the paddles directly forward of the middle thwart rest upon the shoulders, your head between them. It will be found that though you faced the stern in lifting the canoe you are now facing the bow, and with the bow slightly elevated the canoe can be carried with ease and a view of the trail ahead will not be shut out.

Should the flat paddle blades resting upon the shoulders be found uncomfortable, as they doubtless will at the end of the first two or three hundred yards, a Pontiac shirt or sweater will serve as a protecting pad.

Outfitters offer for sale yokes, pneumatic pads and contrivances of various sorts as protections for the shoulders, but these contrivances elevate the canoe from two to four inches above the shoulders and this increases the difficulty of steadying it on rough trail. The sweater or Pontiac shirt eases the cutting effect of the paddles just as well as any of the special portaging pads, and the canoe can be handled more easily with it. Besides it makes one less thing to look after.

In a strong breeze it is often difficult for one man to handle a canoe, for the wind striking it on the side will turn the portager around and he will find it impossible to keep his course in spite of his best efforts. If the portage is a short one—two or three hundred yards—the canoe may be carried very well, one man with the bow the other with the stern upon a shoulder, the canoe on its side with the bottom next the portagers' heads, that they may easily grasp the gunwale in one hand and steady the canoe with the other.

This position will soon be found exceedingly tiresome, and on portages exceeding two or three hundred yards the paddles should be arranged with the blades on the after thwart and the handles lashed to the center of the middle thwart. With this arrangement one man carries exactly as when portaging the canoe alone, save that he stands under the canoe just forward of the after thwart instead of the middle thwart, while the other man carries the bow upon one shoulder. This is the easiest method of two-man portaging of which I know.

Many odds and ends may be tucked in the canoe on the portage—fishing rods, for example, in cases, with one end stuck in the bow and the other end tied to the forward thwart.

Should a canvas canoe become punctured it may be repaired by one of the following methods:

If a stick of canoe cement is in the outfit, heat the cement with a match and smear it over the puncture.

Should the outfit contain a canoe repair kit, cut a patch of canvas somewhat larger than the puncture, apply a coat of white lead to the puncture and over a marginal space as large as the canvas patch, press the patch firmly and evenly upon the white lead and tack it down with copper tacks. To this apply calor, and when dry complete the repairs with a coat of varnish.

Should marine glue be used, lay a sheet of it over the puncture, heat the bottom of a cup or some other smooth metal utensil and rub it over the glue until the glue melts sufficiently to fill the puncture.

In a region where spruce gum can be had, melt a quantity of gum in a frying pan with sufficient grease to take from the gum its brittle quality when cold. While hot pour the gum upon the rupture, letting it run well into the opening and smearing it smoothly over the outside.

"Peterborough" canoes are also easily repaired with marine glue or gum.

In loading the canoe place the heavier bags in the bottom and middle of the canoe, taking care so to distribute the weight that when fully loaded the canoe will lie on an even keel. Keep the load always as low down as possible. Every bag rising above the gunwales offers resistance to the wind, and tends to make the load topheavy. When but one man occupies a canoe, however, sufficient weight should be carried forward to counterbalance his weight in the stern.

Lash everything fast, particularly in rough water or when running rapids. It does not pay to take chances. With a companion I was once turned over in a rapid in an unexplored, sparsely timbered wilderness several hundred miles from the nearest base of supplies—a Hudson's Bay trading post. Nearly all our food was lost, as well as guns, axes, cooking utensils and many other necessities of travel. The temperature stood close to zero, snow covered the ground and during the greater part of the three weeks occupied in reaching the post we had to dig driftwood from under the snow, and our ingenuity was taxed at times to the utmost in efforts to protect ourselves from the elements and travel with any degree of comfort. Nothing worse than an unpleasant ducking in icy waters would have resulted from our accident had we observed the rule of ordinary caution and lashed our outfit to the thwarts.

One end of a rope tied to the forward thwart, the other end threaded through bag handles or pack lashings and secured to the after thwart, will do the trick. A short strap, one end attached to a thwart, the other end supplied with a snap to fasten on rifle or shotgun cases, is a good way to secure the guns and still have them readily accessible.

If you would make speed be smart in unloading the canoe and making up your packs on the portage, and equally smart in reloading the canoe. Delays in loading, unloading and making up packs are the chief causes of slow progress.

When it is found necessary to "track," give the rear end of the tracking line a turn around the forward thwart, on the land side of the canoe, then pass the end back and secure it to the middle thwart. This distributes the strain between the thwarts. While one man at the farther end of the line tows the canoe, the other man with a pole may walk upon the bank, and keep the canoe clear of snags, if the water is deep. Should the water be shallow it will usually be found necessary for him to wade and guide the bow through open channels.

[CHAPTER VII]
TRAVEL WITH SADDLE AND PACK ANIMALS

Under this head we shall consider: (1) Saddles and pack equipment; (2) Animals best adapted to pack work; (3) Outfit and provisions and how to pack them; (4) How to throw some practical hitches; (5) Equipment of the traveler who has no pack animal and whose saddle horse is required to transport both rider and equipment.

Comfort on the trail depends to a very large degree upon the animals of the outfit. A mean horse is an abomination, and a horse may be mean in many respects. A bucking horse, a horse that shies at stumps and other objects or at every moving thing, or one that is frightened by sudden and unexpected sounds is not only an uncomfortable but unsafe animal to ride upon rugged mountain trails; and a horse that will not stand without hitching, or one that is hard to catch when hobbled and turned loose, will cause no end of trouble.

In choosing a horse, then, avoid so far as possible one with these tendencies, and also observe the manner in which he handles his feet. He should not be subject to stumbling. He should be sure-footed, steady and reliable, to qualify him for work on dangerous trails; this is of the first importance. A horse that does not keep his eyes on the trail and select his footing with care is wholly unsuited to mountain work. He should be gunwise. A gunwise horse will not be easily frightened by sudden and unexpected noises.

Whether intended for mountain or plains work, the horse should be a good camp animal—that is, one that will not wander far from camp. It is more than aggravating to find upon arising in the morning that your horse has disappeared and one always feels that time consumed in searching for a roving horse is time worse than wasted. Of course this tendency of an animal can be forestalled by picketing him, but a picketed horse unless forage be particularly good will not do well, for it rarely happens in these days of sheep-ravaged ranges that an animal can find sufficient food to meet his requirements within the limited length of a picket rope.

Some horses need much persuasion before they can be induced to ford streams, and I have had them lose their nerve and decline the descent of precipitous trails. An animal possessing this trait of timidity is not suited to trail work, for he is likely to cause trouble at a critical moment.

Some horses are good foragers, others are not. A poor forager will become leg weary and break down much more quickly than the animal that takes advantage of every opportunity to graze or browse. A horse just in from the open range should be round and full-bellied. This is an indication that he is a good feeder. Generally speaking the chunky horse is the one best adapted to arduous trail work because he usually possesses greater powers of endurance than the longer, lankier type.

All of the qualifications above enumerated should be borne in mind in selecting animals, whether for saddle or pack use. And of course the animals should be as sound as possible. One should never start upon a journey with an animal that is lame or has cinch sores or galled back.

When mountain trails are to be negotiated a saddle horse weighing from nine hundred to a thousand pounds will be found better adapted to the work than a larger animal. Too large a horse is liable to be clumsy on the trail, while too light a horse will of course tire under a heavy rider. A small horse, as a rule, is better able to forage a living than a large horse, and for this reason stands up better with a moderate load on long, continuous journeys. Ponies weighing from eight hundred to eight hundred and fifty pounds will pack one hundred and fifty pounds easily, and ponies of this size make much better pack animals than larger ones.

While for general saddle work I prefer a horse, a mule is surer footed and therefore preferable on precipitous, narrow mountain trails. In the Sierra Madres of Mexico I rode a mule over trails where I would scarcely have trusted a horse. Good saddle mules, however, are scarce. I never saw a really good saddle-broke mule north of Mexico, though they are doubtless to be had. Mules have greater powers of endurance than horses, and for many other reasons are superior as pack animals. The chief objection to a mule is his timidity upon marshy trails. His feet are much smaller than those of a horse, he mires easily, and he is fully aware of the fact. A good mule, nevertheless, is the one best all-around pack animal.

Burros are good where forage is scarce, but they are slow. When the burro decides that he has done a day's work he stops, and that is the end of it. He will not consult you, and he will not take your advice. When he fully decides that he will go no farther you may as well unpack and make camp with as good grace as you can muster, and keep your temper. I believe that burros have a well-organized labor union and they will not do one stroke of work beyond the limit prescribed by their organization. But one must sometimes resort to them in desert travel. They will pick their living and thrive on sage brush wastes where other animals would die, and their ability to go long without water is truly remarkable. On rough mountain trails they are even more sure-footed if possible than mules, but like the mule it is difficult to force them over marshes or into rivers when fording is necessary.

In horse-raising localities in the West very good horses can be had at anywhere from thirty to seventy-five dollars. The usual rate for horse rental is one dollar to one dollar and a half a day, and it is therefore cheaper, when the journey is to extend to a month or more, to purchase the animals outright and sell them when you are finished with them for what they will bring. Rented animals are generally animals of low value and sometimes not very efficient, and in the course of a month one pays in rental a good share of the value of the horse. The risk is no greater, for if a rented horse is injured while in a traveler's possession, the owner holds him who has rented the animal responsible for the damage.

[CHAPTER VIII]
SADDLE AND PACK EQUIPMENT

The riding saddle should be a double cinch, horn saddle, with wool-lined skirts and of ample weight to hold its position. My own is a regular stock saddle weighing thirty-five pounds, though for all ordinary use a twenty-five- or thirty-pound saddle will do just as well.

I prescribe the horn saddle because of its convenience. One may sling upon it a camera, binoculars or other articles in frequent demand, and when it becomes necessary to lead a pack pony the lead rope may be attached to it. For this latter purpose the horn is indeed indispensable.

In the light of personal experience with both single and double cinch saddles, I recommend the latter unhesitatingly, particularly for mountain work. In steep ascents or descents it will not slide, while a single cinch saddle is certain to do so no matter how tightly cinched, and this shifting will sooner or later gall the horse's back. In Mexico the single cinch saddle is almost universally used, but who ever saw a Mexican's horse that was free from saddle sores? The forward cinch should preferably be a hair cinch, though the ordinary webbed sort, both forward and rear, does well enough.

The saddle blanket should be a thick, good quality wool blanket. In Arizona Navajo saddle blankets are popular, and they are undoubtedly the best when obtainable. A hair saddle pad or corona, shaped to the animal's back and used in connection with the blanket, is a pretty good insurance against galling, and preferable to the felt pad, for it is cooler.

A leather boot for rifle, and saddle bags for toilet articles, note books and odds and ends, bridle, halter rope, a pair of cowboy spurs with large blunt rowels, and a quirt to tickle delinquent pack horses will be needed. The rifle boot has two sling straps. The usual method of carrying it is to insert it between the stirrup leathers on the near side, drop the sling strap at the top of the boot over the saddle pommel and buckle the sling strap at the bottom of the boot into the rear latigo ring. By detaching the latter sling from the boot before buckling it to the ring, the boot may be removed from or attached to the saddle by simply lifting the forward sling strap over the pommel, without unbuckling. In case the sling strap at the top of the boot be placed too far down, it should be shifted higher up and secured to the boot with a leather loop which may be riveted to the boot.

Method of Slinging Load on Aparejo

(Fig. 1.) Rope is doubled and loop A thrown over horse's back to off side.

N. B.—In this and the following diagrams the pack is represented as spread out flat and viewed from above.

For the pack animals the ordinary cross-tree or sawbuck pack saddle is the most practical pack saddle for all-around use, though the aparejo, used by the army and generally throughout Mexico, is superior to the sawbuck when unwieldy packages of irregular size and shape are to be transported. Such packages must frequently be transported by army trains and they are the rule rather than the exception in Mexico, where freighting throughout wide regions must be done wholly on the backs of animals.

(Fig. 2.) Packs are now lifted into place and off packer brings loop A up around off side pack to top of load. Near packer passes end B through loop A and ties ends B and C together with square knot. Balance or "break" the packs and load is ready for hitch.

The aparejo is of Arabian origin, and the Spaniards, who adopted it from the Moors, introduced it into Mexico. In Mexico there are two types of the aparejo in common use. One made usually of the fiber of henequen, which is woven into pockets which are stuffed with grass, to form the pads, is used on donkeys in comparatively light packing; in the other type the pad casing is made of Mexican tanned leather instead of henequen matting but also stuffed with grass. This is used in heavier packing with mules, in transporting machinery and supplies to mines and merchandise to inland settlements.

The cross-tree or sawbuck, however, is used almost exclusively in the United States by forest rangers, cowboys, prospectors and pack travelers generally, and it is to this type of pack saddle that we shall direct our attention chiefly. It may be interesting to note that this is a very ancient type of pack saddle, of Asiatic origin. It consists of two saddle boards connected near each end—front and rear—by two cross-pieces, the pommel and cantle forming a miniature sawbuck, while the saddle boards are similar in shape to the McClellan saddle tree. This is fitted with breeching, quarter straps, breast strap, latigos and cinch. As in the case of the riding saddle, the sawbuck pack saddle should be supplied with the double cinch. Care should be taken that the saddle fits the animal for which intended. A saddle either too wide or too narrow will be certain to cause a sore back.

Each pack saddle should be accompanied by a heavy woolen saddle blanket, which should be folded into three or four thicknesses, for here even greater protection is necessary than with the riding saddle, for the animal is to carry a dead weight.

The preferable method of carrying supplies with the sawbuck pack saddle is with kyacks, basket panniers or the alforjas, though with sling and lash ropes any sort of a bundle may be slung upon it.

When they can be obtained, kyacks of indestructible fiber stand first for preference. These are usually from twenty-two to twenty-four inches wide, seventeen or eighteen inches high and about nine inches deep, and are fitted with heavy leather loops for slinging on the saddle. Unless the horse is a large one, the narrower, or twenty-two inch, should be selected.

Basket panniers of similar size are lighter but not so well adapted to hard usage, and are more expensive.

The alforjas is constructed of heavy duck and leather, and of the same dimensions as the kyack. They are much cheaper than either panniers or kyacks, and are therefore more commonly used. Any outfitter can supply them. They are slung upon the saddle in the same manner as kyacks. A pair of the type decided upon will be required for each animal.

The next requirement is a half-inch lash rope. This should be at least thirty-three, but preferably forty feet in length. In some respects a cotton rope is preferable to one of hemp, though the latter is more commonly used, and regulations prescribe it for army pack trains.

A good broad cinch should be provided, fitted with a ring on one end to which is attached the lash or lair rope and a cinch hook on the other end.

There should be a pair of hobbles for each animal, and a blind to put upon obstreperous pack animals when slinging and lashing the load. These may be purchased throughout the West at almost any village store. It is well also to carry a bell, which should always be strapped around the neck of one of the horses when the animals are hobbled and turned loose to graze.

It will sometimes be necessary to picket one of the animals, and for this purpose fifty or sixty feet of half or five-eighth inch rope will be required. Also sufficient leading rope should be provided for each pack animal, and a halter rope for the saddle horse. A lariat carried upon the saddle pommel will be found useful in a dozen ways, and may be utilized for picketing horses.

All horses should be "slick" shod; that is, shod with uncalked shoes. The shoes should be of soft iron, not so light as to render them liable to bend before they are worn out, and they should not extend beyond the hoof at side or rear. Some extra shoes of proper size for each animal, a horseshoer's nippers, rasp, hammer and some nails should be included in the equipment.

[CHAPTER IX]
PERSONAL OUTFIT FOR THE SADDLE

The outfit recommended in Chapters [III] and [IV] in discussing camp and personal equipment for canoe trips is, with the modifications and additions which we shall now consider, equally well adapted to saddle and pack horse travel. As previously stated, our object is to describe methods of packing, rather than to formulate an infallible check list. With this in view an efficient outfit that may be easily packed and transported is outlined, in a general way, and therefore such articles of outfit mentioned in previous chapters as are obviously useful only in canoe travel will not be referred to in this connection.

The wedge, the Hudson Bay, the forest ranger and the lean-to tent are all good models for pack animal travel, and easily erected. Whichever type is chosen, if made of any one of the light-weight materials described, will be found both satisfactory and easily packed. For example, a forest ranger's tent eight feet deep and eight feet wide weighs less than four pounds, while a lean-to with approximately the same floor space weighs about three pounds. In the more arid regions of the West one rarely finds it necessary to pitch a tent, though it is handy to have one along and well worth carrying, particularly should it be desired to remain more than one night at any point.

During the summer, save in high altitudes, one pair of light woolen blankets will be found ample bedding. For all probable conditions of weather, however, in tent or in the open, the sleeping bag is the most convenient and at the same time the most comfortable camp bed yet devised, and it is so easily carried on the pack horse that I advise its adoption. One made of close-woven waterproofed canvas is the most thoroughly practical bag for general use. This should be lined with two pairs of light blankets, that four thicknesses of blanket may be available for covering. The blankets should be so arranged that they may be taken out and the bag turned for airing. One may adapt such a bag to the temperature, using as many or as few thicknesses of blanket as desired, depending upon the number with which the bag is lined. I recently saw a bag lined with four thicknesses of llama wool duffel (providing two thicknesses for cover) that weighed but eight pounds and furnished ample protection for any weather down to a zero temperature.

Pack cloths or light tarpaulins 6 × 7 feet, used to cover and protect the packs, will be needed for each pack animal, and at night the bed may be spread upon them. Saddle bags make excellent pillows.

In traveling in an arid region canteens are a necessity. There should be one large one for each traveler to be carried on the pack horse, and a small one swung upon the saddle horn will be found convenient for ready use.

A folding water bucket of waterproofed canvas should also be included in the outfit.

The aluminum reflecting baker which has been described is far preferable to the Dutch oven—a heavy iron kettle with iron cover—not only because it weighs far less and is much more easily packed, but because it is more practical. Westerners are wedded to the Dutch oven, and this reference is merely made as a suggestion in case the question of choice between the two should arise.

If kyacks or alforjas are used the large water-proofed canvas duffle bags and food bags will not be required. The smaller balloon silk or musline food bags, however, will be found fully as convenient in packing in the pack horse kyack as in the canvas bags on the canoe trip.

Each rider should be provided with either a saddle slicker or a poncho, which when not in use may be rolled and secured to the saddle directly behind the seat by means of tie strings attached to the saddle. A poncho is preferable to a slicker, because of the many uses to which it may be put.

On saddle journeys in cold, windy weather a wind-proof canvas coat or a large, roomy buckskin shirt is a comfort. If a buckskin shirt is adapted, have it made plain without fringe or frill. Wilderness dwellers formerly fringed their buckskin shirts, not alone for ornament, but to facilitate the drying of the garment when wet. In the fringed shirt water, instead of settling around the bottom of the shirt, around the yoke and the seams of the sleeve, will drain to the fringe which the wind quickly dries. In our case, however, the poncho will protect the shirt from a wetting.

In summer, in an arid or desert region of the Southwest, athletic summer underwear will be found entirely satisfactory. Whether this or light wool is to be worn, however, will depend entirely upon the season and the region to be visited.

In very warm weather a close-woven, good quality khaki outer shirt is both comfortable and practical; but on chilly autumn days a flannel shirt should take its place—gray, brown, blue—the color does not matter so long as it does not crock. It is my custom to have one khaki and one flannel shirt in my outfit.

Trousers should be of heavy khaki, medium weight moleskin, or other strong close-woven material. Full-length trousers, with reinforced seat, are preferable in some respects to riding breeches, and may be worn with the regulation United States cavalry puttee leggings with shoes.

Some riders prefer top boots, such as Arizona cowboys wear, and but for their high heels which make walking uncomfortable they would be admirable. High-laced, medium-weight mountaineering shoes will eliminate the necessity of puttees, and many prefer them to low-laced shoes and puttees. In snowy, cold weather I have found heavy German socks and ordinary shoes, large enough to avoid the possibility of pinching the feet, admirable footwear for the saddle. But whatever is decided upon, extra trousers, extra leggings and extra shoes are superfluous. One pair of each—the pair worn—is sufficient.

The hat should be of the Western style, with broad brim, and of the best grade. The brims of the cheaper ones are sure to sag after a little wear and exposure to a shower or two. A good reliable hat may be had for five dollars that will stand several years of hard wear and may be renovated when soiled, assuming again the freshness of a new hat. I have one for which I paid fourteen pesos in Monterey, Mexico, in 1907. I have worn It pretty steadily since in camp and on the trail. It has been twice renovated, and to-day so nearly resembles a new hat that I am not ashamed to wear it about town.

Heavy gauntlet buckskin gloves are a necessary protection, not only against cold in frosty weather, but against brush in summer. The regulation United States cavalry glove is the best that I have discovered for all-around hard usage, and will not harden after a wetting.

The saddle rifle should be short and light—not over twenty-four-inch barrel, and not above seven pounds in weight. A revolver is never needed, though for target practice one offers a means of amusement.

Unless going into permanent camp or into an isolated region, it will hardly be found necessary to start out with more than one week's provisions. Before these are consumed settlements will be reached, where fresh supplies may be purchased. It is well to have along a few cans of baked beans and corned or roast beef, that a hasty meal may be prepared when time does not allow a sufficient halt to permit the preparation of uncooked foods. Two or three dozen lemons should also be provided, particularly in summer, and in more or less arid regions.

Provisions and general outfit should be neatly packed in small bags, and evenly distributed in the kyacks.

[CHAPTER X]
ADJUSTING THE PACK

In saddling up, be sure that the saddle blanket is folded large enough to protect the horse's sides from the pack, when the pack is slung into place. Otherwise the kyacks or alforjas will be liable with constant chafing when the horse is in motion to cause sores. Not only where the saddle rests upon the blanket but where the pack rests upon the horse's sides there should be sufficient thicknesses of blanket to overcome friction, and this demands a greater thickness than under the riding saddle, for the pack load is a dead load. After the pack saddle is thrown into place, and before cinching it, ease the blanket by pulling it up slightly under the center of the saddle—along the backbone of the animal. This will overcome the tendency of the blanket to draw down and bind the horse's back too tightly when the saddle is cinched and the pack in place.

When packing the kyacks or alforjas particular care should be taken to have the pair for each horse evenly balanced as to weight. If the load swung on one side of the horse is heavier than that on the opposite side, there will be a continual drawing down of the pack saddle on the heavier side, resulting almost certainly in injury to the animal. Inattention or willful carelessness on the part of packers in balancing the pack is five times out of six the cause which leads to sore-backed pack animals.

If two or more pack animals are used, let such provisions and utensils as are in constant use and will be needed at once by the cook, be packed on one animal. Hobbles and bell should also be carried on this animal. This will be the first animal unpacked, and while the other animals are being unpacked the cook may get busy, and the packer will have hobbles and bell at hand to immediately attach to the animals.

Attached to each end of the kyacks and alforjas is a leathern loop or sling strap. By means of these loops kyacks and alforjas are hung to the saddle, one loop fitting over the forward, the other over the rear cruz, or fork. The kyacks should be so adjusted as to hang evenly one with the other. That is to say, one kyack should hang no lower upon the animal's side than the other, and both should hang as high as possible.

The kyacks in place, hobbles, bell, and such odds and ends as it may not be convenient to pack in the kyack, may be laid on the center between the crosstrees and on top of the kyack, and over all smoothly folded blankets, sleeping bags, or tent, care being exercised to keep the pack as low and smooth as possible. Everything carefully placed and adjusted, cover the pack with the pack cloth or tarpaulin, folded to proper size to protect the whole pack, but with no loose ends extending beyond it to catch upon brush or other obstructions. If inconvenient to include within the pack, the cooking outfit in its canvas case may be lashed to the top of pack after the final hitch has been tied. All is ready now for the hitch that is to bind the pack into place.

Frequently the traveler is not provided with either kyacks or alforjas, and it becomes necessary to pack the load without the convenience of these receptacles. Before considering the hitches, therefore, let us describe methods of slinging the load in such cases upon the crosstree saddle.

The load which is to be slung from the crosstree should be arranged in two compact packages of equal weight, one for each side of the animal. Boxes may be used, but large, strong sacks are preferable. The large canvas duffle bags, described in the chapter on canoe outfitting, are well adapted to the purpose.

Sling for Packing on Crosstree Saddle

A is forward cruz, B rear cruz of saddle. CC are loops which support packages. D and E are ends or hauling parts of rope.

Take the sling rope, and, standing on the near side, throw one end over the horse's neck just forward of the saddle. Now at about the middle of the rope form two half hitches, or a clove hitch, on the forward cruz or fork of the saddle.

With the free end of the rope on the near side form a half hitch on the rear cruz, allowing sufficient loop between the forward and rear cruz to receive the side pack, with the free end of the rope falling under the loop. Now go to the off side and arrange the rope on that side in similar manner.

Lift the offside pack into position with its forward end even with the forward fork, lifting the pack well up to the forks. Hold the pack in position with the palm of the right hand against the center of the pack, and with the left hand pass the loop along the lower side of the pack, drawing in the slack with the free end of the rope, which passes around the rear fork and under the center of the pack. With the pack drawn snugly in position, take a turn with the free end of the rope around the rope along the side of the pack. This will hold the pack in position. Tie a bowline knot in the end of rope, and at proper length for the bowline loop to reach the center and top of pack. Place loop where it may be easily reached from the near side.

Now pass to the near side and sling the near pack in exactly similar manner, save that no bowline knot is to be formed. Reach up and slip the end of the near rope, which you are holding, through the bowline loop, draw tight and tie.

The following is another method of slinging packs, frequently used by forest rangers:

Throw the rope across the horse directly in front of the saddle, and as in the previous method form two half hitches with the rope at its middle on the front fork, but in this case permitting the ends to lie on the ground on either side the horse. Place the near pack in position and against the lower rope, and holding it with one hand, bring the rope up and over the pack with the other hand and throw a half hitch around the forward fork, keeping the free end of the rope under. Draw the rope taut, lifting the pack well up. Pass the running rope back and throw a half hitch around the rear fork, the loose or running end of the rope on the under side, as when forming the half hitch on the front fork. Now pass the running rope from under over the pack at the rear, throw a half hitch over the rear fork, take up all slack, bring the loose end under and around the two ropes at their intersection between pack and rear fork, and tie securely. The pack on off side is slung in similar manner.

Most mules, and not infrequently horses as well, have a constitutional dislike to receiving the pack. If your pack animal displays any such tendency adjust the blind over his eyes and let it remain there until the hitch is thrown and the load tightened and secured. The blind is usually an effective quieter.

[CHAPTER XI]
SOME PRACTICAL HITCHES

Whether the load is made up with kyacks, alforjas, or separate packs slung to the crosstree saddle as described in the preceding chapter it must be secured in place. For this purpose various hitches are employed by packers, each hitch well adapted to the particular conditions which evolved it.

Our description will be confined to the following six hitches, which furnish ample variety to suit the exigencies of ordinary circumstances:

(1) The crosstree or squaw hitch, which is the father of all hitches because from it the diamond, the double diamond and all pack-train hitches in present-day use were evolved.

(2) A diamond hitch, adapted to the crosstree pack saddle. This is a form of single diamond.

(3) The United States army diamond particularly adapted for use with the aparejo. The true double diamond is a hitch rarely called for save in army work or freighting pack trains, and will therefore be omitted. There are several so-called double diamonds that might be described, but these near-double diamonds possess little or no advantage over the single diamond, and we shall pass them over as they are scarcely resorted to in ordinary pack work.

(4) The one-man or lifting hitch.

(5) The stirrup hitch, to be used when the packer has rope but no cinch.

(6) The saddle hitch, employed in slinging loads upon an ordinary riding saddle.

(7) The hitch for packing a sick or injured man.

THE CROSSTREE HITCH

This hitch was introduced into the Northwest by the early fur traders and adopted by the Indians. Among Indians, women are the laborers, and the crosstree hitch being the hitch almost exclusively employed by the squaws was presently dubbed by white men the "squaw hitch." It is a hitch very generally used by prospectors, and for this reason is known in some localities as the "prospector's hitch." In other sections of the West, where sheep herders commonly use it, it is locally called the "sheep herder's hitch." It is a hitch easily thrown by one man, holds well, and is therefore a favorite.

Squaw or Crosstree Hitch

(Fig. 1.) Rope engaged on cinch hook and bight of rope running from rear forward under standing rope.

(Fig. 2.) Loop of bight enlarged, reversed and passed around bottom and lower corners of off side pack.

(Fig. 3.) Hitch formed and ready to tighten. 1. Standing rope. 2. Running rope. 3. Rear rope—off side. 4. Front rope—off side. 5. Front rope—near side. 6. Rear rope—near side. 7. Marker.

With lash rope attached to cinch, take a position on the near side of the animal facing the pack. Throw the cinch over the top and center of pack in such manner as to be easily reached under the horse's belly. Pick up cinch and engage the rope from in out upon the hook. Draw up slack, taking care that the cinch rests properly upon the horse's belly. Grasp the running and standing rope in left hand above the hook, to hold slack, and with the right hand double the running rope and thrust the doubled portion under the standing rope from rear forward in a bight, at top of pack. Enlarge the loop of the bight by drawing through enough slack rope to make the loop of sufficient size to be passed over and around the off side kyack or pack. Step to off side, turn loop over, and engage it around the ends and bottom of kyack, from front to rear. Return to near side, and pass the loose end of running rope around the forward end, bottom and finally rear end of kyack. Draw the rope end, from above down, over and under the standing rear and running ropes, at the top and center of the load, and the hitch is ready to tighten.

To tighten the hitch, grasp the running rope a little above the cinch hook, and pull with all your strength, taking up every inch of slack possible. Retain this slack by holding the standing and running rope together with left hand, while with the right hand you reach to top of load and pull up slack where running rope passes under standing rope. Go to off side and draw in all slack, following the rope around off side pack. Retaining slack, return to near side, and still following rope and taking up slack around front to rear of near side pack, grasp end of rope, already engaged as directed over and under standing rear and running rope, pull hard, bracing a foot against pack, and tie. Two men, one on each side of the horse, can, of course, throw the hitch and tighten the load much more quickly than one. Tightening the load is just as important a feature of packing as evenly balancing the packs. The result of an improperly tightened load will pretty certainly be a sore-backed horse.

THE CROSSTREE DIAMOND HITCH

(Fig. 1.) A turn is here taken around standing rope with loop of bight of running rope thrust under standing rope from rear to front, as in [Fig. 1], illustrating Squaw Hitch.

Take position on the near side of horse, as when forming the crosstree hitch, and throw cinch over horse, engaging it on hook and adjusting it in exactly similar manner. Take in slack and retain it by grasping the standing and running ropes in left hand. Double running rope and thrust doubled portion under standing rope in a bight, from rear forward at top and center of load. Take up all slack. Enlarge loop of bight by drawing through enough running rope to form a diamond of sufficient size to hold top of load. Now bring center of loop over and under standing rope, from rear forward, thus giving rope at each side of loop a complete turn around standing rope. Throw the disengaged portion of running rope to off side of horse, and passing to the off side, bringing the rope down along rear, bottom, and up front of kyack, thrust loose rope end up through loop at top of pack. Take in slack and return to near side of horse. Engage running rope around front, bottom and rear end of near side kyack or pack, and thrust rope end over and under standing rope opposite center of loop. Take up slack and load in ready to tighten.

Crosstree Diamond Hitch

(Fig. 2.) Hitch formed ready to tighten.

Tighten load by grasping running rope above hook and drawing as tight as possible. Hold slack with left hand, gripping running and standing rope, and take up slack at loop with right hand. Pass to off side and take up slack and tighten rear to front around kyack. Pass to near side, tightening front to rear; finally, bracing a foot against the load pull on loose end, and retaining all slack make final tie.

The above described "diamond" hitch is not the true diamond employed by government pack trains where the aparejo is used, but it is a diamond evolved from the crosstree hitch, and is particularly well adapted to the crosstree or sawbuck pack saddle, is easily formed, and holds the load securely, which is the ultimate object of all hitches.

THE UNITED STATES ARMY DIAMOND HITCH

The single diamond hitch employed by army packers is the ideal hitch for securing a load upon an aparejo. This is a two-man hitch, though an expert can throw it alone.

One packer takes his position on the off side of the animal, while the other with the coiled lash rope, cinch attached, remains on the near side.

The near packer, retaining the cinch, throws the coiled rope over the horse's haunch, to rear. The off packer picks up end of rope, and receiving the hook end of cinch, passed to him under horse's belly by near packer, holds it together with end of rope in his left hand, and stands erect.

United States Army Diamond Hitch

Figures represent successive stages in formation. Near side towards right in each case. Line PP in Fig. 1 represents horse's back. AA (Fig. 3) standing part of rope, and A´ (Fig. 2) the running rope.

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

Fig. 3.

Fig. 4.

Fig. 5.

Fig. 6.